[INTERVIEW] Yoon Yeo-jung - Part 2

10: Are there any moments in particular that you remember about the shoot?
Yoon: There was one day that (Kim) Min-hee got drunk in a very cute way. [Drawing the shape of a heart with her hands] She said "I am soooooo happy! I reallyyyyyy like you!" and then started taking off the price tag on her new shoes. She looked so cute and lovely at that moment. But E J-yong is extremely considerate -- he took that scene out from the film because he said she shouldn't be seen like that at such a young age.

10: The preconception that older actresses will be very fussy is pretty dominant.
Yoon: When I was young, people told me that I don't have an easygoing personality. And they call that being fussy when you grow older. I think us actresses are wronged from the fact that we're called fussy and are considered to have bad tempers if we speak our minds. Although we should be more like E and stick to our thoughts amidst being more mellow. (laugh) I'm trying to be more like E after working on this film. This is how I keep learning everyday.

10: When you're acting with younger actors, it seems that you manage to create more of a romantic tension than make the relationship into one between a mother and son. You did it with Daniel Choi in TV series "The World that they Live In" and with TVXQ member U-Know Yunho in drama "No Limit".
Yoon: The producer had intended on it from the beginning in the case of "No Limit". He kept making Yun-ho call me "Aeja-ssi" [similar to Miss. Aeja] but there is no way it could've been easy for him since it was his first try at acting. The producer had to end up telling Yun-ho to think that he was dating a grandmother. Yun-ho is the type that will work very hard just as he's told so he would call me whenever he has time, saying 'Aeja-ssi, it's Yun-ho' or 'Aeja-ssi, did you eat?'. Of course, he doesn't call me that anymore but he calls me time to time. I asked him if he wanted to come to our screening and he really did. I thank him for that.

10: I really liked the scene where you sit side-by-side with Kim Ok-vin. In such a situation, adults would usually start talking about their past but it seemed like you're not the type gives advice.
Yoon: No, I don't like to. Some actors sometimes come to me, saying that I should say something to the younger actors who don't behave properly but why should I? They're all my colleagues and they're there to work. I just don't become close with the ones who are insolent. I'm not their teacher nor their mom so I don't have the right to tell them what to do and what not to do. They're there as professionals too. I might say something if that actor was a very good person but I saw a slight flaw.

10: But it's not like that in society. It's not just with actors but not many adults think that way. People put forth their age, position and authority and sometimes end up being violent too.
Yoon: I wish everyone could be on more of a horizontal relationship. Not that I'm asking them to call me just by my name. (laugh) It's strange how respect and etiquette toward the experienced ends up looking like a relationship between a master and servant. If you get used to being waited on, you end up using that as your authority and power. I've seen my seniors do that and told myself I wouldn't end up being like them. It's what I always tell my son too. That I know a lot of people are like that but all that matters is that he isn't like that.

10: I think that at times, you can't help avoiding taking on roles to make money. Is there a standard you set in picking your roles in such cases too?
Yoon: Money is important. And the more I get, the better. (laugh) But I tend to avoid taking on roles that are similar to ones I've taken on before. I try to avoid portraying the same image. I sometimes don't take on the character, no matter how well it pays, if its too similar to the role I had before.

10: But isn't there a limit to the range of roles you can take on as an older actress compared to younger actors who can take on a variety of roles and change their image?
Yoon: Most of the roles I get are being the mother. I'm always cooking, doing the laundry or opposing against my children's marriage. That's why I'm not going to oppose against my own son's marriage. I've done it one too many times in dramas. (laugh) Even if I play the role of a mom, I try and change the mom I am everytime.

10: At the beginning of your career, you used to go back and forth between films and TV series, then you appeared mostly in dramas before film "A Good Lawyer's Wife", and after that you've been going back and forth between the two again. Is there a different energy you get from the different sets?
Yoon: I'd probably get all my energy sucked out if I stayed on one side but I think it's been lessened because I move back and forth. (laugh) And I tend to learn more because my environment changes. I actually didn't like people in the film industry in the beginning because I felt that they had a low opinion of TV actors. But I realized where it was coming from once I started doing films -- they can't help avoiding faces they've always seen on TV. That prejudice has sort of disappeared now.

10: The public has sort of a double-standard toward actresses -- they're curious to know what they're wearing but hope they live frugally. And when they age, the public hopes rise above worldly matters. But the Yoon Yeo-jung we see in the film "Actresses" is the worldliest of all the actresses and expresses it quite outrightly too.
Yoon: I don't go looking for luxury goods on purpose but I prefer products with good quality. I've never suffered from a guilty conscience because of that. I think all that matters is that I buy the clothes that I want with the money I made through hard work and receive solace from that. People of my age don't have that much time left to be lavish and wear the clothes they want. I'm not buying it from money I made illegally or from debt. We live in a capitalistic society -- it would be more weird to feel guilty about consuming.

10: The first image that I had of you was that you're an actress you doesn't act in the tone of other actors. I think there may have been some people who considered your un-dramatic style of acting quite strange.
Yoon: Yes, seldomly, I'm asked to act with more earnesty. (laugh) I started regarding Roman Polanski a great director after seeing the scene where the main character in "The Pianist" silently plays the piano. The man's expressionless face broke my heart even more than it probably would have had he been full of passion. People usually like so-called 'heaven-sent acting'. It may be an issue of taste but I don't like such acting. For example, your son dies. Then most mothers will fall to the ground and start sobbing. But would it be like that if your son really dies? I think I'd rather not feel anything and not be able to cry. I'd much prefer that the actress turns around, not being able to cry or do anything, but just see her shoulders shake while she tries to stop the tears from flowing. It would look she is really hurting. And I'm someone who wants to do such acting. But they usually want the actor to be more dramatic with such scenes. The directors sometimes thank me, after editing, that I did a better job by not overdoing it. And I'm very thankful when I hear them say that.

10: The acting by younger actors these days is closer to real life. Have you ever thought that you might have been better off it you had been born in an earlier or later generation?
Yoon: No, acting changes like everything else in the world does. I actually cherish more the experience of meeting people who acknowledge and respect my acting. My acting might have seemed average if I had been born in this era.

Editor in Chief : Beck Una one@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr