MANILA — An affinity towards a flawed character is among the reasons why actress Bae Suzy joined her latest K-drama “Doona!”.

The nine-episode series, which premiered last Oct. 20 on Netflix, tells the story of Lee Doona, a member of a popular K-pop girl group who suddenly disappears from the entertainment industry after an incident.

During her time away from the limelight, the enigmatic Doona moves in to a share house, where she meets and becomes romantically involved with naïve college student Lee Won-jun (played by Yang Se-jong).

“I was attracted to the character of Doona with many scars and I was also reminded of my [K-pop] idol days. I thought that maybe I could express those emotions well,” Suzy said in an interview with ABS-CBN News, arranged by Netflix Philippines.

• Bae Suzy says new K-drama ‘Doona!’ reminded her of K-pop idol days

Before becoming one of South Korea‘s most popular actresses, Suzy was a part of the hitmaking girl group Miss A, which debuted in 2010 and disbanded in 2017.

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Suzy said she also took on the project because of its “robust” script, which made her “heart flutter a lot” when she first read it.

“It was sad to read the missed timing between the two protagonists when they went awry and also the clumsiness in the love felt by the two,” she said.

“I [also] had high expectations for the chemistry that I could show in the share house because the cast members were near my age and I thought that it would be fun,” she added.

The 29-year-old actress also admitted to feeling empathetic towards her character, whom she describes as someone who is guarded despite her feelings of isolation.

“Doona is frank and outspoken and feels like a cat with sharp claws because she is lonely with a wounded heart,” she said. “But in truth, she is a character that I want to hug… she is not so skilled at realizing her own emotions and expressing herself.”

More from our Q&A with Suzy:

Q: In terms of personality, in what ways are Suzy and Lee Doona similar and how are they different?

There are so many differences between Doona and I, but if I were to point out a few, I think the first one would be the age and the method of expressing emotions. I am close to 30, so it felt as if I was standing a step away from Doona to cheer for her and quietly observe the loneliness and difficulties that she is facing. In terms of the method of expressing emotions, Doona is rather outright and frank, and I think I am more prudent than Doona.

A similarity would be that I sometimes hear from others that they do not quite know what I am thinking about, and I think that is a bit similar.

Q: What were the challenges in preparing for this series?

I think of the emotional connections between scenes to be the most important in acting. However, in “Doona!”, this was an exception where I tried not to think too deeply about those connecting emotions. Since I didn’t have to carry over Doona’s emotion to the next scene, at the beginning I thought, “Is this okay? Will the viewers understand?”, but I now later realized that such parts would be the charm of Doona, and it was so much fun.

Q: How was it like working with Yang Se-jong?

We had good chemistry and there are so many good memories. Since the relationship between [the characters] Doona and Won-jun is such that Doona would always throw her one-sided pranks at Won-jun and Won-jun would be puzzled, I thought that it was so comfortable for me to act because of such a relationship. It was probably more difficult for Won-jun.

For more news and features on K-pop, K-drama, and K-stars, visit the Hallyu Corner microsite.

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