I have watched 3 Idiots. Jung Hoyeon, the South Korean model-turned-actor whose sci-fi thriller Hope is all set to release in India, reveals that India has been on her wish list and that she’s game for a Bollywood run. “I have never visited India but it’s been on my bucket list of trips to make.
I would love to be part of an Indian project, please call me, but you would have to teach me dancing,” she says with a laugh, in an exclusive conversation with HT City.
As she takes on an alien invasion that terrorises her quiet seaside town, the actor has won critical acclaim for balancing high-stakes action with comedic timing. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year, is directed by Na Hong-jin (The Chaser, The Yellow Sea). Serving up his brand of unhinged chaos, visceral, high-octane tension and dark humour, he brings together a cast that includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Taylor Russell and, as aliens, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender. Hoyeon reveals that the opportunity to be part of filmmaker Na’s canvas was a decisive factor in her decision to sign up for the project.
Having won a SAG Award in 2022 for her performance in the global hit Squid Game (2021), which also earned her an Emmy nomination, Hoyeon steps into the role of the machine-gun-toting, badass rookie cop Sung Ae in Hope, which also marks her feature film debut. From the street-smart Player 067 in Squid Game to the unwavering Sung Ae in Hope, Hoyeon laughs when informed that she is being hailed as a bona fide action star. Because i was so new to it all, but this was the first time that the joy of working overcame the fear, disarmingly honest, she adds, “When I started working as an actor I had a lot of insecurity and anxiety. Because i have been a model, and I quite like expressing through my body and its movements, I find freedom in the fluidity of the movements and it feels natural because you are feeling what you are doing.”, maybe.
“I have been a huge fan of director Na’s work. When I read the script, I felt Sung Ae had this very magnetic appeal, you cannot deny her presence at all. I didn’t expect the role to be as substantial as it turned out to be. “I enjoy challenging myself. Here I had to balance the comedic timing, with action as well as the acting part of it…there were so many things that I hadn’t done before. With Hwang Jung Min I saw how he never loses concentration, we were shooting hard core action and usually one is tensed what if someone gets hurt, but he was unwavering in his focus, which was a great learning for me. Director Na has a unique sense of humour, as well as lens into the world, and he is just fun as a person and an artist, that put me at ease. “When I have to do emotional scenes and deliver long dialogues, you think about designing and internalising the scene, but in action there is a lot more detailing, memorising the choreography, but it’s more fun.
I knew that senior actors like Hwang Jung Min and Zo In Sung were already attached to this film, and it was overwhelming to be working with them and also sharing the same level of responsibility, which was scary at one level but equally exciting,” she says.
