As if Mary Stayed Out All Night doesn’t have enough appeal already, it can now confidently boast ‘real’ performing artists in whatever marketing or promotional gimmicks it chooses moving forward. The newest addition to the cast, joining Moon Geun Young, Jang Geun Seok, and Kim Jae Wook, is Kim Hyo Jin, fresh off the stage of Fool For Love. Prior to her stage run, she was last seen on the big screen in 2009’s ensemble film Ogamdo (The Five Senses of Eros).
Kim Hyo Jin will be playing a newly created character ‘Seo Joon’, who is not part of the original manhwa story which Mary is adapted from. ‘Seo Joon’ is Jang Geun Seok’s character’s ex-girlfriend in the drama, a celebrity with both inner and outer beauty. She’s charasmatic and confident with beauty and talent all packaged into one. Last but not least, she also comes from a respectable background, an extremely important trait to have, perhaps no longer as firmly stipulated in today’s Korean society, but is still very much held onto in the Korean drama universe.
It may be a New York thing, drama school hang-up or even Off-Broadway background bias, but whatever the reason, it’s difficult not to look at actors and actresses with more respect and/or legitimacy after they’ve stumbled, endured, and been polished under the searing stage lights of a live theater audience. Night after night…
Thus, my hats off to the producers of Mary for roping in an ensemble of young talents that’re sure to engage and impress us.