PD Na Young Suk's second season of the backpack travel project, "Noonas Over Flowers," is to air this week.
The first season of tvN's backpack travel project, "Halbaes Over Flowers," which starred Lee Soon Jae, Shin Goo, Park Geun Hyung, and Baek Il Sup, provided a lot of laughter to the audiences and amassed much popularity.
The second season tvN's backpack travel project, "Halbaes Over Flowers," stars Korean national actresses such as Yoon Yeo Jung, Kim Ja Ok, Kim Hee Ae, and Lee Mi Yeon, already amassing the audiences' expectations.
PD Na Young Suk has recently returned from his travels to Turkey and Croatia with actresses Yoon Yeo Jung, Kim Ja Ok, Kim Hee Ae, and Lee Mi Yeon, and is currently editing the videos of the actresses he filmed during the travels.
PD Na Young Suk in an interview shared his insights on the backpack travel projects.
What is the secret of casting popular actors and actresses in your backpack travel projects?
"Noonas Over Flowers" shows actresses that are hard to see in common entertainment programs. As in "Halbaes Over Flowers," I went for the oldest actors and actresses. When I had the ideas for the entertainment program, "Halbaes Over Flowers," I visited Lee Soon Jae, explained to him the concept of the program, and asked him to recommend me other members of the program. So Shin Goo, Park Geun Hyung, and Baek Il Sup in that order confirmed their travels. Likewise, for "Noonas Over Flowers," visiting Yoon Yeo Jung, the oldest of the four actresses, was my start. I pitched the idea to her saying that this will tell the stories of actresses who are over 40 years old. Kim Ja Ok and Kim Hee Ae confirmed their travels, and Lee Mi Yeon joined the team as the last member.
Is there a story behind the title, "Noonas Over Flowers"?
During the meeting before the travels to Turkey and Croatia, I called actress Lee Mi Yeon, who is five years older than me, noona. Kim Ja Ok then asked me to call all the other members noonas as well. After the meeting, it really struck with me that women, regardless of their age, want to be seen as women. I also wanted to piggyback up on the popularity of "Halbaes Over Flowers." (laughter)
How was traveling with actresses different from with halbaes?
The "Flower halbaes" never complained about not sleeping well because they are not sleeping on their beds, or not being able to go to the bathroom. I still do not understand 80% of the difficulties the actresses voiced during the trip. I think that I will understand them as I go through the video clips. Lee Seung Ki and I learned a lot about women, and those types of stories will be aired on "Noonas Over Flowers."
Lee Soon Jae in "Halbaes Over Flowers" was nicknamed as "Straight Soon Jae" because he always wanted to go straight when lost. What are the nicknames of the actresses?
The actresses do not have nicknames yet. But Kim Ja Ok is a four dimensional princess, and Kim Hee Ae is a weirdo. She loves to watch "Gag Concert" and impersonates a lot of the episodes from "Gag Concert," none of which resemble the real episodes.
