Imagine coming home from a long day of work to immerse yourself in the virtual reality world with the boyfriend of your dreams. That’s the (virtual) reality that Mi-rae, the overworked webtoon producer played by Blackpink’s Jisoo, finds herself living in the new Netflix K-drama, Boyfriend on Demand.
The series, which dropped globally on March 6, stars Jisoo and actor In-guk Seo, who plays Kyeong-nam, Mi-rae’s colleague and rival webtoon producer. The show is described as “blending the relatable challenges of daily work life and a never-before-seen virtual reality dating subscription program” to form a truly quirky and endearing limited series.
“Through this character, Mi-rae, I was able to show multiple sides of myself,” Jisoo, sitting alongside Seo, tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom ahead of the show’s release.
Below, the pair breakdown Boyfriend on Demand, share their ideal virtual reality setting and how they see their characters.
How are you feeling about the show? Are you excited for people to finally see it?
JISOO We wrapped production last year, and I’ve been nervous and excited ever since. I’m becoming more nervous as the release is just around the corner now. We had a lot of fun shooting it, so I think that the viewers will enjoy it a lot.
SEO Yeah, we did have a lot of fun shooting this show. As I was watching the final product, I thought it was a very grounded show — it can be universally relatable. I hope this show is therapeutic for a lot of people and can be a source of personal growth. I hope it gives people a lot of food for thought.
This show has a lot of intersting things to say about young working people. What do you think of the show’s main message?
JISOO My character, Mi-rae, used to be very much afraid of trying new things and change. She sort of uses the VR service to escape from her reality, but it actually helped heal her. The things that she’s done in her past, she came to terms with it finally. She uses the epiphanies and takeaways from the virtual reality world and leverages it in the real world. While a lot of people nowadays use AI and VR as just an escape, I think they could take new ideas and new experiences from VR and AI and use it in their real life. Mi-rae goes through immense personal growth throughout the series. I guess the main message [of the show] is putting yourself in her shoes and making sure you feel that therapeutic touch.
Where would you want to go in this virtual reality world?
JISOO If I am in a VR setting, I would definitely want to go to places that I would not be able to go in real life because I think that’s the perk of virtual reality. I would like to go for a dinosaur tour or go to outer space, and very boldly and courageously do that.
SEO The date would be stealing an egg from the dinosaurs or winning your fight with a T-rex.
A real Jurassic Park. You play very different characters. Jisoo, you’re playing many versions of Mi-rae. In-guk your character is quite serious. What challenges did you find with these characters?
JISOO I think it was actually easier for me to immerse myself into the different personas of Mi-rae, because everything around her would change. If she’s the same person and she’s in the same setup, then it would be difficult to portray new facets of her. You’re in a different theme, in a different world, in a different costume, different profession. It was actually really fun to immerse myself into that world.
SEO Kyeong-nam is a very poker faced character. To play a frosty character like that, I think the actor playing opposite is really important because when you’re always so cold and poker faced, people might not even recognize you and find you boring. But when there’s Mi-rae, who is very expressive, she’s bold about doing everything and she makes these big emotional changes and everything, then there’s that contrast that makes them stand out. I want to thank Jisoo and Mi-rae. I think they were the perfect match.
