'Long Time No Sex' has a message that is more than just skin-deep

Tving's new series 'Long Time No Sex' features a troubled couple investigating cheating, in turn sparking a renewed passion. The R-rated show aims to portray lost passion in modern-day lives, but also explores relationships beyond the surface.

Actors Esom, left, and Ahn Jae-hong pose for photos during the press conference for "Long Time No Sex" at CGV Yongsan in central Seoul on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

New Tving original series “Long Time No Sex” is about a couple stuck in a rut who set out to investigate other men and women who cheat on their partners, only to find a renewed passion for each other.

As the title and premise suggest, the R-rated series features some graphic scenes by leads Ahn Jae-hong and Esom, but the two did not shy away from filming such bits.

“I set about filming sex scenes with the mind of a solider going off to combat,” Ahn said during a press conference for the series at CGV Yongsan in central Seoul on Wednesday. “Like carrying out a mission, you could say. It was almost like filming action scenes; and with this mindset, I was able to approach the matter more head-on.”

“The script was so fun when I read it that I almost forgot about the pressure of the sex scenes,” Esom said. “Ahn and I would ask the director if we could change this part or that during the filming process and kept making suggestions because we would get so caught up in the story.”

Main poster for Tving original series "Long Time No Sex" [TVING]

Although the title and premise of “Long Time No Sex,” which premieres its first two episodes on Jan. 19, undoubtedly seeks to provoke and raise curiosity in potential audiences with its clickbait bluntness and promiscuity, there is something else at work at the center of the series and its message. The lives of modern-day men and women who have lost their passion amid the hustle of everyday life is what the two co-directors Jeon Go-woon and Lim Dae-hyung wanted to present.

“The subject matter of sex and infidelity may sound just provocative and conventional, but the story we wanted to tell was of all those moments, whether in a relationship or in any other aspect of life like your job or dreams, where you feel something real that is lost eventually,” Jeon said. “I guess it just happened that the medium we chose to show that became sex.”

“We included secondary characters who have extramarital affairs, and what we wanted to convey through that was not just the surface of love and relationships but also the inner side of these elements,” Lim said. “The most fitting material to show those inner and other sides was through these seemingly provocative themes such as sex and affairs.”

A scene from the Tving original series "Long Time No Sex" [TVING]

“Long Time No Sex” marks the third time for Ahn and Esom to act in the same project, after films “Microhabitat” (2018) and “High Surf Expected” (2020). Their familiarity with each other brought out a sincerity in their portrayals in the upcoming series, and at the same time working on “Long Time No Sex” opened up new sides of each actor to the other.

“In ‘Microhabitat,’ for example, we were a very sweet and loving couple, and this time around we are constantly fighting and having trouble in bed — two very different portrayals,” Ahn said. “Having worked together before definitely gave us a comfortableness with each other.”

“I think I know Ahn much better now after playing this new type of couple with him in ‘Long Time No Sex,’” Esom said.

For Ahn, “Long Time No Sex” particularly signals “a kind of comeback” for the actor after his performance as a creepy stalker in last year’s hit Netflix original series “Mask Girl.”

“I was swept up in so many speculations after the performance I gave in ‘Mask Girl,’ because my character was so dislikeable and disgusting — people would ask me if I was planning to leave the country or retire from acting,” Ahn said. “So ‘Long Time No Sex’ is like a comeback project for me. I hope that my image will be redeemed,” he said with a laugh.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]