Jang Hyuk & Jang Na-ra Reunite in New Show, 'Family: The Unbreakable Bond'
The golden duo teams up for the first time in nine years to star in a brand new action-comedy about a secret agent leading a double life for his family.
The golden duo is back! It has been nine years since Jang Hyuk and Jang Na-ra grace the screen on a project and fans are delighted to see the South Korean acting veterans back together for tvN's latest action-comedy drama, Family: The Unbreakable Bond. The last time the two stars took up leading roles together was in the beloved 2014 romantic K-melodrama, Fated To Love You, in which the pair played an unlikely yet destined married couple.
History repeats itself but with a twist in their latest show, Family: The Unbreakable Bond, where we see them play a different type of married couple. Here we see the couple bearing deep secrets. Jang Hyuk plays Kwon Do-hoon, a secret agent for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) masquerading as an ordinary salaryman. He is married to Kang Yoo-ra played by Jang Na-ra, a seemingly ordinary housewife who always dreamed of the perfect family and things start going awry when a myterious man named Tae-goo (played by Kim Nam-hee) appears in their life. The action-comedy promises to be a blend of genres as it explores what happens when you discover the darkest and wildest secrets of the ones you love most.
On April 12, the cast and director sat down for a press conference to discuss the show that will be premiering globally on Disney+, May 5. Present were Jang Hyuk, Jang Na-ra, Chae Jung-an, Kim Nam-hee and director Jang Jung-do. Here are some highlights
On Jang Hyuk's return to comedy
The 46-year-old veteran actor is most known for his high octane action scenes and powerful, dark performances. For instance, in the 2022 historical drama Bloody Heart, he played a wise and benevolent king and this show marks his return to genre he long neglected. The host, Park Kyung-lim brought up a still image of Jang from the show with no eyebrows that had been making its rounds on the internet.
"Well, the fact that my eyebrows were shaved off says a lot about the series," Jang said, "Comedy is an interesting genre. You have to have the right sense of humor and pick up on subtle details to play with the situation you are in, which is why there are so many ad-lib lines. When reading the script, we all know how a dialogue will flow. But when you go into filming, people sort of fill in these gaps that we didn’t know existed, and that led to interesting scenes. That was quite fun. Before this series, I played rather serious roles, so it was a little difficult for me to get into a comic mood. So, I watched some comedies, and tried to immerse myself into that mode. It eventually became really fun."
On Jang Na-ra's character, a dedicated housewife hiding a secret
On the surface, Jang Na-ra's character, Kang Yu-ra is nothing but a doting wife and mother but it looks like there is more that lies underneath. She is the backbone of her family and will do anything for them. When discussing her character, Jang was asked about how being married has playing a housewife changed in any way after she got married.
"I didn’t feel that there was much of a difference," Jang replied, "This was true for my role in Confession Couple, but as you will find out when you watch the series, my character in Family: The Unbreakable Bond would risk her life for her family. Family means everything to her, and she would sacrifice her life for them. I focused on that dedication of my character. But there is this thing — it’s not that I have gotten into any huge fight with my husband, but as I sometimes talk about with Jang Hyuk, there are moments when you find yourself scolding your spouse with your stare even though your lips are smiling."
On the Jang Hyuk and Jang Na-ra's reunion after 9 years
When director Jang Jeong-do was asked why he picked the two stars to portray Kwon Do-hoon and Kang Yu-ra, he said, "I have been their long-time fan both as actors and a singer. I grew up watching their performances, and obviously, they are still very active in the scene, so I always wanted to see them perform together again. This project happened to be a perfect fit for them, and so, I offered the script to them. Both of them asked who they were going to perform with, and simply by learning that the other actor would be on the series, they accepted the offer.
Their chemistry is so great that they didn’t have to say much to each other — simply by looking at each other, they could communicate. No single take took us more than two hours, and they had so many great ideas, so I didn’t even feel like I had to direct much. I thoroughly enjoyed the process."
Jang Hyuk reaffirmed this saying,"I have seen Na-ra in her 20s and 30s. I look at her now, and all that time has helped us mature as acting partners. She was, of course, great in her 20s and 30s, but I don’t calculate very much when I perform with her. I simply go, 'Well, I can just do this, and it will all work out.' That gives me a lot of freedom. I do what I do, and she takes care of the rest.
When I did a romantic comedy with her — well, the thing about romantic comedy is that when you lean too much into being funny, it becomes very hard to stay grounded in reality, but Na-ra made it so easy. She always maintains the raw, real emotions and helps me to keep the balance between being funny and being more grounded in reality. And I think that balance has gotten even better. And you will get to see more of that in Family: The Unbreakable Bond."
Jang Na-ra echoed the same sentiments of how comfortable it always is to work with Jang Hyuk. "I found the story very engaging, but when I heard that I might be performing with Jang Hyuk, I said, “Then I should do it, of course.” We actually don’t talk a lot, but once we start shooting, he responds to however I perform and always takes care of the things that I don’t see or miss. He actually said that we might have been the Wright brothers in another life. We must have created something great."
On what sets Family: The Unbreakable Bond apart from other series?
"You are right that we have a lot of series and films about undercover intelligence service agents," Director Jang Jeong-do started when asked his approach to the spy genre, "Both in and outside Korea, in fact. But the focus of this series is more on how people react when they discover something new about people who are closest to them.
The story heavily focuses on if they can embrace that or not. And of course, the closest people are family in this case rather than lovers. When a secret is exposed, can a family handle it, or do they feel betrayed and cheated? I wanted to focus on whether this family can forgive each other. That naturally led to the story going back and forth between comedy and other genres. What sets this series apart from others is not the sophisticated moves or operations but how the story explores the mutual trust in a family in comedy and other genres. So in that sense, this series is very different from others."
Family: The Unbreakable Bond premieres May 5 on Disney+. Watch the trailer below:
