Romcom K-star Park Bo-young switches gears for gold heist thriller Gold Land
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In Gold Land, Park Bo-young plays a woman with nothing left to hold on to except a gold chest worth more than a million dollars.
PHOTO: DISNEY+
SEOUL – Streamer Disney+ is betting big on transformation with its latest tentpole original K-drama Gold Land.
The crime thriller sees South Korea’s sweetheart Park Bo-young shed her familiar image for a woman with nothing left to hold on to – except a gold chest worth more than 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 tonne of gold. What follows is a ruthless chase as Hee-joo competes against a host of forces determined to claim the fortune for themselves.
Premiering on Disney+ on April 29, Gold Land explores human desire in its most primal form. The project unites two major names in the K-entertainment industry: director Kim Sung-hoon, known for the action comedy film Confidential Assignment (2017), and screenwriter Hwang Jo-yoon, whose credits include the acclaimed movie thriller Oldboy (2003).
Speaking at a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul, on April 27, Kim explained the significance of the headline-grabbing sum at the centre 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 symbolises 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 tonne. Based on the gold price at the time, it came out to 150 billion won (S$130 million).”
For Park, the project marks a significant departure from the warm, emotionally resonant roles that made her one of the nation’s beloved stars in titles such as Our Unwritten Seoul (2025) and Light Shop (2024). Gold Land is her first foray into the crime thriller genre, and an intentional one.
“I wanted to challenge myself with a new genre,” said the 36-year-old actress. “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.”
Park Bo-young at the press conference for Gold Land.
PHOTO: DISNEY+
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 make-up.
“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.”
Park Bo-young in Gold Land.
PHOTO: DISNEY+
Director Kim said: “What impressed me most was not simply the weight loss, but the way she portrayed Hee-joo gradually unravelling and becoming worn down by life. She never held anything back and fully committed to showing that emotional and physical deterioration.”
He said one of the drama’s major draws lies in watching its cast – which also includes Lee Hyun-wook and Kim Sung-cheol – 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,” the director 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.” THE KOREA HERALD/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Gold Land premieres on Disney+ on April 29.
