[PREVIEW] SBS TV series "Midas"

From left, SBS TV series "Midas" directors Kang Shin-hyo, Lee Chang-min and actors Jang Hyuk, Kim Hee-ae, Lee Min-jung and No Min-woo pose at a press conference held in Seoul, South Korea on February 21, 2011. [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

The door to the room at a Chinese restaurant that young lawyer Do-hyun (Jang Hyuk) opened was not any ordinary room. The room Do-hyun entered was of a world on an entirely different level for him -- he was called there as the lawyer to Yoo Pil-sang's (Kim Sung-kyum) family, with as much wealth as the Samsung or Hyundai families, who were gathered to discuss Yoo's inheritance to his children. The culture shock the poorly raised Do-hyun experiences around the round table at the Chinese restaurant intuitionally shows the topic of SBS TV series "Midas." The young man who is talented yet grew up poor becomes blinded by gold and In-hye (Kim Hee-ae), the eldest daughter to the Yoo family who is also most likely to become the successor, proposes an offer that is "impossible to turn down." Do-hyun accepts it to 'become happier,' even deserting the fiancee he so loves, but will he be able to buy happiness with money?

"Midas," for which a press conference was held Monday, looks into how people are full of the desire to become wealthy as well as the world of the upper class people who hold that sort of wealth. The show already brought about much attention for starring actors Jang Hyuk and Kim Hee-ae but what is most noteworthy about "Midas" is the return of scenarist Choi Wan-kyu. He who had already portrayed young men who rush toward their desires including in SBS' "All In" and "Swallow the Sun" with Las Vegas and a diamond mine as the backdrop, respectively, uses money itself as the subject in "Midas." The process through which the Yoo Pil-sang family accumulated enough wealth to turn from the owner of a medium-sized construction company and savings bank to a conglomerate as rich as Samsung or Hyundai is shown by how they carried down the business of hiring to real estate to hedge fund and In-hye confidently gives a lecture to people who dream of seeing as much success as her. "Midas" looks at the world that moves based on human desire and money from a cold perspective.

Like Jang Hyuk's interpretation of the drama being one that "actually contains a lot of romantic aspects, different to people's expectations it will focus on success and accomplishing work since people's desires will be portrayed through the world of money," "Midas" will look into people's hearts as much as it will talk about money and success. Lee Jung-yeon (Lee Min-jung) who has been dumped by her fiancee Do-hyun will chase after her desires just like Do-hyun did and Myung-joon (No Min-woo), the prodigal son of Yoo Pil-sang's family will become attracted to Jung-yeon who is not wavered by his power and qualifications. When Do-hyun starts to miss the life he left behind after he gets fed up with the Yoo Pil-sang family that remains bleak even with wealth in their hands, these three with different desires inevitably clash.

"I'm sure you wonder who owns all the tall buildings that you see on the main streets of Seoul." Like producer Kang Shin-hyo said, one's desire to accumulate on wealth becomes desperate because it is not your own but also obscure because you do not know what it is really about. To how Do-hyun came to obsess over money, Jang Hyuk explained, "Rather than wanting to achieve something by making money, he probably just went for it trying to figure out what money is." Whether "Midas" succeeds or not will depend on how realistically the truth to such blind desire is depicted. "Midas" starts its run on February 22.


Actors and their characters

Kim Do-hyun (Jang Hyuk) A highly competent lawyer with great looks. But he has the painful past of having lived a tough life when he was young because his father went missing after going on the look for a gold mine and he was left to make a living with just his mother. Then when even his mother passed away, the only dream he had left was to start a happy family with Jung-yeon. However, his ambitions which had been dormant in his heart become awakened when he is asked to look after the secretive affairs of the Yoo Pil-sang family. "If 'Tazza' was about a man who broke away from his life against his will, 'Midas' is about a man who chose to leave his life to chase after his ideals but tries to return to his old life. Do-hyun is someone who in one corner of his heart, feels pity for the life he has lost."

Yoo In-hye (Kim Hee-ae) The eldest daughter of the Yoo Pil-sang family. While growing up, she put up with being called 'the child of the concubine' by her older brother (Yoon Jae-moon) while both respecting and detesting her father, so just like him, she wants to hold great power and money in her hands. Now the owner of a hedge fund that manages a huge sum of money by studying the world's economic trends, In-hye recognizes the abilities genius lawyer Do-hyun has and presents him with an offer he cannot turn town. "It's already been four years since I did 'My Man's Woman' but I didn't know this much time had passed. So I'm on set for the first time in a while but everyone is young including the directors. I'm also working with young and refreshing actors so everything feels different. Things seem completely different from four years ago. It's as if I'm working in a different country."

Lee Jung-yeon (Lee Min-jung): She dated Do-hyun for six years. She had never been overly greedy and Do-hyun was a gift and her lucky break. But everything starts to change after Do-hyun joins a mysterious law firm. Jung-yeon becomes fearful of her fiancee who is blinded by his ambitions and her fears turn into reality. After she gets abandoned by Do-hyun, the wild-living Myung-joon appears before her. "I think actors look beautiful when their appeals come through the characters they play within a project. I'm happiest when I'm told I moved someone with my acting or someone thinks I'll actually be like the character I'm playing. I'm hoping to show such acting."

Yoo Myung-joon (No Min-woo): He is the only other member of the Yoo Pil-sang family born under the same mother as In-hye. His mother disappeared one day and he lived under an unrelenting father so he comes to suffer from lack of love, doing only the things his father tells him not to and living as a prodigal son of a conglomerate family. He then finds his long-sought affection in nurse Jung-yeon who tells him "You disqualify as a human being regardless of whether you have a lot of money or not." "Myung-joon later becomes a patient of terminal cancer. The director said he'd like me to learn how to play my character by actually meeting with terminally ill people instead of by looking at books or movies. I'm worried but I'm going to do my best to play my role to not cause trouble to the senior actors."

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Reporter : Lee Seung-Han fourteen@
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@, Jang Kyung-Jin three@