Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
INTERVIEW Kim Seo-hyung steals show
Kim Seo-hyung / Courtesy of Fly Up Entertainment
By Park Jin-hai
Actress talks about role of villain in hit drama SKY Castle
By Park Jin-hai
Neatly combed-back haired and dressed in all-black, when actress Kim Seo-hyung appears in the popular JTBC drama “SKY Castle,” she steals the show with her domineering charisma and eerie, mysterious aura.
The 45-year-old veteran actress plays cold-hearted personal counselor Kim Ju-young in the drama, who is hired by super-rich parents, who want to give their children easy tickets to the most coveted university to pass on their wealth and social status.
“Hearing just that the drama revolves around mothers obsessed with their children's education, I was worried that it could end up being the same old soap opera with helicopter moms. But the first two episodes changed all that,” the actress said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in southern Seoul, Tuesday.
“Each episode felt like a film with great cinematography and great directing. So to some extent, I forecast that it would garner good rankings. I thought it might rise to around 10 percent. But I didn't know it would be this successful.”
With just one episode left to go, the 20-part black comedy mocking Korea's insane education fervor has been enjoying an explosive response from viewers.
The drama kicked off with 1.7 percent viewership for its first episode aired Nov. 23, but its latest episode aired Sunday surged to a cable networks' record of 23.2 percent, surpassing the previous record of “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” with 20.5 percent.
Kim is best known for her previous role as a mean woman who lures best her friend's husband in the daily drama “Temptation of Wife” (2008-2009). In this show, the villain is a woman with personal pain, responsible for ruining her prodigy daughter with her own hands. Her personal tragedy and a sense of inferiority make her use all means available to destroy the perfect-looking families so that they suffer the same pain as she does.
“Although the scenes that I appear in were relatively shorter than other actresses, in many I had to play this important role of triggering some incident in the beginning of each episode, and developing it into the one that has potential to shred the entire family in the end,” said Kim.
The actress who says her acting has been “over-estimated,” added it was a challenge to control her expression.
“Compared with Shin Ae-ri of Temptation of Wife, who ostensibly let out her emotions; for this Ju-young character, I had to hold her pain and sufferings inside. Yet I had to retain the tension and charisma she has. So I kept on asking myself if I was playing my character right.”
As the drama has been immensely popular, many fans have played a guessing game on who did what and posted their scenarios. Part of drama's script has been also leaked online as well.
“The strength of our drama lies in a story that goes beyond imagination. It was fun to read all those fans' guessing scenarios, some of them did really make sense and were convincing, following all those small cues on the screen. But when I receive the script, it has another surprise after another,” Kim said.
The actress said all the other small details made it a great drama. “As for the selection of hair styling and clothes, they were the outcomes of careful discussions among me, my staff and director to better express the scenes and character's emotional state,” she said, telling a dress fitting process sometimes lasted four to five hours. “In wearing all black, I chose a high-neck collar blouse to show her firmness, while I intentionally chose black leather in blackmailing Seo-jin, the mother of her student.”
As for her charismatic roles in dramas, she said she was thankful for that, because they all made her the actress she is today. “I've bagged many similar strong female characters, but I try hard to express my characters differently,” she said. “Creating a new character is a painstaking process that requires a lot of energy. So while I'm not acting, I try to empty myself and be easy with myself, so that I can play another strong female character in my next project.”