Cast of My Girlfriend is the Man! talk about special moments in gender-swap K-drama

A new gender-swap K-drama My Girlfriend is the Man! hit our screens recently and AsiaOne spoke to the cast about their special moments during production and portraying their characters.

The drama follows the budding romance between Kim Ji-eun (Arin) and Park Yoon-jae (Yoon San-ha), which takes a turn when Ji-eun mysteriously transforms into a man overnight. She adopts the name Ji-hoon (Yoo Jung-hoo) and with her loyal boyfriend's help, learns to live as a man while trying to return to her original self.

While Ji-hoon and Yoon-jae agree to stay together but as friends, popular girl Kang Min-ju (Chuu), who has a secret crush on the latter, sees this as her chance to pursue him.

Jung-hoo, 27, told us the scene that left the deepest impression on him was when his character first transformed and looked for Yoon-jae. "It's probably the most iconic moment in our drama," he added.

Arin shared that Ji-eun's date with Yoon-jae where they share a headset during a happy moment left a beautiful impression in her memory. The 26-year-old, who's a member of the K-pop girl group Oh My Girl, hopes it becomes a heart-fluttering scene for viewers like it was for her.

Chuu, 25, filmed a scene with Arin and Jung-hoo where they had to pull at each other's hair.

The former member of K-pop girl group Loona fondly recalled: "At first, I thought it would be way too hard to pull off. But once we started filming, it turned out to be so much fun. I couldn't help but laugh while watching the monitor - I think it's going to look really funny on screen.

"After that scene, I lost 3 kg. I even took a selfie of the dent in my cheek and sent it to Arin."

She added she's 70 per cent similar to her role.

"We both dive headfirst into things and care deeply for the people we love. But unlike Min-ju, I don't bottle things up while pretending everything's fine and I tend to move on quickly," Chuu explained.

To portray a female convincingly, Jung-hoo paid close attention to his movements and tried to express them in more feminine ways. He told us he imagined how he would express his gestures if he were a woman and acted accordingly - covering his mouth or eyes in surprise, for example.

"Arin and I also communicated a lot throughout the process. But since Ji-hoon's original identity is Ji-eun - a woman - I really listened to Arin's thoughts and tried my best to follow her lead."

Jung-hoo remarked that he and San-ha didn't face major challenges during scenes that had some hints of romance. During the preparation phase prior to filming, the duo got along well and naturally grew close.

"Even when things got physically or emotionally tough on set, we kept each other going with little boosts of encouragement,." Jung-hoo added.

San-ha shared that this drama marked their first time working on such scenes.

The 25-year-old member of K-pop boy band Astro said: "Since it was a first for both of us, we shared many ideas like, 'What if we try it this way? Or maybe that way?' Thanks to that, we were able to rely on each other and act together."

kristy.chua@asiaone.com

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