Casting has been confirmed for My Ajusshi, the project from Oh Hae-young Again’s writer and Signal’s director that had Lee Seon-kyun (This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair) attached to it very early on. He has just confirmed, and so has IU (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo) to be his leading lady.
My Ajusshi is about three middle-aged brothers, each dealing with their different burdens in life, who meet a cold and prickly young lady who is similarly going through her own life’s difficulties. Together, they help each other heal and grow. Lee Seon-kyun is set to play the middle brother, Park Dong-hoon, who works as a structural engineer of an architectural firm that has the motto “Safety first.” He’s a stoic and quiet individual, but knowing Lee Seon-kyun, I’m ready to see him inject a lot of quirky charm into the character.
Then there’s IU, who I’ve liked before in her other previous prickly pear role (The Producers). In that drama, despite her outer selfishness, I could see glimmers of self-awareness and a soft inner heart, which is what I’m hoping for in her upcoming role. Her character begins as a contract worker, employed on a three-month probationary period. So when her boss tells her to find out Park Dong-hoon’s (Lee Seon-kyun) weakness, she has no choice but to try in order to maintain her employed status. But once she gets to know him and his warm personality, she begins to shed her own tough exterior and jaded mindset about others.
Na Mun-hee, Oh Dal-soo, Song Sae-byuk
We can’t forget about Lee Seon-kyun’s onscreen brothers: I’m so excited for this trio—it already looks like a comedy match made in heaven. Chungmuro’s number one funny man Oh Dal-soo (Master, Tunnel) will be playing Lee Seon-kyun’s older brother, who went bankrupt twice after trying to launch his own business when he was fired from his company. As a result, he was run out of his house by his wife, and now lives with his mother again. Despite all that, he’s a romantic who looks back on his failures with a good humorous attitude.
And the youngest brother will be played by Chungmuro actor Song Sae-byuk (Night of Seven Years, Sound of a Flower) who has been primarily active in films since his breakout role in The Servant. His character is similarly in the movie industry: At twenty years old, he was proclaimed a genius prodigy producer whose independent film made it to the Cannes International Film Festival. However, it’s been twenty years since then, and he has yet to debut officially as a film director, and he ends up relinquishing his dreams in despair due to a set of fateful circumstances.
The mom who raised them all will be played by Na Mun-hee (I Can Speak, Dear My Friends). Her two biggest worries are her first son, who is living with her and currently undergoing a separation with his wife, and her maknae son, an unmarried bachelor at age forty with no prospects. The actress is so cute and funny in so many heartwarming family films and dramas, and I’m very much looking forward to her interactions with Oh Dal-soo.
My Ajusshi will be broadcast at the beginning of 2018 on tvN.