‘Kill Heel’ shows human nature in cutthroat home shopping world

Television director No Do-cheol is certain that his upcoming tvN drama “Kill Heel” will surprise viewers with its powerful storyline and impressive performances from three renowned actors -- Kim Ha-neul, Lee Hye-young and Kim Sung-ryoung.

“The straightforward depiction of human desire and greed was the most fascinating aspect about the series. After reading the script, I believed that this is not a characteristic found only in the home shopping sector. The show’s critical observation of human nature will send different messages to viewers throughout the series,” No said in an online press conference Tuesday.

The cable channel tvN’s new Wednesday-Thursday drama revolves around the collisions between three women in the world of home shopping.

“Kill Heel” is written by author Shin Kwang-ho, who wrote the scenario after four years of working in the home shopping sector. Before he switched jobs he had been a screenwriter, his last project being “Seonam Girls’ High School Investigators” in 2015.

The realistic storyline aside, No believed that the characters, who cannot be simply characterized as good or evil, is another draw of his series.

“I think the viewers can enjoy this drama by empathizing with different characters in their individual situations,” the director added.

Actor Kim Ha-neul, who is widely regarded as a rom-com specialist, was worried about returning to the small screen as a desperate show host named Woo-hyun.

“While we were shooting the series, I shared my thoughts and checked whether the scene was produced as the director expected. All scenes were completely different from my previous projects,” Kim said.

Kim confessed that selling products as a show host was the most difficult aspect of the series.

“For my previous character as a news reader in JTBC’s ‘18 Again,’ I studied pronunciation and voice tone from an actual news reader. But (preparing for the role of) show host was completely different,” the actor said. “Learning their ways of presenting items in a limited time, and introducing and showcasing the products was unique. After many tries, the director and I came to believe that promoting a product seemed to make for a more natural scene compared to imitating veteran show hosts,” Kim added.

The director thought portraying the world of home shopping was a unique topic because there were not a lot of works about it, although it’s something most Korean viewers are very familiar with.

Veteran actors Lee Hye-young and Kim Sung-ryoung play the other leading roles. Lee plays Mo-ran, the vice president of the home shopping company, and Kim plays top show host Ok-sun. Both were excited about the synergy among the three actors.

“Before the shooting, I went to the filming site with certain ideas about the scenes in my head. With excellent co-stars by my side, I always felt that I had outperformed myself, creating scenes with which I was wholly satisfied,“ Lee said.

“Though I was drawn to the unique subject and character of the series, I felt I was lucky to be part of an amazing project surrounded by talented actors,” Kim added.

The 16-part series will premiere on Feb. 23 at 10:30 p.m. on tvN. “Kill Heel” will also be available on local streaming platform Tving.

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)