Korean family portrait

Soo Hugh has a precise idea of ​​television. In recent years, you have worked on some of the most innovative and original TV series. In 2018, she was part of the writing team of The Terror (Prime Video), of which she was also showrunner; in 2019, she first partnered with Apple for If it’s. Eight years earlier, she wrote two episodes of The Killing. He loves to experiment, she says, and Pachinko – on Apple tv + from March 25 – responds precisely to this need.

It’s a tale huge, rich but clear, divided into precise parts and full of details and points of view. It seems a puzzle. And each piece is a unique, square and wonderful piece. The story is set in three different periods: during the early 1900s, with the Japanese occupation of Korea; between the two world wars, in Japan; and between the 1980s and 1990s. It is taken from a book, The Korean wife by Min Jin Lee (Piemme; translation by Federica Merani). At the heart of it all is the character of Sunja: childhood with his father and mother, the afternoons spent in the water looking for oysters; adolescence and the first, scorching love; the discovery of a new world, and the marriage; and then the children, grandchildren and the desire to protect them at all costs. On the one hand, the destiny, so unpredictable and smoky; on the other the real lifewith everyday decisions, prejudices, suffering and falls.

“Min Jin Lee’s is a truly extraordinary novel,” says Hugh. “When I first read it, something very deep and primal awoke in me. I thought about mine family. And then I love challenges: I love doing things that have never been attempted before. And no one has ever done a series like this, in three languages. For me, it has always been important to try to reach audiences from all over the world ». Finding a balance between the source material and the script was, he says, “easy and, at the same time, extremely difficult. The foundations of the book and its main elements are essential. Each character is unique, and being able to tell the various points of view is a real fortune for those who do this job. The first question I asked myself was another, and that is: why shoot a TV series? Not all books, after all, need to be adapted. In fact, sometimes it’s best not to. I found the answer in generational and cultural conflict: a profound conflict, which goes back in time and reaches today ».

Sunja grows near the sea. The Japanese presence is stifling. Koreans are forced to obey; those who do not are imprisoned and condemned. “The story of the book is straightforward,” continues Hugh. «The one in the series does not: it goes back and forth, precisely to underline the constant contrast that exists. I wanted to say something different: not alternative, but mine. And a TV series, in my opinion, was the only way to do it: one movie would not have been enough“.

The main theme of Pachinko and the survival. «Without neglecting», explains the showrunner, «the challenges and obstacles to overcome. When it comes to our family, and the people we love, we are ready for anything. But there is always a price to pay. Sunja, the protagonist, constantly makes choices. And when she does her, she decides to give herself a limit ».

The casting went on for a long time. “The central phase alone took about six months.” Production organized specimens almost all over the world. “From Korea to Japan, from the United States to Australia and from the United Kingdom to Canada”. The goal, says Hugh, was to find the best actors for the various roles. “And they didn’t have to be famous to be chosen.”