Park Bo Gum has officially become every K-drama fan’s dream husband after his magnetic portrayal of Yang Gwan-sik in When Life Gives You Tangerines. Loyal, devoted, and kind, he displayed an enviable and unwavering love for IU’s character, Oh Ae-Sun, throughout the series.
One of the earliest demonstrations of his “steelheart” in the drama was during that iconic swimming scene in episode 3. To recap, heartbroken over the news of Ae-sun’s engagement, Gwan-sik resigns to a life on the mainland. However he immediately changes his mind and dives off the boat he’s on the moment he hears Ae-sun calling out to him.
The result? One of the show’s first viral scenes. Out of pure love, Gwan-sik literally swims across the ocean to reunite with his future wife.
Given how demanding shooting that must have been, the question remains, did Bo Gum actually do it?
Park Bo Gum opens up about swimming scene in “When Life Gives You Tangerines”
Viewers might be shocked and impressed to find out that Bo Gum did the scene all by himself without a body double or the help of CGI. The actor confirmed in a recent Netflix video alongside his other co-stars that he indeed swam from the middle of the ocean up to the breakwater.
According to IU, it was a draining task for her co-star, especially considering that the whole sequence took four days to shoot. Get this, it even rained for real on some days! When IU asked him when he learned to swim, Bo Gum cheekily answered, "Since I was born."
During one interview for the show, Bo Gum elaborated, “I’ve loved swimming since I was a kid, so I thought I could do it. We filmed the scene several times both in the open waters of Jeju Island and on a set, and I completed the cuts without a double. I kept thinking, ‘Would I really dive into the sea for someone I love?’ That question stayed with me as I acted.’”
Bo Gum also shared that his favorite part about the shoot was hearing all the ajummas on land cheering for him like they had in the episode. Once he made his way up the breakwater, both Bo Gum and IU were freezing cold, making their hug, which wasn’t in the script by the way, all the more authentic and emotional.
You can now watch all 16 episodes of When Life Gives You Tangerines on Netflix.
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