On the morning of the 14th, after his last trip in Busan, EXO returned to Seoul by car, and Ji Kyung-won left the group and went to a café called 'suol' next to tvN in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu.

I've made an appointment with writer Kim Eun-sook to meet here later, and talk about the TV series "Ghost".

Originally, he had never made up his mind about this TV series whether to participate or not, but suddenly made a decision, firstly, because the crew was in a hurry, and if he didn't give a reply, it was estimated that people would consider replacing him, and secondly, the Baeksang Awards some time ago was a bit frustrated.

Although Ji Jingyuan does not feel lost because of the award, it doesn't hurt to fight for it if he has the opportunity, the drama is going to be filmed anyway...... And among the scripts he has in his hands now, this "Ghost" is excellent and has the most chance, and the re-collaboration between writer Kim Eun-sook, the creator of "Descendants of the Sun", and Lee Ying-bok PD, has surpassed other TV series by a lot.

As a junior, because of politeness, Chi Jingyuan arrived twenty minutes earlier than the agreed time, and was sitting at a square table in the café at this time, swiping his mobile phone while waiting for someone.

There are quite a lot of customers in this café, because the location is backed by tvN, so many industry staff and even artists will meet here to talk about things, and just now Ji Jingyuan also met several tvN PDs, artist agents and even actors, and he is not abrupt to sit here, it is very natural.

The surroundings and atmosphere are very good, but the movement may be due to the fact that there are more people talking, and it will be a little more lively than ordinary cafes.

At this time, Chi Jingyuan was reading the comments and messages of the new issue of "Running man", which was the one he recorded at the end of last month, and it was officially broadcast on the evening of the 13th yesterday.

Because the guest lineup was announced before, this issue has been expected by many viewers and fans for a long time, so the discussion after the broadcast is very hot:

"This issue is pretty good-looking, the final tearing of the name tag is really exciting, the two groups of guests are very good, Chi Jingyuan I know, who is the last girl group? That rabbit tooth is really cute.,It's still in 'shyshyhsy' when it's torn.,It's really cute to me in an instant.,And I'm not admitting defeat and has been trying to sneak attack kkkk It's so interesting.,I feel like I'm going to be a fan of her.。 ”

"Good sister, the guest of the girl group is the recent trend Twice, that rabbit tooth is Lin Nalian, a member of Twice, the eldest sister in the team is actually busy, with cute appearance, lively personality, full of vitality, full of stage charm, and now she is definitely in the pit......

"Kpop girl group has been an ugly girl for generations, Lin Nalian! Poor character, strange appearance, side face abuse, who is a fan and who is stupid, absolutely mong chong i~"

"I'm so angry to see it, it's clear that I'm going to win, and there's intelligence, what kind of Tzuyu went to tear Chi Jingyuan like an idiot, and as a result, the whole team lost directly, doesn't she understand Korean? Is this to show that it is to steal the camera? It's disgusting. ”

"That's it, it's not good to be pretentious after tearing it, it looks like you're going to cry, and the road is dark!"

"This Mingjing Nan is a little charming every time she laughs, you look at her eyes, it's the same as being able to talk, how do I feel that she has been seducing Oba?"

"Can EXO fans not be too sensitive, can't you watch the show well, this issue is so exciting, why is the comment area noisy, the ...... is smoky"

"That's right, after watching this issue, my senses of Chi Jingyuan are much better, I didn't feel anything about this kind of too delicate idol before, but after watching the scene where he catches chickens and milks cows, although I can see that I have no experience before, I can feel that he is really learning and doing very hard, and the originally somewhat boring plot has become interesting under his concentration and seriousness, as well as mistakes.

And he's actually the best one in the trio at everything...... But whether to say it or not, this person is really good-looking, and I think it's really eye-catching for a man. ”

After 12 or 13 years of peaking, the ratings of "Running Man" began to decline seriously in 16 years, and in the last six months, it has maintained a long-term rating of 6 to 8 percent in prime time on weekends, and it is difficult to surpass even 10 percent, which can be called the lowest trough since the start of the broadcast.

This issue is a bit of a bottoming out, because the popularity and gimmicks of the guests have attracted a lot of attention, and the ratings counted after yesterday's broadcast actually broke the 10 percent mark, rushing to nearly 13 percent, more than double the average rating this year.

Although it is still not enough to watch compared to the peak, it can be called a skyrocket in today's situation, and the program team can already celebrate with a part

However, the ratings are very high, but the controversy is very big, mainly focused on the final tearing off the brand, Zhou Ziyu, who tore off Chi Jingyuan's brand, was attacked by many people, not only that she knew some information but also tore Chi Jingyuan, and she didn't leave the team at all.

There are also people who think that she did it deliberately to fight for the camera, and there is a lot of scolding.

In fact, in the final analysis, the audience likes to watch it very much, and in the end, they all substituted themselves, and they were very dissatisfied after seeing Zhou Ziyu mistakenly tear up the bomb and cause the team to lose...... There are still a few viewers who can watch it calmly, especially with most of the Aili who has a deviated position.

But scold, scold, participate in a show always have to leave something, if you don't get praise, being scolded for two sentences is actually okay, at least the purpose of participating in the show has been achieved...... It's better than going to record hard for a long time, and then the audience has no impression of you as a person after watching the broadcast, and they don't know that you are coming.

But according to Chi Jingyuan's understanding, Zhou Ziyu is still very concerned about the comments on the Internet, and when she sees these messages attacking her, it is estimated that she will be angry for a few days, and she may have to secretly wipe her tears......

It's just that yesterday was her birthday.,The Phorar photo preview released that day was pretty beautiful.,Suddenly it's going to drop a little pearl.,It's still strange to think about the little girl......

Looking up at the time, there were still ten minutes to get to the appointed point, Ji Jingyuan swiped it casually again, and saw the latest news, which was about Jessica Zheng Xiuyan.

Today's 14th is the fifth game of the NBA Finals Cavaliers VS Warriors, in the previous four games, the Warriors led 3:1, and the victory was in hand, and they were about to win the championship with a record-breaking regular season record of 73 wins and achieve a legendary achievement.

And Jessica Jung so-yeonka, who had a small victory over her former teammates in the solo head-to-head competition and wanted to secure the lead and expand her advantage, received an invitation from Penguin Sports today to watch the game and serve as a commentator, and by the way, promote her solo album "With Love, J".

The NBA Finals is a really big occasion, and the Warriors are very likely to win the championship, and the attention is very high.

But the most interesting thing is that after she finished promoting her album and then announced that she was a Warriors fan, and the Warriors would win the championship, the Warriors suddenly seemed to be downgraded, with a huge lead of 3:1......

made the enthusiastic Sister Ka a little embarrassed.

The Great Rout! Former Girls' Generation member Jessica Jung so-yeon came to the aid and caused the Warriors to lose!! 》

There are also people below who leave a message "It's really declining, can you say that you are a fan of the knight, that you are a fan of Thunder Baron?" ”

Chi Jingyuan almost died of laughter when he saw this news headline and message.

He looked at the photos of Curry of the Warriors team depressed after the loss in the news sticker, and suddenly had a strange thought in his heart.

Shouldn't the Warriors lose this year's championship because of Sister Ka's on-site commentary and support?

World line changes?

Just when he was speculating with some malice in his heart, a sound of footsteps from far and near brought Chi Jingyuan back to his senses, he looked up, quickly put down his phone, and then took the initiative to stand up to greet him.

Kim Eun-sook is here.

"I've known each other for so long, why are you still so polite?"

Kim Eun-sook's eyes narrowed together with a smile, and she wore round-rimmed glasses, and sat down with a wave of her hand while looking at Ji Kyung-won.

"It's familiar, but I'm still a little nervous to see Nuna." Chi Jingyuan also sat down with smiling eyes: "And today I always feel like an interview, a test or something." ”

"Haha......"

This sister laughed all of a sudden, and she could feel that she was in a good mood after seeing Chi Jingyuan.

Kim Eun-sook doesn't look the same, she still looks like a peninsular woman, but her temperament is a little more prominent, with the seemingly casual but actually big-name clothes on her body, as well as the radiant expression and makeup on her face, she feels that the whole person looks a little richer.

It's not the kind of wealth that gets fat, but the kind of wealth that is accompanied by self-confidence and brilliance under the background of career success and money.

"Have you been waiting for a long time?"

"No, I've only been here for a while."

"Drink something?"

"Chocolate Bar ......"

"It's too sweet, can idols drink something so high in calories?"

"Idols also have to be lazy occasionally......"

Although they haven't seen each other for a while, they haven't broken contact, Ji Jingyuan feels that Kim Eun-sook's sister has always had a feeling of being a 'star-chasing' mother fan, and she liked Lee Min Ho very much before, and she wanted to cooperate with him in all her works, but later this appreciation changed to Ji Jingyuan, and she wanted to cooperate with him in all her works......

If you look at it with her extremely successful career as a writer, it's really an interesting person.

The two each ordered a cup of coffee, and then began to chat about the recent situation and exchanged pleasantries:

"How's it going, I see that you XO seem to have been very strong in the past two days?" you can call me monster？ ”

"Hahaha." Ji Jingyuan couldn't help laughing, this sister really watched their return title song, he nodded: "This return is indeed okay, but there are too many trips recently, and it will be very tiring often." ”

"Young people, it's okay to be tired for your career, but Jingyuan, your words are for hobbies and not for making money, I appreciate you the most...... Alas, when I wrote the script of "Descendants of the Sun", in fact, many settings were written according to the image of Jingyuan, including the appearance, if it weren't for ...... We worked together last year. ”

Speaking of this, Kim Eun-sook shook her head, looking a little regretful.

She was completely honest, she had contacted Ji Jingyuan when she was writing the script, and the image of Liu Shizhen's character in her heart was completely based on Ji Jingyuan.

However, Ji Jingyuan smiled, and it didn't seem that he felt regret because he missed a hit drama: "This is also no way...... But if I play the role of Yoo Si-jin, I don't think I will be so compatible with Song Hye Kyo, and, if it were me, wouldn't there be no Shuangsong CP who is so popular now? Breaking up other people's model couple who are so happy in the circle, I think, is not very good. ”

"Hehe, too, these two people......" Kim Eun-sook also laughed when she heard this, she saw with her own eyes how Shuangsong came together in the crew, and even at that time, the crew knew that this kind of CP helped with publicity, and there were a lot of meanings to add fuel to the fire......

After the coffee came up, the two finally got down to business.

"Jingyuan, you should have read the script of "Ghost", right?" After taking a sip of iced coffee, Kim Eun-sook lifted her glasses, and her expression slowly became serious.

"Well, I've seen it many times."

"What do you think of the script?"

"......" Chi Jingyuan was already prepared in his heart, he pondered for a second, and said seriously, with some memories: "The character image and personality of the protagonist, as well as the setting of ghosts, ghost brides, messengers from the underworld and other characters all give people a refreshing feeling, and the theme is very novel.

Taking the oriental god and ghost culture as a reference, the reincarnation of the main characters, and the fateful encounter with the protagonist has a fatalistic sense of sacredness, I have a lot of resonance when I read the script, the theme is novel, the plot is creative, the plot is stable, and the rhythm of the plot is stable, a very good script. ”

He said it, paused one last time, glanced at Kim Eun-sook, and added:

"However, in my understanding, although this "Ghost" has a layer of fantasy and the mask of ghosts and gods, the core of the essence is still love, and the focus is still on the entanglement and emotional development between ghosts and ghost brides, male and female two......"

This is Chi Jingyuan's true feeling, although the script of "Ghosts" is that the general was framed hundreds of years ago, and he has lived for hundreds of years to become a ghost, with mana and endless money, and all kinds of dead ghosts haunted, and all the messengers from the underworld have come out, looking like an oriental fantasy, very powerful.

But after reading the script, he found that this script, which looks so powerful, is actually the core of an idol romance.

is a bit similar to "Descendants of the Sun", which is wearing the mask of a military drama, and the focus is also on falling in love.

A little disappointed, but understandable.

Because most of the TV dramas on the Peninsula are about falling in love, from top to bottom, Peninsula, students, staff, and even idols, artists like to fall in love, and the love atmosphere is very strong, and the audience just likes to watch this, this is the mainstream.

Even suspense crime dramas like "Signal" will have a little emotional element, so workplace dramas like "Unborn" with no love at all will be so special, and it caused such a big sensation at the time.

Of course, that doesn't mean that it's bad to talk about love, love is one of the most sacred feelings of human beings, and the mainstream aesthetics are always correct, and the audience will naturally be larger...... The main reason is that there are too many idol love dramas of this kind, which have already made the audience aesthetically tired, and it is very difficult to bring forth the new and act interestingly, so that the audience is refreshed.

The standard negative example is Yuna's predecessor's "Love Rain", if there is no accident, add "Arbitrary Attachment" that Pei Xiuzhi did not release, it has been a drama for several years, and the whole script still has the flavor of "Blue Life and Death Love" more than ten years ago, which makes people feel a little sick to their stomachs after watching it.

The words of this "Ghost" are very good, including the character design, plot, and sense of fate under the same core, are all very novel, and the script and setting alone seem to be significantly higher than those ordinary romance dramas, and it is also an important reason for Chi Jingyuan to decide to choose it.

"You're right, it's true......"

Hearing Ji Jingyuan's words, Kim Eun-sook did not deny it, nodded and responded: "Only the core is love that will attract more audiences, this is the mainstream...... And under this theme and core, the character design and choice of the hero and heroine are particularly important, especially the male protagonist, in the drama "Ghost", the role of Jin Yu bears most of the setting and plot development. ”

"You should have read two versions of the script as well......" After seeing Ji Kyung-won nodding, Kim Eun-sook continued:

"At the beginning, the appearance of the male protagonist was set, although Jin Yu was set as a ghost who had lived for hundreds of years, and it didn't matter if the appearance was bigger or smaller, but for the sake of the interesting and attractive plot of the relationship, I set his appearance at 35 years old.

At first, the ideal actor was Kong Yooxi, but then you entered the leading role candidate, and I used you as a prototype to change some of the settings of the male lead and the main characters. ”

"For example, the appearance of the male protagonist has been changed from 35 years old to 25 years old, and the setting of the female protagonist has also been changed a little...... The original idea was that if Kong Yunxi was to play, because it was not easy to find an actress who was the same age as him and was more right, we simply set the age of the heroine to be relatively young after discussion, and it was a high school student, ready to set the love between the male and female protagonists as an uncle and Lori......"

Saying that, Kim Eun-sook laughed herself, and seemed to think that this setting was easy to reminisce: "But if you are the male protagonist of Jingyuan, you don't need to use the setting of Lori and Uncle anymore, and your age does not match, so I changed the heroine's high school student identity into a college student, and it is much easier to find an actress of this age and appearance."

If you cooperate with you to form a super good-looking protagonist CP, in terms of attractiveness and fun, it is actually not lost to the combination of Lori and uncle...... In fact, the combination of Lori and Uncle may cause some controversy, and there are still different opinions within the crew. ”

“…… Including the female number two, it's the same.,In order to match your appearance settings.,Will change the female number two from the male owner's sister.,Change to sister.,And so on and so forth......"

Kim Eun-sook discussed the script of the drama "Ghost" with Ji Kyung-won in detail, as well as the setting of the actor Kim Yu, and Ji Kyung-won also interjected from time to time to ask some questions, and the two discussed very seriously, and even said that Kim Eun-sook took out the script directly from the bag and found some passages to explain to him on the spot.

“…… In fact, the script of "Ghost" was not only given to you, but also given to Kong Yuxi very early...... The male protagonist I liked at the beginning was actually him.。 ”

After talking for a long time, the sister was also a little tired after almost finishing, took a sip of coffee, then sighed, and said some secrets that Chi Jingyuan didn't know:

"But he's focused on making movies now, and he hasn't made a TV series for a long time, and he hasn't accepted it, and Jingyuan has not replied from your side......

The crew is actually a little anxious, after all, you two are my favorite candidates, and I was going to have a good chat with you and Kong Yuxi in person two days ago...... But now that you've decided, I don't have to think about who I should choose. ”

"If it's Kong Yoo's senior, then it's really hard for me to compete." Hearing this name, Chi Jingyuan also nodded, and seemed to have a lot of respect for Kong Yu.

Let's not talk about acting skills, Kong Yoo's national degree is very high, and his reputation and impression in the hearts of the people are also very good, although there have been no too popular movies and TV series before, most of them are feature films, but Kong Yoo acted in "The Melting Pot", a very influential and very profound movie, and his position in the minds of directors in the circle is higher than Chi Jingyuan.

And I heard that starring him, the zombie film "Train to Busan", which will be released next month, was quite good after being shown at the Cannes International Film Festival last month, and the industry's commercial expectations for this drama are quite good.

Chi Jingyuan actually has a very good sense of him, and it is rumored in the circle that he is also a person with a good personality.

"I can't say that." Kim Eun-sook waved her hand and glanced at him dissatisfied, as if she was more confident than Ji Jingyuan herself: "You also have your own advantages, and there are many people who support you among the main creators." ”

Seeing that Ji Jingyuan laughed a little embarrassedly, Kim Eun-sook glanced at it appreciatively, and reminded again:

"But although you have the intention to act, it has not yet been officially confirmed, and you have to go through several rounds of auditions and talk to the producer at the same time, but with your strength and connections on your side, I believe these are not problems......"

Kim Eun-sook still knows a lot about some of Ji Kyung-won's background and relationships, which may be one of the reasons why she appreciates and values him so much.

"I'll meet with director Li Yingfu the day after tomorrow, and then we'll arrange an audition right away and confirm it as soon as possible."

"Okay."

Ji Kyung-won nodded and said that there was no problem on his side, thinking that he would also communicate with Park Jae-hyun after he went back, and see what connections and relationships the distribution company and production company of "Ghost" needed to be dredged, and just thinking about it, he heard Kim Eun-sook suddenly say:

"If Jingyuan's side is confirmed, then the role of the heroine will also start to be chosen...... At first, we thought that if we cooperated with Kong Yuxi, Jin Gaoyin was very good, but now the two of you are not very compatible in appearance, and there is no need for the character of 'Lori', if you come, you will naturally choose the heroine of the play according to your image. ”

"Do you have any suggestions?"