In the song ‘The Glory’ Hye-kyo plays Dong-eun, a woman seeking revenge.
To celebrate his release The glory, Part Two On March 10, writer Kim Eun-sook, director Ahn Gil-ho, as well as actors Song Hye-kyo, Jung Sung-il, Cha Joo-young, Kim Hieora, and Kim Gun-woo participated in an interview Press, where they answered questions about the first part of the series and what the second part might include.
The drama, which aired its first eight episodes on December 30, 2022, centers on the story of Dong-eun, a girl who is severely beaten in high school and has no one to defend her. Played by Song Hye-kyo, Dong-eun spends her life plotting revenge against the people who hurt her.
Author Kim Eun-sook, who previously wrote Descendants of the Sun, The King Eternal Monarch, Guardian: The Great and Lonely God and Secret gardensaid he began writing the script for The glory because of a question from her daughter. Would Kim feel worse if she hit her daughter or if she hit other people?
“When I was writing the script, I was trying to find an answer to that question,” Kim said. “And if my daughter is beaten to death, there might be a solution and that solution would be to drag all the perpetrators to hell, because I have the money to do it. So my conclusion was that it would be better for me to hit you. But to The glory, this can’t happen to Dong-eun, right? And I think most of the victims can’t solve the problem like that because they don’t have rich parents like me. They don’t live in an environment where my daughter is growing up. So I wanted to cheer them on because reality is harsh. And I hope Dong-eun’s revenge is successful. So I tried to steer my story in that direction. And how it ends, you’ll have to watch for yourself.”
Actress Song Hye-kyo, who starred in the past That Winter The Wind Blows, Descendants of the Sun, Encounter and now we part talked about how nervous she was before the first part of the series was released and how long it took for the show’s success to sink in.
“Although I saw the final part of the drama, all I could focus on was what I could have done better,” Song said. “So I kept thinking that I should have done better and what if people don’t like me so much because I didn’t do a good job. So that was what really concerned me. But after the release of Part 1, it was so well received. At first, I couldn’t really get over it because it was so much love, and it had been a while since I had such a hugely successful drama series. And it felt great because so many of us, including the cast and the creators, like with any drama series really, we all put our heart and soul into it. And this was my first genre-based drama series, so everything was a challenge. It was all very difficult, and there was that doubt, I think, in every scene. I kept asking myself is this right? And I’m very grateful, I’m so grateful because of the great response.”
Dong-eun suffers an atrocity, and then becomes so driven by her revenge that she abandons the pleasures of a normal life. She lives to punish those who treated her so cruelly. The character says, “there is no mercy and therefore no glory.” For Song this line sums up who and what her character is.
“He will show no mercy, and he also knows that he is becoming an abuser from a victim,” Song said. “And he understands and knows that he is not looking for glory. It is not a kind of revenge that a man thinks of, I will take revenge and live a happy life. He says, I will take my revenge and die with you. I feel like—I was really hurt by Dong-eun’s line saying that, and I really felt for her. A part I really felt for Dong-eun’s many scenes. Dong-eun goes to visit her teacher in the past and is friends with his son. And to this son, who is Dong-eun’s friend, he says, “I know you didn’t do anything wrong, I know you’re innocent. But so am I. And you’re an adult and I was just an 18-year-old girl.” And I hurt her, I hurt her.”
There were many scenes that hurt Song’s heart. Dong-eun was a difficult role.
“For me, Dong-eun has these scars, burn scars to be exact, and it took a long time to do the special makeup,” Song said. “And I think it was at the end of episode six and it took about four to five hours just to do my special effects. And I was on a very strict diet for about three days before that day of shooting. And since the day before, I stopped drinking. And it was really hard, because of all that effort and the physical toll it took on me, I remember it was really hard to get through that scene. But it ended up being more impactful because of it. And I had to do the special effects makeup quite often so my skin would break out and you have to use a certain remover on my skin. So I think those moments when I had to wear that makeup were unforgettable. The reason I was put on a strict diet and even tried not to drink water was because I wanted to really convey how hurt, difficult and broken Dong-eun was.”
Will Dong-eun get her revenge? After seeing her mistreated in the first half of the series, the audience definitely wants her. But the writer, actors and directors don’t want to spoil the suspense. When working on the second part of the series, director Ahn Gil-ho asked his team how they felt.
“Everyone said that episode 10 is better than nine, 11 is better than 10 and I personally think episode 16 is the best,” he said. It will be the best episode of the entire series.”
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