Scheduled to premiere on Friday, October 9 at 9:50 PM, the new SBS Friday-Saturday drama "Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia" (written by Pung Seung-geun, directed by Lee Jung-rim) is a refreshing medical noir depicting the activities of Doctor X, Gye Soo-jung, a "madwoman in the operating room" who shatters massive absurdities with genius surgical skills that know neither failure nor compromise. It is drawing anticipation as the first medical genre in the hit-making "SBS Cider Universe."
Regarding her reason for choosing "Doctor X" for her return to television after two years, Kim Ji-won shared, "The gap between Gye Soo-jung's outward appearance and the new aspects discovered the closer you look was attractive, and I wanted to express that charm well." She explained, "Gye Soo-jung is a figure who has exiled herself into the darkness and devoted herself solely to surgical skills. While others might find the title of 'genius surgeon' fitting, from my perspective looking at the path she walked, she didn't feel like a 'genius,' but rather someone who simply did her absolute best with an earnest heart."
When asked about the difference between Gye Soo-jung and protagonists from existing medical dramas, she pointed out, "If a sense of justice and duty are common traits among medical drama protagonists, Gye Soo-jung differs in the way she expresses them. Because she focuses most of her abilities on her surgical skills, she is somewhat awkward in emotional areas such as social skills and flexibility." She added, "Watching Gye Soo-jung, who possesses flawless surgical skills yet lacks social skills, sometimes made me chuckle. I tried to capture these contrasts well," highlighting her focal points for the character.
To portray the surgery-obsessed "genius doctor" character, Kim Ji-won shared, "I learned the surgical skills necessary for the operating scenes from our medical advisor and spent time becoming fully familiar with them. Since Gye Soo-jung's genius is connected not only to the surgery scenes but also to the dramatic narrative, I tried to carry that energy into my acting as well," raising expectations.
Kim Ji-won also mentioned the unexpected charm of director Lee Jung-rim, with whom she worked for the first time. She expressed her trust, saying, "I enjoyed the director's previous works so much that I was curious. Since she has done many charismatic projects, I wondered if her directing would be direct and unsparing, but in reality, rather than deciding on answers beforehand, she had a meticulous style of building scenes on set while working closely with the actors. I remember bringing various analyses that matched that wavelength and building the character within the director's direction."
In addition, expressing her gratitude toward Lee Jung-eun, who plays "Jang Hee-sook" and is set to show great "womance" chemistry, Kim Ji-won said, "To Gye Soo-jung, Jang Hee-sook is a 'fenced-in person' who is sometimes like a boss, sometimes an aunt, and sometimes a friend, and the senior actor was that kind of person to me as well. It was a set where I learned a lot about both the responsibility and joy of being an actor."
Kim Ji-won also expressed gratitude to her fellow cast members, including Son Hyun-ju, Woo-seok, Lee Jin-hee, Kim Young-min, Lee Sung-wook, Huh Jun-seok, Kim Young-ah, and Kwon Seung-woo. She showed off their tight-knit teamwork, stating, "Thanks to these people, the character of Gye Soo-jung and the project 'Doctor X' could feel much more three-dimensional and diverse. Personally, it was a precious set where I was able to learn and feel a lot of things."
Finally, expressing gratitude to viewers sending passionate interest, Kim Ji-won requested, "The premise of being a doctor dispatched from a medical placement agency itself seems like it will be a fresh viewing point. As you follow the stories that Gye Soo-jung, dispatched from the agency, creates at Guseo University Hospital, you will encounter various stories such as each character's choices, regrets, desires, and pain."
Armed with unconventional settings and a powerful dark hero character, "Doctor X" will premiere on Friday, October 9 at 9:50 PM.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)