A Time Called You director Kim Jin-won has spoken about the changes of the new Netflix K-drama, as compared to its source material, the 2019 Taiwanese series Someday or One Day.
In a new interview with The Korea Times, Kim opened up about how it felt like working on A Time Called You, which is a remake of the popular 2019 Taiwanese series, Someday or One Day.
The director shared that because he is a “big fan” of the original series, a huge “difficulty” when it came to A Time Called You was “finding the balance between staying true to the original and carving out new identity”.
“If it’s too similar, there comes a question on our series’ identity and on why we are making this series,” he said, later noting that he and screenwriter Choi Hyo-bi “didn’t deliberately try to make huge changes”.
“As we go with the flow, we know it will have certain aspects of the characters that will naturally deviate,” Kim added. “There have been a lot of changes to the characters, rather than in the overall story.”
Kim singled out changes to the character of Nam Si-heon, played by Ahn Hyo-seop of A Business Proposal fame, as the one that really affected the “overall tone of the series”.
“I believed that creating Si-heon as more adult and mature would help to develop the story more smoothly,” the A Time Called You director added. Though, as The Korea Time pointed out in its story, that change was met was a mixed reception from fans of the original series.
Still, Kim stands behind his choice, saying that “it needed to show the depth of his pain”. He added: “He went through loss and had to give up a lot. So I felt he would look drained, not looking after himself and living with a sense of desperation.”
The director also recently revealed that actor and SF9 member Rowoon, who made a special appearance in A Time Called You, wasn’t paid “any money” for his role.
Meanwhile, lead actress Jeon Yeo-been touched on how “tourists screaming” while she was filming a kiss scene was the most memorable moment during the production of the new Netflix K-drama.
