'The First Man' Park Geon-il: "The final episode script where I was hit by my mother's car... It was so sad, I cried." [Interview ①]

*This content was translated by AI.

Actor Park Geon-il revealed that he shed tears over the tragic story in the final episode of 'The First Man'.

Recently, Park Geon-il held an interview with StarNews regarding the MBC daily drama 'The First Man' (directed by Kang Tae-heum, written by Seo Hyun-ju and Ahn Jin-young).

'The First Man' is a drama depicting the fatal confrontation between a woman who lived another person's life for revenge and a woman who stole another person's life for desire. It is part of writer Seo Hyun-ju's 'Number Series', following 'The Second Husband' and 'The Third Marriage'. Director Kang Tae-heum, known for 'Kindly Mr. Seon-ju', 'The Third Marriage', and 'Game of Witches', joined forces on the project.

In the drama, Park Geon-il plays Kang Jun-ho, a head chef at a restaurant who was formerly a Michelin three-star chef. After meeting Oh Jang-mi, he experiences loving someone with all his heart for the first time in his life. Kang Jun-ho becomes consumed by jealousy upon learning that his half-brother, Kang Baek-ho (played by Yoon Seon-woo), also loves Oh Jang-mi. He later discovers in anguish that Chae Hwa-young (played by Oh Hyun-kyung), the owner of Dream Hotel where he works, is his biological mother. To protect Oh Jang-mi from a car driven by Chae Hwa-young with intent to kill her, Kang Jun-ho jumps into the vehicle and dies.

Regarding the tragic ending of Kang Jun-ho in 'The First Man', Park Geon-il stated, "As an actor, it was a good ending, but as a character, it was a sad one. When I first received the scripts for episodes 135 through 140, I was so moved that I cried. During filming of episodes 137 to 140, my mood remained down throughout, and I believe that emotion came through well in the final work."

He continued, "I knew the ending from the beginning. The writer said she would close the last button and finish the story, but it was shocking that Jun-ho would die by his mother's hand. My final line was while saving Jang-mi, getting hit by a car; even in that moment, he asks, 'Is Ms. Jang-mi okay?' before dying. I thought Kang Jun-ho couldn't end with compassion for his mother because it was hard for him to accept Chae Hwa-young as his mother. Among the characters viewers found difficult to understand, there was me. They also didn't understand why he liked Jang-mi besides Se-rin. I believe Jun-ho jumped into the car not out of love, but to save himself."

'The First Man' was originally planned as a 120-episode series but was extended by 20 episodes and concluded with 140 episodes. When asked where he felt the drama's popularity, Park Geon-il said, "Many of the viewers were elderly. During the recent holidays, acquaintances tagged me extensively. They were tagging their parents who watched the show during the holidays. I heard many times, 'My mother watches it a lot.' People recognized me on the street, and even an officer from my military days called to ask, 'What happens next?'"

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*This content was translated by AI.