Hyeon’s New Film

It was at the movie premiere of Choi & Kang Romance. Movie heroine Hyeon Yeong offered to sing a song on the spot and began singing without accompaniment. Audience members giggled, but she was serious. Her personality is usually defined as lightness, candidness, and ceaseless bold attempts, but this time maybe one more was in effect: sincerity.

Choi & Kang Romance, a comedy, is the first movie in which she took the leading role. She portrayed investigative reporter Choi Soo-jin who constantly quarrels with but eventually falls in love with detective Jang Jae-wook.

I met her at a coffee shop near Gangnam Station of Line No. 2 in Seoul on January 20.

Practiced a lot to cry on cue-

I grilled her with questions possibly getting on her nerves. But she replied confidently.

“Where does the energy come from to attempt various activities that you are not good at?

“That’s just how I lived. Whether I can or not, I just do it if I want.”

“People say you are the one who makes people go watch the movie “My Wife is a Gangster 3.” Your ad-libs and improvisation seem to shine in Choi & Kang Romance, too.”

“My character Choi Soo-jin is actually very similar to me. I express emotions a lot, though I look childish. Please focus on the latter half of this movie. So far, appearing on many TV shows, I showed how to have fun. But this time, I wanted to show that I have feelings and I am sometimes sad through this movie. I practiced a lot to cry on cue alone in toilet because the sad scene was what I wanted to excel in.”

There is a sequence that she bursts into tears in the latter half of the movie.

“Some people think you go over the top.”

“At first people said I did it on purpose. But I have continued to show this part of me, and then people’s responses have changed. If I hid that part of me and put on an act, I wouldn’t be this successful.”

“You are called an entertainer not an actor.”

“If I am really bad at acting, people will not even call me an entertainer. Of course there is still long way to go to show some changes in my acting. I will try more, but will not obsess with how people think of me. I accept advice, but I don’t live just to live up to the expectations of others.”

She wants to be a TV show host like Oprah Winfrey-

“What do you want to do most?”

“Of course that would be acting. And I also want to be a TV show host, rare for a woman. Oprah Winfrey embraces her show like a mother probably because she had a painful past. I want to be a TV talk show host who embraces quests with my motherhood.”

“This is your first leading role. How do you feel?”

“I was exhilarated with joy. I have done supporting roles and cameos in nine movies. A leading actor has their own stool with her name on it on the set. Finally, an audience will watch my movie and I feel a bit nervous. I want to do everything to make it successful. To that end, I can bow to the audience hundreds of times.

“You are posing as a reporter but some say your role mocks reporters”

“In some scenes of the movie, I drank too much and blacked out. But there is a scene I feel devastated because of new release made public regardless of my intention. In another scene, I assume my responsibility to protect my information sources. Why don’t they pay attention to these? You will also see an arrogant female singer and a drug addict male singer in the movie. Isn’t that a mockery of singers? This is just a comedy.”

“Don’t you think you are always cast as a comic character because of your voice?

“Neither voice nor looks pose a barrier to acting. There must be a lawyer with a high pitched voice.”

Looking back when she bowed to TV producers, performed in a theater, and worked as a VJ for almost every cable channel, she emphasized her power of self-efficacy. She said she always believed in herself and thought positively though others said she would not make it and she was unlikable. She repeatedly said to herself, “I will make it someday.” and finally she achieved her goal. I felt the strong power of positive thinking from her.

yourcat@donga.com