[INTERVIEW] Bae Suzy : I was worried that the dark circles under my eyes were going to show on a big screen

On the day when Suzy had an interview with 10Asia, it was a gloomy day in April with low temperatures. When asked if she likes rainy days, what came back from her was an extremely realistic answer for a girl at her age. It was more like talking with a normal high school student rather than talking with an idol or a rookie actress. From complaining that she did not like the title of her movie, “Introduction to Architecture,” to talking about her first impression of the film’s scenario -- which was described as “boring” in her words -- the genuine answers coming from her mouth heated up the room during the interview. Suzy was at her last interview of the day, after rounding up her schedules filled with eight interviews with all different media. She was an idol who is used to bearing such a grueling schedule, but when explaining how she wrote 60 hand-written cards to 60 of the movie staffs and how much she loves eating ramen, she refreshed the atmosphere like a teenager with lively gestures. She rose to fame as an iconic figure of everyone’s “first crush,” but she was just a 19-year-old who is more excited about going to a karaoke than love.

Bae Suzy [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

"I was worried that the dark circles under my eyes were going to show on a big screen"

Suzy just wrapped up her first movie but she is not a rookie who fears being in front of cameras or feel awkward watching herself on screens. She had already experienced playing a lead role in KBS’ “Dream High 1” and used to working in front of cameras as a member of group miss A. Still, her first experiences while shooting her first film were special. “The whole time while filming, I was curious how I’d look on huge screens. I was really nervous during the movie’s first preview. Seeing people watching the movie and holding their breaths, and everyone laughing together in comic scenes, it was fun. Of course, I was worried that I was going to look ugly or that the dark circles under my eyes were going to show clearly (laugh). The screens in movie theaters are huge!” However, Suzy was able to get rid of her worries when she received enthusiastic reactions from the audience while going around theaters here for the film’s preview. Comparing to the roar of military soldiers she heard at morale-boosting concerts as a singer, the atmosphere in the theater, which made everyone sit tight and focus on the movie, was a gift from her first movie.

"Seo-yeon is somewhat sly like a fox too"

Seo-yeon in “Introduction to Architecture” is the class of 1996. Born in 1994, Suzy has never seen a beeper and more used to an mp3 player than a CD player. It was questionable how Suzy, who has never experienced a first crush, understood Seo-yeon’s character in the year she was not even born. “There were many parts where I didn’t understand when I first looked at the scenario. But I also felt that Seo-yeon and I are a lot alike. She’s bright and perky but cuter than I am. I can be a bit inexpressive (laugh). Seo-yeon doesn’t have many friends and I thought that’s one of the big reasons why she was attracted to Seung-min (actor Lee Je-hoon). She’s somewhat sly like a fox, too (laugh). She’s a very attractive character that has a power to make all guys fall in love with her. When I was playing Hye-mi in “Dream High 1,” I just had to say my lines without much focus on the character’s feelings. But this time, the director ordered me to be cuter, saying that I act like a soldier. But I couldn’t try being cute! I tried very hard to look more perky and alive. Because I was not even born during the film’s time-setting, there were some parts I couldn’t empathize with. But I figured that the process of two people meeting together is the same in all generations.

"So I’m a soldier in a submarine, right? Cool!”

Lee Yong-joo, director of “Introduction to Architecture,” described Suzy as a "submarine.” An actress who was like a submarine that has quietly gone deep, and far, underwater were first nodding to the director’s order, but later, she accomplished more than what he had asked for. Expressing her emotional breakdown on her face when asking Seung-min to “back off,” when he was breaking up with Seo-yeon, such talented acting skill was predictable from her script, filled with Suzy’s hand-written notes. “I wrote questions next to the parts I didn’t understand. I wrote like, ‘Why would Seo-yeon say such at this timing? Why are Seung-min and Seo-yeon heading this way? I’m gonna ask this later.’ I couldn’t play the character without understanding her actions in the movie. I thought it wasn’t going to work by studying the script alone, so I wrote down the questions next to questionable parts in the script.” As a result, she gained a much more serious title than her old one, “Actingdol,” a mix of acting and idol. “Hahahaha, submarine? What is that? Did director Lee really say that? (when a publicist who accompanied her that day tried to spread the rumor) I like that. So I’m a soldier in a submarine, right? Cool!”

※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.

10 아시아 Reporter : Lee Ji-Hye seven@
10 아시아 Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
10 아시아 Editor : Monica Suk monicasuk@