It is virtually impossible to picture Kim Young-kwang as a loser with his towering 187-centimeter frame and handsome face, a sentiment felt immediately by Park Bo-young when they were cast for the upcoming film “On Your Wedding Day.”

“When I first heard about the casting, I was like ‘What?’... When I read the scenario, I thought it would be someone with a ‘loser’ appeal, but I was left to wonder if such a tall, handsome man would be obsessed with me,” said Park at a press conference for the film held in Seoul on Monday. 

Kim, on the other hand, said, “Of course he, the loser, has to play the part, if Park was playing the part of Seung-hee.” Of his first leading role on the big screen, he said Park was the only reason he agreed to take the role.

The film, directed by Lee Seok-geun, follows the perspective of Kim’s character Woo-yeon, who believe Seung-hee is “the one.”

According to the director, Woo-yeon will be as close to the real-life Kim as can be, as he asked the actor to just play himself on the set. “He just has the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen from a guy. I’m sure you’ll all smile along when he does in the movie,” he said.

But becoming Woo-yeon, according to Kim, merely required the presence of his co-star.

“Just looking at (Park) Bo-young made me become Woo-yeon,” he said. “When we were shooting a scene where the characters get close, we were sitting on the beach with each other. The beautiful beach and the beautiful actress overlapped, and I summoned up the emotion of actually being with my first love when I shot the scene.”

As the movie follows Woo-yeon’s point of view, Park said she had trouble demonstrating Seung-hee‘s emotions. “Every scene she is in, I tried to show as much as possible what Seung-hee is feeling, what has happened to her,” she said.

Casting Park and Kim was a deliberate choice by the director, prompted by his faith in their range. The two main characters are depicted over a span of 10 years.

“Park breathed life into Seung-hee. What I felt during shooting was that she has the eyes that can bring out your emotion. I’m sure the audience will see that, too,” Lee said.

“I tried to depict the changes in each stage (of life), from high school, college to when we’re both out in the world,” Park said,

The actress added that she wanted to act in a romance piece set in reality, having previously appeared in films with fantastical elements like 2012’s “Werewolf Boy” and TV series “Oh My Ghost” in 2015.

“On Your Wedding Day” deals greatly with the element of first love, which the actors boasted was its biggest appeal.

“What surprised me the most when I read the script was that (the character) used the mobile number of his first love as his password, which was also what I used to do,” said Kim, adding that audience members will be able to connect with the film and characters.

The fact that it is a romance drama with elements of first love and nostalgia has drawn a lot of comparisons to 2012 hit “Architecture 101,” but the director said there is a distinct difference.

“It is more like a ‘chronicle’ of the first love. And it is not just about the romance. It also deals with the difficulties and growth that they go through,” he said.

The film hits theaters on Aug.22.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)