Q: From around the start of summer to the beginning of winter, you spent a long time with Tale of the Nine Tailed. How did you feel when you finished filming your final scene?
I think more than anything I felt that it was too bad. It was my longest collaboration ever, living as Ji Ah and Ah Eum for over 7 months. To the extent that it was multi-genre, from fantasy to action, thriller, and even romance, I think I immersed myself in filming with a great deal of concentration. So I think it’s a production that will remain in my heart for a particularly long time. I hope the viewers will also remember ‘Nam Ji Ah’ for a long time.
Q: You played a character three dimensional enough to have been considered 4 roles in 1. When you acted, what did you focus on most?
In this production you can think of me as having played four roles: Ji Ah and Imoogi-possessed Ji Ah, and Ah Eum and Imoogi-possessed Ah Eum. For my main character Ji Ah, from the start I analyzed her a lot and talked with the writer and director a great deal while creating her. When I threaded Imoogi into gallant and chic Ji Ah, I raised the tone of my voice so that it would contrast with hers, and I worked to express Imoogi with a cruel manner of speech and expressions. Also, because I thought of the Imoogi from her previous life and her current life as one and the same, I also acted Ji Ah who had changed into Imoogi while watching the scenes where Ah Eum changed into Imoogi.
Q: Ah Eum’s action scenes in [Ji Ah’s] past life left a strong impression. Do you think you might want to try your hand at something in the action genre?
Seeing as how I encountered the action genre for the first time in this production, I felt a bit of dread and was quite afraid. But while commuting to action school and preparing ahead of time and then working with the stunt director and my counterpart actors on set, the process of making each scene cut by cut was actually really thrilling. Action acting, which has a different quality to it than any acting I’ve done so far, felt novel to me and was really really fun.
Also, the completed scenes were edited even more convincingly that what I had imagined, so I think I felt quite accomplished. If there are action roles that I can pull off in the future, I’ve developed the desire to try my hand at them.
Q: Nam Ji Ah was a confident and strong-willed character, but there were many scenes in which she sheds tears. What’s the secret to shedding tears?
There’s no secret technique to crying well. It’s a little embarrassing, but while not only Ji Ah, but Ah Eum too, were strong people, the circumstances and pain that the two carry was well illustrated in the story. I think that when I felt that [pain] and thought about it, the tears came naturally.
Q: There was a lot of buzz about you being a ‘visual [highly attractive] couple,’ but how was your collaboration with Lee Dong Wook?
Lee Dong Wook sunbae-nim is the type who leads well. From the time the drama began to when it ended, I depended on him a lot and received help from him, and I learned from him as we filmed. To the extent that sunbae-nim took the lead for me and I did my best to follow him, I think our unique chemistry was well expressed, and I’m very thankful that the viewers looked on us favorably.
Q: You made self-produced promotional videos with Lee Dong Wook and uploaded them to social media, but what was the impetus for that?
To the extent that we spent a long time preparing the production, the affection we had for it was very great for the both of us. And so I think our feelings of wanting to introduce and promote the production we had worked so hard on to even a few more people were exactly in sync. So we both decided to do our best to make something. It began with us deciding to try making use of the end of episode 2 when Ji Ah changes into Imoogi and grabs Lee Yeon by the throat and make it like a parody and went from there.
Q: The straight-ball lines that you threw at Lee Rang (Kim Beom) were particularly intense. Are there any lines that you felt, ‘this is going too far’?
There were really a lot of lines that I felt went too far (laughs). “You look like s**t in that suit,” these sort of lines. I think the parts when she’s with Lee Rang using expletives or speaking very strongly really served to highlight Ji Ah’s unique appeal. And so for me, of all my lines in the drama, I think the strong lines I said to Lee Rang were my favorite. (laughs)
Q: If you had to pick the most memorable episode that happened while filming what would it be?
I think, in any case, the scene I care for and love the most is the scene in her previous life containing Ah Eum and Lee Yeon’s sad circumstances. As soon as I received the script I really cried a lot [reading it], and when we were filming it, it actually took me a lot of effort to hold back my tears because I had to die and leave Lee Yeon behind. Because we filmed deep in the quiet forest for three days with a high degree of concentration, I feel like I was able to do so without any regrets. It’s the most memorable scene for me.
Q: How do you imagine the story continues after the final episode?
At the end there is a scene almost like an epilogue where Lee Yeon meets the Samjae and his eyes suddenly change, right? If it turns out that Lee Yeon still has some bit of his power as a mountain god left, then I think it would be interesting if Ji Ah, who belongs completely to the human world, and Lee Yeon, who has a small amount of supernatural powers, live as a couple who help the weak and misfortunate together like the Avengers.
Q: Finally, something you’d like to say to the viewers who loved Tale of the Nine Tailed?
I’d like to express my sincere thanks to the many people who have loved Tale of the Nine Tailed this far. All productions are precious [to me], but this production is one that I will really think back on a lot. I received a lot of love via this drama, and since I had wanted to show that this side of actress Jo Bo Ah also exists, and it seems that that was expressed even a little bit, it’s a production to which I’m very grateful.
Original Korean text available here.
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