Kim Hyun-joo takes on the action challenge with ‘Jeong-i’, “I’ve hit the nail on the head”

“It was fun because it was something I had never done before. Just because it was fun doesn’t mean I was good at it. It meant that it was fun to be able to challenge myself and try things out. Haha. On the set of ‘Jeong-i’, the sets were all unrealistic, so it was fun to watch them. “Acting itself was interesting.”

Kim Hyun-joo, the main character who played the role of mercenary Jeong-i in director Yeon Sang-ho's science fiction film 'Jeong-i', took on new challenges in robot, action, and science-fiction acting through this work. Hyunjoo Kim confessed, “I had a great desire to try new challenges, but I think my courage was less than my desire to try them boldly.” He then revealed the reason for his appearance, saying, "Director Yeon Sang-ho's experimental spirit awakened my dormant spirit of challenge, and I also had a strong desire to contribute to it."

'Jeong-i' is a science fiction film that tells the story of people who try to develop the best combat AI by cloning the brain of the legendary mercenary 'Jeong-i' in order to end the war that broke out in the shelter where they moved out of the Earth devastated by climate change. It was released on Netflix on the 20th. According to Netflix's official site 'Netflix Top 10' on the 25th, 'Jungi' ranked first in the non-English language film category last week (16th to 22nd). 'Jeong-i' recorded 19.3 million viewing hours within 3 days of its release, ranking at the top in viewing time during this period. Kim Hyun-joo said, “Any actor who appears would expect good results, and I am happy to have good results.”

Jeongi, played by Kim Hyun-joo, is a former elite leader of the Allied Forces and a legendary mercenary who participated in numerous operations and led them to victory. He participated in the final bombing operation that could have ended the civil war that had lasted for decades, but the operation failed and he fell into a vegetative state. Chronoid, a military AI development company, clones Jeong's brain to develop the best combat AI. Kim Hyun-joo previously showed off her action acting skills by collaborating with director Yeon Sang-ho in the Netflix series 'Hell', and then showed off her action acting skills as a strong warrior in 'Jungi'.

“I like watching fighting games. I even have a fighting channel on at home. I think I have that instinct for action. But expressing it through my body is another thing. I also had doubts about myself. ‘Hell.’ There wasn't a lot of action, so at that time I thought, 'I can do it.' 'Jeong-i' was different again, but it still helped me a lot to solidify the basics. The process of working out and preparing while sweating at the action school was fun. I've done everything I've done so far. “Acting often involves releasing emotions rather than using the body, so the process of preparing for action was fresh and fun for me.”

In 'Jeong-i', Kim Hyun-joo had to portray Jeong-i as the mother of her daughter Seo-hyeon (Kang Soo-yeon), Jeong-i as a brain cloning experiment subject, and Jeong-i as a robot equipped with a cloned brain. Hyunjoo Kim said, “I thought the three aspects of Jeongi should be differentiated.”

“What occurred to me after watching the movie is that I paid more attention to how I looked when I was a human than when I was a machine. I tried to look like a human when I was a human rather than like a machine when I was a robot. When I was an experiment subject, Jeong was mechanical. I had to show my appearance, but I was worried about what level would be appropriate, so I discussed things like walking with the director and worked out my acting. As Jeongi, a robot equipped with a cloned brain, I paid particular attention to her appearance. Even though she is a robot, she has to show emotions. The director emphasized this point. Since that scene was CG, I could have actually done it without acting, but the director said he wanted to copy my actual facial expressions. I wore a motion capture suit and acted it myself. He said he wanted to show as much emotion as possible. Even though it is a robot, I paid more attention to expressing more detailed emotions. The director brought out my eyes through post-production, and in the end, I like that part as well.”

The science fiction genre brought fresh joy to Kim Hyeon-joo, but acting in front of a green screen was also awkward. "In the meantime, I have been acting by looking into people's eyes and exchanging emotions, but acting while imagining it without an object was very difficult at first. People often say, 'Here comes the hit.' Haha. While acting, I thought, 'What am I doing? ‘Are you doing well?’, ‘Are you good at it?’ "I also wanted to."

Kim Hyun-joo chose the emotional scene filmed with the late Kang Soo-yeon as a memorable scene. Kang Soo-yeon takes on the role of Yoon Seo-hyun, a team leader at a research lab that develops brain cloning and AI technology. Seohyun Yoon is the daughter of human Jeongyi Yoon. As time passed, the young daughter became a Cronoid developer and participated in a research project to clone the brain of her mother, Yoon Jeong-i.

“There is a scene in the latter part where I am speaking with my senior. I think my emotions came out that day. It was almost towards the end. I was not in the same room with my senior and there was a wall between us. It was almost the first and last time we exchanged lines with each other. That's why that scene remains in my memory. There is a scene in the play where Seohyun talks to me in a whisper, and I keep my eyes closed. My senior said, 'I cry when I look at her.' Seohyun doesn't show her emotions often at the beginning of the story. “It wasn’t until later that I realized that perhaps my senior had been carrying on those feelings for a long time.”

What kind of actress does Kim Hyun-joo remember her senior Kang Soo-yeon, with whom she directly acted, as an actress? “He is not an actor I can dare say. He was not an actor I thought I would meet. Haha. It was very difficult before I met him. He was a senior and an adult on set. He treated me as a fellow actor who was acting with me. I felt that way too. You are a legendary figure. On set, you acted without even realizing it, but when I saw the finished work on the screen, I thought, ‘You are a real movie star,’ and ‘You are cool.’

Kim Hyun-joo debuted in the entertainment industry in 1996 and has been acting for 27 years. Kim Hyun-joo, who has been acting on various channels and platforms for a long time, said, "I have tried to spend each time well. I am not a person who makes plans and lives strictly within the plan. However, I have lived each moment as best I can."

“I’m not saying this because we’re doing this movie together, but I want to become a good adult and a good senior like senior Kang Soo-yeon. I want to be that kind of adult and partner who can embrace everything and listen to everything.”

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr