Kim Woo-Bin And Bae Suzy Conjure Up Romance In ‘Genie, Make A Wish’

Ki Ka-young did not wish for a genie, but now that she’s met one and he offers her some wishes, she must be very careful what she wishes for. The genie (Kim Woo-bin) in the k-drama Genie, Make A Wish doesn’t have the best intentions. He wants to prove that humans are the worst divine creation and they were never worthy of his respect. Saying so is how he got kicked out of heaven and became a genie. Millennia later he still needs to have the last word.

Past incarnations of Ka-young (Bae Suzy) were hard to corrupt so Genie keeps waiting for a new incarnation, one that is more selfish than selfless. Magically having your wishes come true brings out the worst in some people. Humans are never satisfied, always wanting more. Although Ka-young is surprised by the genie’s unexpected appearance, Genie is more surprised by her reaction to him. She’s not impressed by his supernatural demonstrations or his personal charms. She also doesn’t wish for anything. She has everything she needs.

“Because Genie has been seeing human beings for thousands and thousands of years, he believes that they are a failure by the creator and that human beings always end up corrupt,” said Kim (Our Blues, The Heirs, Uncontrollably Fond). “However, I think throughout the process of meeting a lot of different characters, especially Ka-young, I’m sure that there’s a part of him that can feel empathy towards these human beings.”

That empathy may take a few episodes to develop. Genie is first attracted to Ka-young because she’s pretty,” said Kim, making Suzy smile and jokingly frame her face with her hands. Then Genie is intrigued.

“I think the genie feeling attraction toward the character and her being devoid of human emotion are two completely different things,” he said. “I think he was first of all attracted to her because of her looks. Then secondly, even though she doesn’t feel human emotions, the choices that she makes, it led to him feeling empathy toward her.”

Ka-young has been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, although she’s had plenty of help controlling her anti-social instincts from her devoted grandmother and the rest of her village. It apparently does take a village to raise a sociopath, as they are all aware of her negative potential and seek ways to encourage positive behavior. While Ka-young may not care about right or wrong, she knows what matters to others and what’s expected of her. To portray a character with ASPD, Suzy (Start-Up, Uncontrollably Fond, Vagabond) had to consider the ways her normally expressive face might betray her emotions. She needed to convey a lack of empathy.

“I went through a unique experience while reading the script and it’s that I realized I learned how to completely just take face value of what is being said,” said Suzy. “I didn’t try to read between the lines or think that there was an alternate intention behind what everybody else was saying. Ironically, I realized that if you take everything at face value, you don’t really feel empathy.”

Playing Ka-young gave Suzy the opportunity to wonder what it means to be candid and what it means to be social.

“I am the type of person whose face really is always telling what I’m going through and what I’m feeling,” said Suzy. “In the beginning it was very hard to erase all of those facial expressions. Sometimes I thought that I didn’t move a muscle, but then when I would look back at the monitor, I realized that I was actually reacting to something with my eyebrows. So after that, I really paid attention not to move a muscle. I have to say, I’ve gotten so used to it that now it’s actually hard for me to express my actual emotions. I’m trying to reverse it.”

Kim’s Genie is larger than life—a showman, a rock star, an evil prophet of doom—all wrapped into one, but the power to grant wishes and all that goes with that power is not something Kim would wish for himself. If he was offered that power he would refuse.

“I think it’s a very lonely and very challenging power,” said Kim.

Still, Genie does have some of the best lines in this drama, wittily describing his personal journey as “the other side of the Aladdin story.” As any out-of-time-and-place character Genie revels in modern world wonders, such as video games, even if they initially confuse him. He has some of the drama’s funniest physical comedy scenes—jumping over couches and on to magic carpet rides. Given Ka-young’s emotional disconnect from others, many of her actions and reactions are muted. It takes a while to warm to this seemingly aloof character.

“I think it’s not easy to like her, especially because you can’t really measure her out,” said Suzy. “You don’t know what’s going through her mind, and you see her and think she’s someone completely different from you. So it’s hard to like her. But when you see the people around her, they have such a warm approach and perspective toward her. They shower her with unconditional love. The audiences sort of get into that and start looking at her in that way. As the episodes go on and the story progresses, even though she is someone who has antisocial personality disorder, because she lives so strictly by the rules, she ends up being more righteous and an upright person more so than anyone else. You almost get addicted to her candidness.”

Genie does enjoy Ka-young’s candidness and such an addiction might foil his long-term plan. Could one human possibly change his mind about humanity?

The Netflix fantasy rom com is helmed by two award-winning directors, Lee Byeong-hun (Extreme Job) and Ahn Gil-ho (The Glory). As an added bonus, it’s written by Kim Eun-sook, who wrote the hit dramas The Glory, Guardian: The Great and Lonely God and The King Eternal Monarch. Genie, Make A Wish, also stars Noh Sang-hyun (Pachinko), Ko Kyu-pil (The Fiery Priest 2), Ahn Eun-jin (My Dearest) and Lee Joo-young (The 8 Show). Kim and Suzy previously appeared together in the 2016 TV drama Uncontrollably Fond.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.