Movie “Actresses” Blurs Line Between Fact And Fiction

Talk about an all-star line-up: the new film Actresses [여배우들] features a whole slew of high-profile names, such as Queen Seon-deok’s Go Hyun-jung and Hallyu princess Choi Ji-woo, pictured above, in addition to Lee Mi-sook (East of Eden), Kim Min-hee (I Like It Hot), Kim Ok-bin (Thirst), and Yoon Yeo-jung (The World They Live In).

Here’s the official description, which I think sounds GREAT:

Actresses: Christmas Eve. For a fashion spread in Vogue
magazine, six top actresses are brought in spanning ages from their
twenties through sixties. As expected, these ladies who are used to
receiving the spotlight alone engage in a battle of wills, and tension
fills the studio. It’s an unwritten law in the fashion world to
schedule shoots to avoid actress encounters, so this experiment was
playing with fire from the outset. The psychological battle starts with
wardrobe choices and ends with the scandalous scene of [Choi] Ji-woo storming out at [Go] Hyun-jung’s provocation. [Yoon] Yeo-jung suspects she was only called in at the last minute to substitute, and while [Kim] Min-hee enjoys the shoot, [Kim] Ok-bin
feels the burden of being around sunbaes, wondering how far she has to
go to treat them as elders. They endure an endless wait for the
featured jewelry that doesn’t arrive. The staff is growing worried and
the actresses are becoming more and more sensitive.

What events happened that night? What words were exchanged between
these frank, bold women? Could they have really finished their shoot
without incident?

Go Hyun-jung’s poster reads: “Scandal. Only talking about good things gets boring!”
Yoon Yeo-jung: “Pride. I was dumped by that ugly __!”
Choi Ji-woo: “Fame. You’re not all disparaging me since I’m not here, right?”
Kim Min-hee: “Jealousy. Men like me too!”
Lee Mi-sook: “Mystery. I have a birth secret!”
Kim Ok-bin: “Complex. I’m going to lose weight, I am…”

The description sounds fascinating on two different levels: First
off, I love real-time-esque suspense thrillers that are more about
building tension than flashy action or melodrama. I love feeling the
uneasiness building in strained silences (Tale of Two Sisters and 2LDK
are two great examples of this kind of storytelling). And second,
there’s that meta thrill you get of seeing these actresses playing an
exaggeration of themselves, using their real names as their characters’
names, leading us to wonder — is this all fiction? Or… not?

The film held its production press conference on November 17 at
Seoul’s Coex Megabox. It will release in theaters on December 10.

Go Hyun-jung said of her co-star, “Choi Ji-woo is so beautiful that I felt envious of her in real life.” Choi Ji-woo
said in return, “The first day I met Go Hyun-jung sunbae, we were
shooting a fight scene. I was so nervous that I couldn’t control my
expressions well — what you see onscreen wasn’t acting.”

Lee Mi-sook spoke up about the scene, adding, “At that time, Go Hyun-jung wasn’t famous yet for Mi-shil [in Queen Seon-deok] and Choi Ji-woo was a big Hallyu star. Watching Hyun-jung act, I thought they were really fighting. I was really shocked.”

The stars revealed that the fight was real: they began the scene
right after meeting, which called for Go to glare at Choi and hit her
forehead, “which actually made me angry.” In this instance, the
director had only established the setting for his lead actresses and
had a meeting with them, but didn’t shoot with a special script or
scenario plotted. For that reason, the scene took on an even more
realistic vibe.

Go said, “It wasn’t that she started the fight, but she acted
sensitively. In the end, that angered me. At the time, I wasn’t acting
according to a specific plan. Actresses can be pretty simple
sometimes.” She added laughingly, “Because Ji-woo and I are similar
heights, it was okay [fighting]. Even when I think back to that, I feel
worked up.”

Meeting under those circumstances probably didn’t make it conducive

to having a good relationship offscreen, and Go Hyun-jung said frankly,
“We don’t have a bad relationship, but not having a particularly good
relationship is the way of actresses. This is shown just as it is
within the movie.”

Choi explained, “I was fighting with Go Hyun-jung in my first shoot
and felt a lack of wits and other limitations, so I did feel some
disappointment. However, as time passed, it became more enjoyable.
Later, I felt regrets because I could have shown more.”

Choi’s glamorous image can sometimes contradict what fans know as a self-effacing personality. Yoon Yeo-jung
said of her co-star, “I really thought Choi Ji-woo would be a ‘깍쟁이’ [a
snob or brat], but she’s very easy-going.” Lee Mi-sook said called her
“surprisingly modest.”

Choi has also been criticized for her acting in the past, and said
of this film, “I want to receive praise as an actress now. I’ve started
feeling that desire.” She said, “Even if the film flops, I won’t have
regrets.”

Kim Min-hee also expressed a desire to be called a

real actor with this role. Often noted for her bold, sometimes
avant-garde fashion sense, the film staffers called her “the type that
isn’t popular with men,” which made her feel envious of her co-star.
She explained, “The staff members only told Kim Ok-bin that she is the
style to be popular with men but not me, so I felt envious.” (Then
again, perhaps producers were playing up the role of the actresses’
alter-egos in the film?)

Kim Ok-bin said she took on the role “because I
didn’t want to lose the chance to meet these sunbaes. But with regard
to acting, I wasn’t able to grasp the emotions quickly, which was
tough. I wanted to act a part that was close to my real self. I was
trying to show myself but the director told me, ‘I think we need
something more,’ which was difficult.”

Meanwhile, veteran Yoon Yeo-jung said, “I was cast because I’m the
only actress in her sixties that Director Lee Jae-yong knows. I made my
decision after having drinks with Go Hyun-jung.”

Kim Min-hee said of Yoon, “I thought she would be scary, but the way
she thinks is young and it was comfortable conversing with her.”