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Congratulations on winning the Best Actress Award at the Asian Film Awards (AFA). You looked really surprised at the ceremony, how did you feel?
I was speechless. I was nominated for Air Doll a few years ago, but I wasn’t able to attend due to another engagement. My schedule was free this time, so I came to the awards for fun without expecting anything, so it was very surprising.

 

The nominated individuals for this category were all big name actresses. I bet it was more meaningful because you ended up winning the title amongst these great names.
Just being a part of the nominations with those actresses was an honor. Actually, I was hoping to meet some of them, but many were unable to attend. I was also skeptical about winning because I didn’t think my acting was as dramatically expressed as the others. I tend to have my own style of acting, where I empty myself out. I don’t like to show too much or put in a lot of my own emotions because I think the audience should fill in the underlying emotions and find deeper meaning that way, and really experience the character through their own interpretations.

 

We heard that you chose to board A Girl at My Door the minute you read the first line. Why did you make such a decision?
The process didn’t even take five minutes. I think it was an intuitive decision. After just reading two lines by director July JUNG, I knew this work was going to be a good film. It also recently won the Scenario Award at the Wildflower Film Awards, which made me think that I’ve made the right choice. The character I play in the film is nothing like me, someone that I could never be. I really liked the character that tries to be grounded in reality but who is actually not realistic at all.

 

You’ve worked with the Wachowski siblings on three projects already. What is it like working with them?
I call Lana mom. Whenever they ask for me, I’m always there. We have a mutual appreciation for each other and we work well together. For Cloud Atlas, I still think that it must have been a hard choice for them to choose me for the cast. I wasn’t a well-known actress especially outside of Korea and I didn’t speak English that well either. But because they trusted me I’m forever loyal to them. It’s because of people like the Wachowskis that I want to become a better actress.

 

Could you tell us about the Netflix series Sense 8?
The series will be released on Netflix on June 5th. You can almost think of it as a large scale TV version of Cloud Atlas. There are eight of us who are connected mentally. We can communicate with each other and visit each other although we live in different countries. I was able to shoot on location for most of the cities except for Mumbai. I went to Nairobi, San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, London, Mexico City, Iceland and of course Seoul. Too bad Korea doesn’t have Netflix yet; I wish audiences in Korea could be able to see the series.

 

What is the difference between working overseas and in Korea? Do you find it difficult?
I’m actually very good at adapting to new environments. It hasn’t occurred to me that the industries are different, but size is different for sure. The scale of projects in Hollywood is twice or three times that of those in Korea.
 
You’ve also worked in Japan for a couple of films. Out of Korea, Japan and America, which country’s working style fits you the most?
I personally think Japan’s working style works best for me. They’re very similar to Korea. The films I worked on were low-budget ones but they were very reasonable. There was no wasted time at all. They do a lot of rehearsals during pre-production, and things go more smoothly on the set that way. As for working on Cloud Atlas, I was trained physically from working on Korean sets so the action scenes were easy for me. In Korea, when something needs to be done, it gets done.

 

You did a theater production called Sunday Seoul in 2004. Do you plan on doing any other work outside of films and TV dramas?
Theater has always been a dream and I want to learn proper theater acting one day. But for now, I think I’ve tried all I wanted to try, and figured out what I most enjoy and do best. I might try theater again some day, but not now.

 

What is your next project?
I don’t have anything lined up right now, but I really want to try comedy some day. Something as crazy as Shaolin Soccer. I think making someone laugh is the hardest thing to do as an actor, and that is the next mission I’d like to tackle.