Who are the judges on 'Love Like a K-Drama' audition? Panelists rip apart 'inexperienced' actors asking them to go back to kindergarten
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: 'Love Like a K-Drama', a new reality series on Netflix, tracks eight aspiring actors as they pursue romantic K-dramas while looking for love. Despite the fact that they were all professional actors, finding a part proved difficult when none of the panelists seemed to prefer the four Korean actors to the Japanese ladies.
At the auditions, the cast met Yuko Fueki for the first time. Three judges, including Yuko, analyzed each audition.
Doo Jin Hwang, a former professor at the Seoul Institute of Arts, is the first on the panel. Jung Eun Kim, a theater actress, is the second panelist.
All the pairs gave their first audition for the inaugural season after 30 minutes of final rehearsal.
Eun Kim wanted the actors to be prepared for the classic storyline progression in the K-Dramas they were about to film. She didn't want anyone to imitate what they saw on TV.
Doo Jin wanted to test how sincere the performers appeared to the viewers as they confessed their affections to one another at the conclusion. He wanted the performers to comprehend and communicate their feelings.
Doo Jin was unsure if they would be able to pull it off, despite the fact that they had just met the day before and had only begun rehearsing the day before. But he wants the auditions to be genuine.
'Love Like a K-Drama' judges call actors 'inexperienced' during auditions
During his evaluation, Doo Jin described all the performers as "visibly inexperienced in this genre." He went on to say, "They don't seem to know how to tackle these scenes."
Given where they are today, he couldn't understand how the cast was going to properly build up their characters for the parts.
Eun Kim was concerned that the cast was attempting to mimic current dramas, "but they didn't even manage to do that."
"I feel like they need to go way back and start over from the beginning," she says.
"They need to go all the way back to the kindergarten. This is far worse than what I was expecting," she said in her harsh evaluation.
She further described it as a "dire situation" and was deeply concerned about what they could expect from the four male actors.
'Love Like a K-Drama' judges loved Rio Yamashita's audition
Yuko stated that she could not have gotten so far in that short length of time when she was their age. She believes the cast is putting forth a lot of effort.
She points out that they all have flaws and areas to improve.
Rio Yamashita, according to Eun Kim, was "particularly focused on her character." She is also quite attractive and draws a lot of attention. "That's an amazing trait for an actor."
Doo Jin believed Song Ji Hyuk wasn't quite up to par, but he believes Rio can compensate. "She'll steal the show."
Rio Yamashita and Song Ji Hyuk bag first leading roles in 'Love Like a K-Drama'
Rio and Ji Hyuk were given the leading roles in the first miniseries they were going to film, according to the judges.
Yuko added that Rio's performance was "very captivating," which is why they were chosen unanimously by the judges.
"In my opinion, none of the four pairs was good enough," Doo Jin remarked. "We want you all to know that we didn't pick this team because they were much better than the others. We saw a concrete connection between the characters because Rio was reacting so naturally to Ji Hyuk."
Eun Kim went on to say that Nozomi was just as keen on the job as Rio was. "But what I find strange is that I could barely understand the male actors, even though they all speak fluent Korean. I was quite disappointed that it was hard to make out your lines."
She instructed them to practice their pronunciation.
Episodes 1-4 of 'Love Like a K-Drama' are currently streaming on Netflix.