DO NOT TAKE OUT
DO NOT COPY PASTE IT
DO NOT SCREENCAP
Your last interview with “W Korea” was right after “Descendants of the Sun” finished airing. Between these 7 or 8 months, you received the Daesang [t/n: the highest award] at an award ceremony [t/n: KBS awards to be exact].
I think 2016 was a year that began and finished with “Descendants of the Sun” for me. People usually forget about a drama six months after it finished airing, so I’m thankful that people remembered it for such a long time. That’s what allowed me to spend the end of the year in a celebrating mood. Once the event was over, it was about 2 in the morning. The directors, Song Joong Ki, Kim Ji Won, everyone on the team went to a restaurant and we chatted the night away. I felt that it was true happiness. More than for the award meaning itself, I was even more thankful to be rewarded with the opportunity to see people I worked with and to get to encourage each other.
What was also memorable is that you shared this Daesang with the actor whom you played with this drama.
When you read about casting news and on-going projects these days, isn’t it true that the actors’ activities stand out more than the actresses’? It’s probably about getting many opportunities to be out there through various activities which give you occasions to get awards. For actresses, it’s unfortunate that they have no opportunities like this, no matter how much they want to show what they can do. Regardless of who would have gotten it, Song Joong Ki and I were prepared to congratulate each other.
In our last interview, you said about your character Kang Mo Yeon that you liked that it wasn’t just about a woman being attracted to the male lead, but she also expressed her own voice. Among fictional female characters, who else do you like?
More than saying I like a specific aspect of a character, my hope is for my acting to showcase this character’s life and to make it convincing. So from this point of view, as much as I like romantic comedies, I do think it’s difficult to be natural in this genre. There are old movies that make you stop flipping through the TV channels and they get broadcast every year, but they have this power of pulling in people no matter how long ago they were made. For instance, Julia Roberts’ romantic comedies like “Pretty Woman” became universal classics, they’re not simple Cinderella stories. Being able to make it natural and to not make it feel shallow comes a lot from the actor’s energy/power. My dream is to make such movies that will remain in time.
DO NOT TAKE OUT
DO NOT COPY PASTE IT
DO NOT SCREENCAP
It’s a genre hard to find these days in the Korean industry. On the opposite, it seems most of of projects are criminal thriller stories with men.
Like you’re looking for something more and more exciting to it, this excitement level you get from movies increases, so it seems people can’t enjoy most of things now. When I watch a movie with my friends, they get childish reactions when it’s a movie or a scene with lyricism. When they’re like that, I say: “this reaction is because of a lack of sensitivity”. It’s unfortunate that it seems I’m looking for a movie’s virtue to make me lose my mind. Like a meal with delicious taste without being strong, I hope I will make more strong and detailed movies in which emotions will come through in a beautiful setting.
Do you think about the fact you’re getting older? Or how you will be when you’re in your 40’s?
On the contrary, I think it will be a nice time when I’m able to broaden the genres and the range of things I don’t do now. I’m not impatient about the physical change, but I’m a bit nervous because of the on-going change of my body or my face. I put on weight when I was careless, so I must do yoga 4 times a week to maintain my figure now. I was lazy in the past, but I think I’m kind of going down the “work out” road now. I’m more anticipating the way I will use my wrinkles in my acting instead of being scared of them. This is something very charismactic about Jeon Do Yeon-sunbae.
If you were to work with other actresses, who would you like to work with?
I’ve already had this vague image of several actresses in the same movie. Jeon Do Yeon-sunbaenim and Kim Hye Soo-sunbaenim can’t be missing. I’m very curious about how their acting would come out on set, what would happen like which synergy would be created when I’m facing them. I want to read a scenario in which women aren’t accessoiries, I want to read one in which women are brought together to create something on equal terms. An “Ocean’s Eleven” remake is produced in Hollywood with a female cast, how awesome would it be if it happened in Korea too? And I also want to act with my peers such as Jeon Ji Hyun, Son Hye Jin. They have a style very different from mine because they’ve worked in the cinema industry more than me. I think it would have been nice to have this kind of opportunity when we were a little bit younger.
How was your relationships with other actresses when you were in your 20’s?
Back then, I really wanted to become friends with a lot of actresses, I was really into that. Song Yoona, Choi Ji Woo, Park Solmi, Kim Hee Sun… these unnies really took good care of me. When I was in my 20’s, it was hard to create a relationship with actresses my age. Because although it was unintentional, rivalry or comparison often happened. Going through these experiences during my 20’s and now being in my mid-30’s, I think this kind of competition was unnecessary. I want to know more and more of my peers now. I’m curious to hear what they think and how they live as actress, as a woman. I’m prepared to acknowledge any good thing about her and to learn. I’m also lacking in areas I want to fill in.
DO NOT TAKE OUT
DO NOT COPY PASTE IT
DO NOT SCREENCAP
It seems you don’t believe in the common saying “a woman’s enemy is a woman”.
I don’t. Even if we’re enemies, we should respect each other. It’s a given if you approach me, but I deliver the other way round. I realized it doesn’t work if you try to gain something or if you’re greedy.
So you’re saying there can be no friendship between a man and a woman?
I think it’s true. I have no male friend. I’ve become closer with Ah In who is in my agency, as well as Joong Ki whom I was in a drama with, but am I not to them the nice nuna who buys them nice meals?
Who’s the female veteran you met through work and taught you something?
I met Teacher Noh Hee Kyung for the first time when we shot “The World They Live In”. I think I was really put down at that time. Not through spoken words, through written words. It’s a drama where the script was hard, so I studied a lot as if I were in school. I think it made me improve a lot. I think my mindset about acting changed a lot too.
The woman who had the biggest influence on your life?
To any daughter, isn’t it their mom? Because we found ourselves in the efforts we make in order to be like them or not to be like them. As I’m her only daughter, my mom gives me endless love. She raised me well with this love that was never lacking. The fact that she worried sick when I was even a few minutes late to come home would have been burdensome when I was young if I had a little sister or an older sister. When I listened to my friends who are longing for their mom’s interest and love, I realized I was blessed.
Do you think you’re living a good life right now?
It feels that way. It feels even more so when I move past a struggle. Because I have strong friends who come running to me when hardship comes along the way. I try to do everything I can to take care of people around me. Although I try not to receive back, I think there are times when it’s doubled back.
Don’t you consider that getting married and raising a family isn’t something important in life?
Everyone around me, they all got married and had children (laughs). I think I should do too. It’s just that I thought it was easy when I was young, and it’s becoming harder as time goes by because while the number of people you can date is getting limited, your gaze takes on more details about what you’re looking for. When I listen to those who got married, the fantasy I have about it slowly disappears.
Are you optimistic when it comes to love?
I think I’m optimistic about how it’s about making all the efforts you can. During the time I’m in the relationship, I’m all-in. When it’s over, I don’t look back. I think I have no regret nor lingering feelings because I make all the efforts that I could. However, when it wasn’t a good relationship, I can also see it as it was truly not meant to be.
When two celebrities are in a relationship and break up, every article about it use the title “they will keep their good sunbae-hoobae relationship”. To be honest, don’t the two go estranged?
I don’t know how cool you must be to have a good sunbae-hoobae relationship. When you’re with someone and you break up, don’t you stop seeing each other? I think that’s also the courtesy to have for the next person you’ll be in a relationship with. This is what my friends and I say. “If we loved each other and we broke up, don’t even mention his neighbour. I’m even through with the neighbour.”
You started working at an early age. What would you like to say to your young self back when you started acting?
I guess I could point out in advance the mistakes and the regrets I have today, but I think I wouldn’t say a word. Because you must get hurt, you must know what pain truly is in order to change and improve. If I had to say one thing, it would be “lose a bit of weight”.
DO NOT TAKE OUT
DO NOT COPY PASTE IT
DO NOT SCREENCAP
W Korea
Translation: @thesunnytown – thesunnytown.wordpress.com
The Sunny Town 