Dr Brain: Interviews with Kim Jee-woon, Lee Sun-kyun, Lee Jae-won, Seo Ji-hye, Lee Yoo-young and Park Hee-soon

With Parasite‘s Oscar win and the mind-blowing success of Netflix’s Squid Game having put South Korean content firmly on the world’s radar in a way never seen before, Apple TV+ are now here with their very own Korean-language drama: Dr Brain.

The sci-fi thriller is based on a Korean webtoon of the same name and follows Sewon (Lee Sun-kyun), a dedicated brain scientist who, after the loss of his family, ploughs himself into working obsessively on a project to sync brain waves between people, enabling him to access the thoughts and memories of other people – even the dead – in order to solve the mystery of their deaths. After successfully testing rats, he takes the brave decision to turn the new technology on himself, setting in motion a rather sinister set of implications.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of chatting with the director and cast to discuss the series ahead of its launch.

Lee Sun-kyun spoke to us about his character of Sewon, who is incapable of experiencing emotion fully, and how although Dr Brain has a heavy dose of noir thriller, it’s also a touching drama about a man trying to save his family.

 

Lee Jae-won and Seo Ji-hye explained a bit about their characters, Namil Hong, Sewon’s colleague, and Lieutenant Choi, and why they wanted to work with the director on Apple TV+’s first Korean-language series.

Lee Yoo-young, who plays Jaeyi Jung, Sewon’s wife, and Park Hee-soon, who plays Kangmu Lee, a private investigator, also reflected on their respective roles in the series and how there have always been extraordinary creators in Korea but there haven’t been the opportunities to show their work to the world.

Director Kim Jee-woon shared why he wanted to adapt the webtoon for his first TV show and how he felt a six-episode series would allow him to expand the narrative into a deeper, richer version about reconciliation and personal growth.

Sarah Bradbury

Dr Brain is released on Apple TV+ on 4^th November 2021.

Read our review of Dr Brain here.

Watch the trailer for Dr Brain here: