Personalities

5 minutes with Jung Yu-mi, Nam Joo-hyuk and the crew of Netflix’s The School Nurse Files

The School Nurse Files is a Netflix’s coming-of-age epic to unlock and recharge your heart amidst this strange time.
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Despite the distance, time and all those 2020-limitations, Netflix has managed to make the best out of it. The online conference of Netflix’s Original series The School Nurse Files was an immersive and exciting one. Against a CGI background where Jellies – one of the lead characters in The School Nurse Files– floating around, we had artists Jung Yu-mi and Nam Joo-hyuk, writer Chung Se-rang and director Lee Kyoung-mi on a video call to unwrap the making of the story. 

“I feel very much at home now, here’s my favourite Octopus Jelly, ” said Yu-mi who plays the character Ahn Eun-young with the ability to see Jelly aka the remnants of human desires, while pointing at the bouncing slimy on the screen.

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Ahn Eun-young (Jung Yu-mi)
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Hong In-pyo (Nam Joo-hyuk)

We’re among the lucky media to receive the screeners from Netflix earlier this month, and the first three episodes have already left us awestruck.

Expect no stereotype in The School Nurse Files, the offbeat plot delivers multi-dimensional portrayal of youth and the nuances of emotions are delicately captured through explosive imaginations and unpredictable characters.

There’s no single frame of boredom. It may kind of reminds the Extracurricular as it unfolds the hardest truths we learned as a kid and the vulnerability we tried to camouflage as a grown-up.

 

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Lee Kyoung-mi and Jung Yu-mi

"You will see the creators' will to realise a world where we love someone despite of their flaws and faults."

 

-Director Park Chan-wook

 

"Director Lee has been creating never-seen-before and never-heard-before female characters who make you laugh and cry at her story and eventually understand her as a person. "

 

-Actress Gong Hyo-jin

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Nam Joo-hyuk and Lee Kyoung-mi

Co-created by Chung Se-rang, the writer of the eponymous novel and Lee Kyoung-mi, the director of Persona: Love Set, The School Nurse Files has an utterly stellar team on board to realise a world of unlimited imagination and endless wonder.

It brings Jung Yu-mi and Nam Joo-hyuk together for the very first time, featuring a soundtrack assembled by music director Jang Young-gyu who composed the film score of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, The Wailing and The Yellow Sea.

And last but not least, The School Nurse Files introduces a cast of new faces who totally made the characters their own with raw and real portrayals of the dazed and confused. 

 

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The School Nurse Files behind the scenes still
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The School Nurse Files production still

We caught up with artists Jung Yu-mi and Nam Joo-hyuk, writer Chung Se-rang and director Lee Kyoung-mi as the crew unwrap everything about The School Nurse Files: 

ON THEIR CHARACTER

 

Jung Yu-mi: Ahn Eun-young is someone with a very ordinary name. She has this unique ability to see the remnants of human’s greediness known as the Jelly. She starts working in a school as a school nurse, where she comes across a series of mystery and decides to find out the truth behind. She always carries a BB gun and rainbow knife, which help her to defeat those harmful Jellies. Eun-young is in a constant battle with the Jellies and also the destiny of having to see things that other people could not see.

 

Nam Joo-hyuk: My character Hong In-pyo is the Chinese Characters teacher and also the grandson of the founder of the school. He is surrounded by an unknown protective aura, and with that aura, he can protect Eun-young from the Jellies and recharge her energy. In-pyo kind of becomes Eun-young's assistant and together they defeat the harmful Jellies in the school.

 

Chung Se-rang: The school nurse and Chinese Characters teacher are indeed very uncommon characters. The reason why I bring together these two characters is because they’re never the most conspicuous ones even though they play extremely important roles. A school nurse is always the first one you see if you get hurt; a Chinese Characters teacher preserves and passes down knowledge and heritage -they might not be giving you the pass to the top colleges, but they are the figures people need in their life.

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Ahn Eun-young (Jung Yu-mi)
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Hong In-pyo (Nam Joo-hyuk) and Ahn Eun-young (Jung Yu-mi)

ON THE JELLY

 

Chung Se-rang: What I first thought of was the slime that is left when a snail travels, so I felt like there must be something or some traces left over from all living things. And I wonder how would it be like to live in a world full of the residues of emotions.

 

Lee Kyoung-mi: I had a lot of thoughts on how to make them convincing. I started to study novels and movies about them and there are actually a lot of Jelly-type creatures out there, like Ditto from the Pokémon. I spent time obsessing over the genealogy of the Jelly, and to make it more fun to the audience, I decided to add some characteristics to the Jellies.

I found this private organisation called SCP Foundation online, where people build a huge database and categorise the (mythical) creatures that threaten human’s life. So these are living things that manifest human’s fears. After reviewing how far these imaginations can take us, I brought them together with the nature of wilderness which I've learned from the documentaries, so it added a sense of realness to our audience. To my surprise that some living things that only appear in our imaginations might actually exist, just that we never come across them.

 

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The School Nurse Files production stills

ON THEIR FAVOURITE JELLY

 

Jung Yu-mi: The Octopus Jelly and Standing Jelly are my favourites! 

 

Nam Joo-hyuk: I really like the Standing Jelly. This tiny friend in blue here, it has my heart [poses with the Standing Jelly].

 

Lee Kyoung-mi: My heart goes to the Mite Eater, and that’s also the episode I love the most. I wanted to make her so strange but cute at the same time. In fact, when we started the pre-production, the Mite Eater was the first one I cast, we have her on the casting board right next to Yu-mi and Joo-hyuk.

 

Chung Se-rang: I think the Toad Monster is my favourite! It is something in between fish and amphibian, and the teeth -it must be so challenging to visualise and I’m so impressed by the outcome. When I was writing the story, I was just thinking those Jellies who won’t harm people are in white and transparent meanwhile the bad ones are in more beautiful colours. The production of this series has taught me a lot on visualising the details of a story.

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Nam Joo-hyuk
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Jung Yu-mi

ON CHALLENGES
 


Jung Yu-mi: I was a little bit taken back when I first saw the weapons [laughs]. But as soon as we started filming, I feel like they are made for me and I’ve faith in them as much as Eun-young does! [ “holds” the CGI rainbow knife inserted to screen] The Blue Whale is a kind Jelly, The Octopus Jellies are too cute…OK! The Jellyfish, maybe I can do it! ["swings" the rainbow knife] 

(Using the weapons) is not something really that effortless, it could also be very different from the novels when it comes to life. How Eun-young using a BB gun and rainbow sword may come across as very awkward to people, but it comes naturally to me.

 

Nam Joo-hyuk: My character is relatively ordinary compared to Yu-mi’s, for me, it is quite comfortable to not see the Jellies [laughs].  As you know In-pyo doesn’t have any weapon, so it’s like using your very own superpower. To In-pyo, simply being able to help others is very fulfilling, he spends his days like every other person but he never hesitates to step up whenever someone needs him, and that’s his greatest charm. 

 

Jung Yu-mi: I’ve always wanted to do action story and to be frank, this is not what I expected [laughs]. I was thinking of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you know, these movies we grew up watching and makes me want to do action scenes. I met Eun-young, that’s a totally new experience, she taught me that action story could be done so differently and I’m so happy that I can make my action debut as Eun-young -she could be the dream of many others, isn’t it?

 

Nam Joo-hyuk: He’s a Chinese Characters teacher, but, can I actually mention this? He’s not teaching much [laughs], he’s been spending a lot of time outside the classroom, fighting Jelly with Eun-young. So I don’t really have difficulties preparing my role as a Chinese Characters teacher.

 

Jung Yu-mi: The School Nurse Files is indeed very strange, but I love the way it is so bubbly and quirky. Many stories are being told within the series and every chapter has completed each other. I'm so thankful to be given the chance to play Eun-young. I want to make sure the story is delivered in a heart-warming way that will touch the viewers as much as the novel inspires its readers.

 

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Ahn Eun-young (Jung Yu-mi)
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Hong In-pyo (Nam Joo-hyuk)

ON THEIR TAKEAWAYS

 

Jung Yu-mi: There were many things that I enjoyed portraying Eun-young. Whenever I try to stand in Eun-young’s shoes and I feel empathy for her, She had to see things that are unseen by others, I don’t think all of those are amusing experiences to her. Her loneliness is relatable. And now I think of Eun-young often and how she has the biggest heart to meet her destiny. She’s like a friend who pats you on your back.

 

Nam Joo-hyuk: In-pyo is someone who doesn’t really know about himself until he meets Eun-young. He is rediscovering and growing into a greater version of himself when he realises he can be the support system of someone else.

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Nam Joo-hyuk and Jung Yu-mi
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The School Nurse Files behind the scenes still

ON THE STORY

 

Chung Se-rang: In order to recreate the story into a six-episode series, we decided to underscore the sense of duty, desperation, happiness and all sentiments. It gives me an unecpected chance to revisit the story I've written between 2015 and 2016. The School Nurse Files is a story that connects lonely people and I hope that it will become one of your best friends.

 

Lee Kyoung-mi: It is my very first time to direct a story written by another writer. The experience of realising a world created by someone else was truly amazing, and it allowed me to borrow a different imagination and expression.

The ending of season 1 will leave people wondering what kind of adventure awaits? What is the story between Eun-young and In-pyo that left untold? I want these questions to linger in the mind and remain in the heart of our viewers. And whenever you feel that life is hard, remember how Eun-young meets her destiny, and even though there are challenges along the way, there’s In-pyo right next to her.

Watch The School Nurse Files now on netflix.com.

 

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