[HanCinema's News] Kim Ji-yeon talks about "Twenty Five Twenty One"

It's been a week since "Twenty Five Twenty One" ended on April 3rd with ratings of 11.513%. The successful drama has seen an increased interest for its stars- among them Kim Ji-yeon who plays the second female lead in the sports-themed late nineties drama. In a recent interview Kim Ji-yeon claimed, among other things, that she won the role through a competitive audition. Apparently, screenwriter Kwon Do-eun was familiar with the work Kim Ji-yeon did in "Girls' Generation 1979" back in 2017.

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Purportedly the production of "Twenty Five Twenty One" had been looking to do a similar kind of story to that drama, despite that show ending with relatively weak ratings of 3.7% and not being very well remembered. Kim Ji-yeon claims that her connection to that drama was why she was given an offer to audition for "Twenty Five Twenty One" more recently. However, Kim Ji-yeon was not optimistic as to her chances, as a very sizable number of other actresses had also been invited to audition for her role.

That role was as a champion fencer, and the chief rival to the female lead played by Kim Tae-ri. Kim Ji-yeon claims that she had to do three months of fencing training for the role. By that time, Kim Tae-ri had already been doing fencing training for four months. So Kim Ji-yeon threw herself into fencing practicing every morning. Kim Ji-yeon claimed that it was a lot of fun, that she worked with serious professionals and there were lots of smiles and sweat during the training process.

Kim Ji-yeon claimed that the harsh routine was nothing too difficult for her, as the singer had been doing such apprenticeships ever since she was a kid. Kim Ji-yeon also had to better understand the historical background of the era. Being born in 1995 herself, Kim Ji-yeon had little context to understand the world as it existed back then. Kim Ji-yeon said that she had never seen nineties-era computers before, and described the research process was one of wonder.

Kim Ji-yeon also spoke of having to wear a school uniform again, expressing disappointment that she was now too old for high school roles. Kim Ji-yeon thought wearing a school uniform was actually quite enjoyable and claimed her co-stars also liked their wardrobe. Additionally, Kim Ji-yeon expressed gratitude for all the positive feedback she got for her performance, claiming that she had not had such interaction from fans before. Kim Ji-yeon does not have any confirmed upcoming acting projects.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Twenty Five Twenty One" is directed by Jung Ji-hyun, Kim Seung-ho-III, written by Kwon Do-eun, and features Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk, Kim Ji-yeon, Choi Hyun-wook, Lee Ju-myoung, Seo Jae-hee. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/02/12~2022/04/03, Sat, Sun 21:10 on tvN.