Presidential assassination, political and economic collusion, reformation and power — Netflix's latest Korean original series "The Whirlwind" is exactly that, a whirlwind of political schemes and battles that was enough to bring one of Korea's biggest film stars, Sul Kyung-gu, back to the small screen.

“The Whirlwind” revolves around the political power battle between Prime Minister Park Dong-ho, played by Sul, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Jeong Su-jin, played by Kim Hee-ae. The series starts with Dong-ho attempting to assassinate the president, whom he believes is corrupt, expecting it to expose collusion between the political and business worlds in order to send Korea in the right direction. Su-jin, on the other hand, tries to stop Dong-ho to take hold of political power.

The series was released on June 28 and immediately entered Netflix’s top 10 TV show list in Korea.

Director Kim Yong-wan and actor Sul separately sat down with the press on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, for interviews to talk about the recently released series. During their interviews, they both endlessly complimented the script and their belief in its screenwriter, Park Kyung-su.

"It’s interesting to see various discussions happening regarding the series,” director Kim Yong-wan said during his interview with local reporters at a cafe in Jongno District, central Seoul.

As soon as the series was released, various interpretations of the drama were brought up. Some say that it’s about a former president, while others see it as a depiction of the battle between two political parties. Some even viewed it from a religious perspective.

“The Whirlwind” is Park’s first work in seven years. The writer is known for penning scripts involving the topics of power and authority. He is also renowned for what is known as the "Power Trilogy," which consists of dramas “The Chaser” (2012), “Empire of Gold” (2013) and “Punch” (2014-15).

The recent series touches on sensitive subjects, such as assassinating a president, which concerned the director as it could lead to a misunderstanding of the show's characters.

"I knew that the series involved sensitive subjects and I thought that Park's depiction was really brave," Kim said.

Sul admitted that he didn’t know the screenwriter well at first and that the script was his first encounter with Park.

"I received five of the scripts," Sul said."While reading them, I saw myself enjoying them, so I asked who Park was and later realized he was a very famous screenwriter."

"Since I began reading it, I couldn't stop," he added.

“The recklessness [in the script] surprisingly also was appealing to me,” Sul said.

Park is also acclaimed for his lines and the way they lead his scripts. As a result, each episode of the series was packed with dialogue, which became a task for the director and actor to tackle.

The director had to decide whether to carry out all the lines or leave some out and add more action. Ultimately, he chose to focus on the lines rather than having an action-focused composition.

“There were so many great lines, and leaving them out would have caused problems that couldn’t be solved later,” Kim said, acknowledging the fact that the immense amount of lines may have been a bit hard for the viewers to follow.

“Of all the dramas I've done so far, it had the most dialogue,” Sul said, who has been in the acting industry for over 30 years.

No specific living politicians were taken into account when shooting, both the director and lead actor emphasized throughout the interview. Some netizens said that the characters reminded them of politician Lee Hoi-chang and late former President Roh Moo-hyun.

“I believed that it would be dangerous to make the series while having specific figures in mind,” Kim said, adding he never discussed such matters with the actors either.

Sul said that he perceived Dong-ho as a "fantasy character," denying that he referenced someone when portraying Dong-ho's upright character — a quality not easily seen in the real world, especially in the political scene.

"I thought that Dong-ho was not realistic from the start, as he is the one who starts the whole whirlwind in the political scene and provides the motive to continue doing so," he said.

The tense tussle between the main characters continues until the end of the show, which Sul said wore him out, as the actors tried to maintain their intensity even when off camera.

“We threw our lines back and forth like we were about to kill each other, even when we were behind the camera,” Sul said. He explained that while each person was taking their individual shots, the other actors would say their lines off camera with emotion to maintain the intensity, which is usually unnecessary, according to Sul.

The series is also Sul’s first drama in almost 30 years, with his last drama being in 1994. Since then, the actor has only appeared in films, including “Peppermint Candy” (2000), “Oasis” (2002), “Memoir of a Murderer” (2017) and “Kingmaker” (2022).

"I always said that I would do anything if the story is just good, regardless of its format," the actor said about his lack of appearances in series. "But I think I built my own wall without noticing."

The actor added that he was hesitant to take Dong-ho's role at first, saying, "I feared that I might not be able to handle [the environment]."

Sul has now broken through the wall, as he is slated to work on another series, the medical crime thriller "Hyper Knife" featuring actor Park Eun-bin.

"[The fear] really disappeared," he said.

Though "The Whirlwind" was released only recently, director Kim seems to be looking at the show's lasting legacy, hoping that it will become a “classic” for its viewers. “Considering the literary value of the script, along with its great staff and actors, I thought that we would make a piece that would last for a long time.”


BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]