Actress Son Ye-jin spoke candidly at the 30th Busan International Film Festival Actors House about everything from her husband Hyun Bin to grueling, almost torturous self-discipline and the film "No Other Choice".
On the afternoon of the 18th, Son Ye-jin's Actors House at the 30th Busan International Film Festival was held at the Shinhan Card Hall, Sohyang Theater, Dongseo University in Busan. Son Ye-jin attended and discussed her filmography with Baek Eun-ha, director of the Actor Research Institute.
Son Ye-jin debuted in 1999 through a commercial. She also appeared in "No Other Choice" (director Park Chan-wook), the opening film of the 30th Busan International Film Festival, adding significance.
So when was Son Ye-jin's first Busan in her memory? Son Ye-jin said, "To be honest, I don't remember the first time. I only remember the dress. What dress to wear, how much to diet and how low-cut the dress should be were very important," she joked.
She said, "Everyone starts a brutal diet before the film festival. All actresses are the same. I remember wearing very voluminous dresses and the actors walking the red carpet one by one. I wasn't there for a specific film, I just remember attending. I think I was in my late 20s."
Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin's co-star in "No Other Choice," who closely observed her physical regimen, was reportedly astonished as well. Director Baek Eun-ha said, "I heard that actor Lee Byung-hun was impressed by the process Son Ye-jin used to sculpt her body. Is she an athlete or an actress? He said he felt a professionalism toward the craft beyond simple beauty," expressing surprise. Son Ye-jin said, "She trains her body to an almost torturous level," and clicked her tongue. However, she laughed, "After the opening ceremony last night I went back to my lodging and it was midnight. I hastily ordered room service and fell asleep right after eating."
In particular, in "No Other Choice" Son Ye-jin played a married woman opposite veteran actor Lee Byung-hun, who is also the close friend and husband of actress Lee Min-jung and husband Hyun Bin. Although Son Ye-jin debuted in 1999 and has long known him, this was her first time acting opposite Lee Byung-hun. What was it like to meet a close friend as a co-star?
Son Ye-jin said, "It's really hard to be flexible in front of the camera. Directors tell new actors to be natural. That 'natural' is the hardest thing, especially the more you act. The first time is nerve-wracking. As you do more, you set a performance tone and lines. I have to execute that. When you have a plan it's hard for your body to move flexibly. Sometimes you tense up and overdo it. But (Lee Byung-hun) always seems to perform with all tension released in front of the camera," she said in admiration.
She clicked her tongue and said, "Of course I have those moments too, but when I see a senior release tension and bring out the director's ideas and what they want to express, I can only think they are an outstanding actor."
Son Ye-jin also took time to answer questions from fans attending the event. A Chinese fan, speaking in clear but not perfect Korean, identified herself as a fan and asked a question. The Chinese fan, who said she liked Crash Landing on You a lot, asked Son Ye-jin what the happiest moment during filming was.
Son Ye-jin laughed, "I wonder why, only the happy moments remain." Crash Landing on You is a work in which Son Ye-jin co-starred with her husband Hyun Bin. She said, "It makes me think of Switzerland. We shot early on and had to shoot the ending as well. The drama kept airing and toward the end I went to Switzerland to meet Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin)," she laughed.
She continued, "I paraglided down there and suddenly remembered the scene where I embrace Ri Jeong-hyeok. We had to shoot the ending in Switzerland early on, and I can't forget that scenery or Ri Jeong-hyeok at that time," she joked.
Son Ye-jin said, "Crash Landing on You is the work of my life. Every moment we shot in Switzerland was exhausting because we were shooting every day. But the harder it is, the more it stays in memory, whether travel or work. At the time it was so hard to shoot every day on the schedule that I couldn't enjoy Switzerland, but now those scenes and images come back to me vividly," she laughed.
Meanwhile, Son Ye-jin's return to film comes seven years after her previous film Negotiation. Coincidentally, Negotiation was also the work in which Son Ye-jin worked opposite her current husband, actor Hyun Bin. A fan at the event asked whether Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin talk about work. Son Ye-jin confessed, "It's really strange, but we don't talk much about work." She said, "We don't ask each other where we went. We don't ask if today's shoot was hard. We understand each other by expressions," she laughed.
However, she said, "I did show him this film's script. He normally never reads scripts, but when the director originally gave a script titled 'Axe' he once asked him to read it," she revealed. She added, "Especially my husband rarely talks about work. I sometimes ask him to rehearse lines with me. If he oddly rehearses the lines, he gets yelled at by me. And we don't talk much about work between us."
Finally, Son Ye-jin promised to reply directly via comments and DMs on social media to fans whose questions weren't answered. She also shared the secret to her endurance so far: "I live with the sharp awareness that stamina is very important. I'm about mental strength. I tend to push myself until I collapse. I run hard and fall. I fall and spring up and fall again. When I think about why I could run that far, honestly it wasn't that I wanted to act; I couldn't even stand still. It was painful and I wanted to do well. The greed to act well seems to have brought me this far. Life is really like that — 'No Other Choice'," she laughed.
She said, "The desire to act can be tormenting and I push myself, but the joy of acting has changed recently. There was a bit of that on the 'No Other Choice' set. I'm a power J who calculates all possibilities and thinks of the worst-case scenario. Life is hard because of that," she laughed.
[Photo] OSEN reporter Min Kyung-hoon.
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