Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich expressed excitement about visiting Korea again.
On the afternoon of the 18th at the Busan Cinema Center Biff Hill press conference hall, a press interview was held with the team of the film Protector, an official selection in the midnight passion section of the 30th Busan International Film Festival. The event was attended by lead actress Milla Jovovich and director Adrian Grunberg, who took questions from domestic reporters.
Protector is a film that depicts the breathless and merciless chase action of Nikki Halstead (Milla Jovovich), a former U.S. special forces operative who must find her daughter Chloe, who was kidnapped by a criminal group, within 72 hours. The film stars Ukrainian-born Hollywood star Milla Jovovich, loved for the Resident Evil series.
Before the interview, Milla Jovovich filled the press center with songs she personally selected. She thought the songs suited the film Protector and wanted to personally select them and introduce them to the Korean press.
On this, she said, "The song you just heard is a song I composed for the film. In the scene where I go into the hardware store, this song plays on the radio, and I wanted to record that version again. I think this song conveys the film's mood and feeling well," creating a sense of familiarity.
Korea was not unfamiliar to Milla Jovovich to the point that she attempted icebreaking with music. She had previously visited in 2017 to promote the Resident Evil series 6, meeting Korean fans while carrying out promotional schedules with actor Lee Jun-gi. Now she has returned to Korea, to Busan. What are Milla Jovovich's impressions of visiting Busan, Korea?
She said, "When I last came to Korea, I came to Seoul to promote Resident Evil 6. It was one of the best experiences I had while making films. My husband and I wandered around Seoul's nooks and crannies. When we went into a corner pie shop, they recognized me and kept bringing me pie. I would love to experience that again. But now that I eat gluten-free, pie will be difficult," she joked.
She continued, "I arrived in Busan yesterday and it's such an honor to be able to participate in the opening ceremony. I have met many wonderful actors. The film was screened first in Busan from around the world. I'm still changing the edit," and added, "Coming to the Busan International Film Festival has made a dream come true. Both the director and I poured a lot of love into the film. Thank you for inviting us to BIFF."
On the other hand, director Adrian said it was his first time in Korea. He said, "I'm from Mexico, and it's my first time in Busan and Korea. An important goal I talked about with my wife before coming was that even if we couldn't take the train to Busan, we should at least take a train departing from Busan. It's because I really enjoyed the movie Train to Busan."
Milla Jovovich added, "I talked with the director while waiting. Many of the questions were very deep and probing. In the U.S., when you do promotional activities you end up answering the same questions repeatedly, but in Korea I felt you ask many in-depth questions. It made me think again about how people viewed the film. As a result, my answers came out more sincerely. I've been doing action films for over 30 years, and talking with the reporters I felt what is truly 'real.' It made me think a lot about the work. I came to see, like the work we do, what you do is also an art," expressing deep gratitude for the warmth of the Korean press.
(Continued in interview ②.)
[Photo] OSEN reporter Min Kyung-hoon, provided by the Busan International Film Festival.
[OSEN]