[HanCinema's News] Press Conference Held for "Cleaning Up"

Lee Mu-saeng, Kim Jae-hwa, Yum Jung-ah, Jeon So-min and Na In-woo

On June 2nd JTBC held a press conference for "Cleaning Up" which will begin in the timeslot which "My Liberation Notes" recently vacated. Director Yoon Seong-sik was in attendance, as well as all five of the listed primary cast members. This includes Yum Jung-ah, Jeon So-min, Kim Jae-hwa, Lee Mu-saeng, and Na In-woo. The story deals with cleaning ladies who scheme to get rich off of stock trading based on their inside knowledge of the trading area where they work.

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Director Yoon Seong-sik commented that "Cleaning Up" was unusual compared to his previous works, which include "Bridal Mask" and "Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth" among many others, in that the characters are common people with no real stake in society. They have nothing to lose, which results in a fundamentally different kind of conflict. All they have to protect are their own people. As the lead character is drawn into crime, so too is the viewer led to her sadness, loneliness, and joy.

Director Yoon Seong-sik also described "Cleaning Up" as a crime caper helmed chiefly by women, and said that for this reason he thought many people had high hopes for it. In comparison to the British drama on which "Cleaning Up" is based, director Yoon Seong-sik said that his version has more of a lighter touch. Yoon Seong-sik says that rather than just being a descent into crime, emotion and humor is also critical to both tone and tension, and that his leading lady Yum Jung-ah is more relatable by contrast.

Yum Jung-ah, for her part, likewise described her character in sympathetic terms, noting that she works twenty five hours a day to provide for her two daughters as a single mother. Yum Jung-ah noted that for her character, the premise is not illegality, but opportunity. Yum Jung-ah claimed that she went for a naturalistic tone along these lines, in part because Yum Jung-ah felt that in her own life as well she had moments similar to those of her character.

Elsewhere, Jeon So-min spoke of her character, a food truck operator. Kim Jae-hwa plays a character whose work has promoted a very persuasive skill set on her part. All three female leads work together to form a strategy, while Lee Mu-saeng plays a more mysterious character and Na In-woo plays the doctorate seeking son of Yum Jung-ah's character. "Cleaning Up" will begin airing on JTBC on June 4th at 10:30 in the evening, running for Saturdays and Sundays thereafter.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Cleaning Up" is directed by Yoon Seong-sik, written by Choi Kyung-mi, and features Yum Jung-ah, Jeon So-min, Kim Jae-hwa, Lee Mu-saeng, Na In-woo, Jang Shin-young. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/06/04~Upcoming, Sat, Sun 22:30 on JTBC.