Veteran South Korean actress Kim Hee Sun got candid about working with Joo Won and Kwak Si Yang, her past and future career and more in a series of interviews after the conclusion of SBS’s Alice.
Alice is a sci-fi thriller drama about a detective (Joo Won) who discovers the existence of time travel after he meets a woman who looks identical to his dead mother (Kim Hee Sun, playing both roles).
In an interview with MK Sports, Kim Hee Sun said, “I say this so often that my mouth has gone dry, but Kwak Si Yang and Joo Won are both really kind actors. They are kind and earnest in every aspect. Even though they’re younger than me, I’m the one who learned a lot. Joo Won and I had a lot of scenes together and he took care of me a lot. It was a lot of little things, but it’s not an easy thing to do. I felt like he must be a very respectful, caring, sweet person. Kwak Si Yang is also really kind. He would always practise even when there wasn’t filming. I felt that he was very earnest about his work. He’s a very affectionate person. The atmosphere on set was always fun.”
Kim Hee Sun has been constantly paired with younger male actors in the past few years. Examples include “Faith” (Lee Min Ho), “Angry Mom” (Ji Soo, Ji Hyun Woo), “Room No. 9” (Kim Young Kwang), and “Alice” (Joo Won, Kwak Si Yang).
To Sports Chosun, she said, “The actors who are older than me are a lot older now. The actors that I worked with growing up are past 50. If we did a melodrama together, it would have a different vibe. I did a lot of melodramas with younger actors who had a big age gap with me. Joo Won and I weren’t really in a melodrama. But I like melodramas with younger actors. I do worry that I look too old and that I look like their mom, but if I see a good project with good actors, I want to try it.”
Kim was asked if she would like to work with Nam Joo Hyuk or Park Bo Gum who have appeared in dramas with older actresses and she replied, “I think they would look too much like my sons. I think Yeo Jin Goo’s mom and I are the same age.”
She continued, “Joo Won is one thing, but Nam Joo Hyuk and Park Bo Gum were born around the time that I made my debut and started making money. Born in 1994? I entered university in 1995. How can I do a melodrama with kids who were a year old when I was in college? I think that’s too extreme. Of course, it would be very flattering to me, but let’s end it there.”
In an interview with MBN, she named some actors she would like to work with. “There are so many good actors out there,” she said. “But if I have to pick a few, it would be Kang Ha Neul and Yoo Ah In. I didn’t watch every single episode of ‘When the Camellia Blooms’ but it made a big impact on me. Yoo Ah In says each line with feeling and careful intensity. I was watching ‘#Alive’ and I could see a whole new side of him. I realized that he’s a heaven-sent kind of actor.”