[Interview] "Genie, Make a Wish" Kim Woo-bin, "Bae Suzy is so pretty I fell for her"

After a ten-day Chuseok holiday, Kim Woo-bin greeted us with a bright smile, saying, "I binge-watched "Genie, Make a Wish" twice during the break". In the Netflix series "Genie, Make a Wish", released just before the holiday, he plays the dual role of Satan and the Genie from the lamp with witty charm.

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This project holds special meaning for Kim Woo-bin. It reunited him with familiar faces: Bae Suzy, his co-star from "Uncontrollably Fond" ten years ago, and writer Kim Eun-sook, who penned his breakout drama "The Heirs".

Though the production saw some notable changes, such as director Lee Byung-hun, with whom Kim Woo-bin had worked on the film "Twenty", stepping down midway and director Ahn Gil-ho taking over, Kim Woo-bin looked back on the experience fondly. "There were some regrets, but I had a great time filming until the end", he said with a warm smile.

Understanding the Mixed Reactions

"Genie, Make a Wish", which garnered attention early on as a highly anticipated project, has received unexpectedly mixed reviews since its release. Some viewers found the romance between Genie, who despises humans, and Ga-yeong (Bae Suzy), who lacks emotion, unconvincing. However, Kim Woo-bin accepted the feedback calmly.

"Every project comes with divided opinions", he said. "Maybe Genie fell for her just because Ga-yeong is so beautiful? Honestly, I don't think love needs a specific reason. Sometimes it just quietly seeps in and then bursts into flames, that's what love is, isn't it?"

As Genie is a supernatural being capable of flying and teleporting, Kim Woo-bin had to perform many scenes alone in front of a blue screen for CGI processing. While there were some awkward moments, he was able to handle them thanks to the experience he gained from the fantasy film "Alienoid".

"The most important thing in blue screen acting is momentum", he explained. "I pushed through the awkwardness with sheer conviction. But to do that, you need full confidence that the result will look great, and a deep trust in the production team".

Reuniting with Choi Young-do Was Special

"Genie, Make a Wish" brought plenty of laughs by parodying scenes from writer Kim Eun-sook's past works. One standout moment shows Kim Woo-bin wearing a bob-cut wig to mimic Song Hye-kyo's character in "The Glory", a scene that instantly went viral online as a meme.

"I was excited about it from the moment I saw it in the script", he said. "But later, that scene was gone from a revised draft. When I asked the writer why, she said, 'I thought you might not like it, so I took it out'. I told her, 'Not at all-I've actually been preparing hard for it', so it ended up being put back in".

However, the parody that made him most nervous wasn't "The Glory", it was revisiting his own character, Choi Young-do, from the drama "The Heirs", which aired 12 years ago. The role remains deeply meaningful to Kim Woo-bin, so much so that he still owns the school uniform from the show.

"The costume team couldn't locate the original "The Heirs" uniform, so I gave them the one I had kept", he shared. "But since I've grown a bit bigger since then, I couldn't wear it as-is. We removed the nametag and buttons and used those to recreate the uniform for the scene".