Rom-com star Park Bo-young switches gears for gold heist thriller

Disney+ is betting big on transformation with its latest tentpole Korean original, “Gold Land.”

The crime thriller sees the nation’s sweetheart Park Bo-young shed her familiar image for a woman with nothing left to hold on to — except a gold chest worth over a million dollars.

Airport security officer Hee-joo, played by Park, becomes ensnared in a slew of escalating events after she finds a chest containing one ton of gold. What follows is a ruthless chase as Hee-joo competes against a host of forces determined to claim the fortune for themselves.

Positioned as one of Disney+’s most anticipated Korean tentpoles of the first half of this year, “Gold Land” explores human desire in its most primal form. The project unites two major names in Korea’s entertainment industry: director Kim Sung-hoon, known for “Confidential Assignment,” and screenwriter Hwang Jo-yoon, whose credits include the acclaimed "Old Boy."

Speaking at a press conference in Yeouido on Monday, Kim explained the significance of the headline-grabbing sum at the center of the drama.

“That amount comes from converting the value of the gold,” he said. “I felt that when the gold appears, it needed to feel massive in scale because it symbolizes desire itself. Hee-joo becomes bound to this gold in the very place she most wants to escape. It had to be something immensely valuable and not easily moved. That’s why we set it at one ton. Based on the gold price at the time, it came out to 150 billion won ($102 million).”

For Park, the project marks a significant departure from the warm, emotionally resonant roles that made her one of Korea’s beloved stars in titles such as “Our Unwritten Seoul” and “Light Shop.” “Gold Land” is her first foray into the crime-thriller genre, and an intentional one.

“I wanted to challenge myself with a new genre,” Park said. “The director told me, ‘You have the kind of image that makes people think you would return the gold if you found it. Wouldn’t it create a completely different feeling if you made another choice instead?’ That idea really drew me in.”

To fully inhabit Hee-joo, Park said she underwent a physical transformation that aligned with the director’s vision, losing weight and appearing on screen with minimal makeup.

“Hee-joo isn’t someone who grew up in a happy environment, and I wanted that to be visible,” she said. “There are many scenes where she is running away with the gold, so the director felt it would be more convincing if I looked slightly thinner."

Director Kim added, “What impressed me most was not simply the weight loss, but the way she portrayed Hee-joo gradually unraveling and becoming worn down by life. She never held anything back and fully committed to showing that emotional and physical deterioration.”

Kim said one of the drama’s major draws lies in watching its cast reinvent themselves in ways audiences have not seen before.

“I know these actors quite well, but even I found them unfamiliar at times. They felt like entirely different people,” he said. “Viewers will also discover new sides of these familiar faces. Because this is a drama where suspense is driven by the desires growing inside each character. That transformation was absolutely essential.”

“Gold Land” premieres Wednesday with episodes 1 and 2, followed by two new episodes released weekly across a 10-episode run.