Director Jeong Joo-ri, who directed the movie 'Next Sohee', revealed the reason for casting Bae Doo-na.
On the afternoon of the 31st, a press screening for the movie 'Next Sohee' (directed by Jeong Ju-ri) was held at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Actors Bae Doo-na, Kim Si-eun, and director Jeong Ju-ri attended the press conference held after the preview.
'Next Sohee' is an intense story about an incident that Sohee (played by Si-eun Kim), a confident 18-year-old high school student, experiences while going on field training, and Eugene (played by Doo-na Bae), a detective who investigates it, encounters it in the same space but at a different time. Also, last year, it was the first Korean film to be selected as the closing film of the Critics Week at the 75th Cannes International Film Festival.
Director Jeong Joo-ri's feature film debut, 'Doheeya', was invited to the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section, as well as the Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, and London International Film Festival. He also received the Best New Director award at the Baeksang Arts Awards and Buil Film Awards. ‘Next Sohee’ is the first film to be released eight years after ‘Doheeya’ and has entered the Cannes Film Festival for the second time in a row.
On this day, director Jeong Ju-ri spoke about the reason for casting Bae Doo-na as Eugene. He said, "It's such a difficult role, such a difficult act. Expressing those emotions required a level of delicacy beyond my imagination. I needed someone who was that person from the time I wrote the script and who had to act properly. “It had to be Bae Doona from the very beginning,” he explained.
Director Jeong Joo-ri said, "After making and releasing my first movie in 2014, my work was over and I virtually did not contact her. She must have been surprised when I sent this script to actress Bae Doo-na. The next time we met, she said she thought she had immigrated." "I barely wrote the script and sent it. When I sent it, I was confident that this person would definitely read the story as I wrote it and that he would know what kind of movie I wanted to make. Thankfully, he contacted me right away saying he would join me, so I was grateful," he said.
Meanwhile, 'Next Sohee' will be released on February 8th.
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr