'Love and Leashes' cast, director talk upcoming Netflix Korea movie

Lee Jun-young, left, and Seohyun at a press conference for new Netflix Korea Original movie "Love and Leashes" on Tuesday [NETFLIX KOREA]

Director and cast members of the new Netflix Korea movie "Love and Leashes" held a press conference Tuesday ahead of the show's release on Friday.

Singer Seohyun, who plays the role of Jung Ji-woo, singer-turned-actor Lee Jun-young who plays Jung Ji-hoo and director Park Hyeon-jin attended the press conference.

The movie is based on the webtoon series “Moral Sense.”

“When I initially encountered the webtoon, I enjoyed its humor related to sexual preferences,” Park told reporters.

“Also, I liked the main character Ji-woo, who is very cool [...] I thought I could create a story that raises questions about society’s stereotypes of women.”

“Love and Leashes” is a rom-com and coming-of-age story about a regular worker at a company, Jung Ji-woo, who comes to realize that her crush at work, Jung Ji-hoo, has a unique sexual fetish.

In the movie, the two learn to respect each other’s taste and values while also finding a way to love themselves for who they truly are.

Seohyun described her character as "realistic."

"She is a normal, every-day character," said Seohyun. "I wanted to portray her as honestly as I could."

Lee said he fell in love with the script as soon as he read it.

"It usually takes me a long time to read over the script, but I got through this script very quickly," said Lee. "It was just that much fun."

Seohyun debuted as a member of Girls Generation in 2007. While Seohyun is still part of Girls Generation, she left the group’s agency SM Entertainment in 2017. Since then, the singer has focused more on her acting career.

She has starred in a handful of drama series including MBC’s “The Time” (2018) and JTBC’s “Private Lives” (2020).

Lee Jun-young also debuted as a K-pop singer in 2008 through boy band U-Kiss. The group disbanded in 2019. Lee debuted as an actor in 2017 with drama series “Avengers Social Club.” Since then, he has taken on various roles in dramas including Netflix series “D.P.” in 2021 and SBS’s “I will be your night” (translated) in 2021.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]