Actor Kim Yoo-jung shared her thoughts on taking on a villain role for the first time in 10 years through Dear X.
Kim Yoo-jung conducted an interview on the 25th at a café in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, for the TVING original Dear X (written by Choi Ja-won and Ban Ji-woon, directed by Lee Eung-bok and Park So-hyun).
Dear X depicts the story of a woman who wears a mask to climb from hell to the highest place and the Xs who are cruelly trampled by her. It is a melodrama of ruin that shows the woman hiding a cruel true nature behind a beautiful face and the desperate yet beautiful ruin of a man who chose hell to protect her.
Kim Yoo-jung played Baek Ah-jin, who wears a mask to survive. As South Korea's top actress who rose to the highest place by trampling on the wounds of a precarious childhood, Kim Yoo-jung was praised for micro-expression acting that, in front of the public, flashed the kind and beautiful "national actress" smile, but the moment she turned away she would shift to a chilly, contemptuous look.
In particular, through Dear X, Kim Yoo-jung led platform growth by ranking first in weekly paid subscriber contribution on TVING, and she remained among the top ranks in drama cast popularity. She also ranked high on global OTT charts, proving that Kim Yoo-jung's acting and face resonated overseas as well.
About 10 years after Elegant Lies, Kim Yoo-jung challenged a villain role in Dear X. She said, "The role I played in 'Elegant Lies' was also a younger character, and it was different in color from Baek Ah-jin. Baek Ah-jin had a strong presence in the original, and the drama script itself was like that, so I worried a lot. I worried about how to portray it and how viewers would accept it when a character with evil becomes the protagonist. I consulted a lot with the director to express that razor-thin line. While acting I experienced catharsis, stress, and various experiences."
Because Kim Yoo-jung had mainly played bright, clear, and lovely characters, her performance in Dear X came as a major twist. Kim Yoo-jung said, "I was very attracted because it was a character type I had never encountered. Because the personalities of characters around Baek Ah-jin are exaggerated in this work, it allowed me to show the maximum that a human can express. That part was interesting. I thought it wasn't a distant story." She added, "My desired point was for the audience to see Baek Ah-jin, not Kim Yoo-jung, naturally. I worried a lot about that. Since my image is bright, clear, lovely, and bubbly, while I would act hard to play a character with a contrasting image, I wanted the image to be accepted at a glance. I worried about that. From an artistic viewpoint, I hoped people would not cheer too much. I wondered whether unconditional support for Baek Ah-jin was right, so I acted with concern and wanted to show a subtle boundary that neither completely hates nor fully supports her. The director shared that intention and directed it that way. I was glad that the things I worried about came through well."
Although Kim Yoo-jung has steadily worked since her days as a child actor and played various characters, Dear X was a big challenge that required preparation both internally and externally. Regarding the external aspects, Kim Yoo-jung said, "At the beginning, I wanted to show Baek Ah-jin's image from the original, so we paid attention to bangs, long hair, and even the school uniform. We made Baek Ah-jin instantly recognizable. As she grows and enters the entertainment industry, we wanted the changing colors to be noticeable, so we decided to express it without being too burdensome. We did many tests to match the tone. We tried not to deviate from the overall atmosphere and color. And I wanted to show Baek Ah-jin gradually becoming devastated. If you look at parts 1 and 2, the face and form also changed a bit. In high school she had a lively appearance, and we paid attention to that."
On the internal aspects, she said, "It's still a homework I don't fully understand. I wonder if all the emotions accumulated while filming Dear X have been resolved even now. Fortunately, a big help was that the on-set atmosphere was very good, contrary to the work, and I had many conversations with the two directors, including many personal talks, so when the role wasn't rotating, I could keep personal things. I feel grateful for that. Even before entering, I made vows as if to brainwash myself to protect myself from Baek Ah-jin. Looking back, I think I didn't waver because I still do not support Baek Ah-jin."
This process inevitably came with physical and mental difficulties. Kim Yoo-jung said, "What surprised me was that some scenes didn't come to mind as if I had short-term memory loss. Even thinking about it, the situations and emotions were so shocking that people sometimes forget moments when they are too shocked, and I experienced something like that. Even my expressions surprised me when watching the scene of parting with Heo In-gang; I was shocked, thinking 'Was I that cruel?'."
Kim Yoo-jung's sincere effort paid off. About the worldwide praise, Kim Yoo-jung said, "When the teaser was released, I couldn't predict whether the reaction would be good. More people watched and reacted better than I expected, so I was worried but hoped the reaction at release would be the same. After it was released, many good posts were written and fans liked it, so I was really relieved. Fans who love the original also said they were enjoying it, so I was glad and felt good about that."
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