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Kong Hyo-jin: 'I Am Trying to Break My Limits'

Actress Kong Hyo-jin plays female protagonist Lee Hee Jin in the movie entitled "Love Fiction".

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Kong Hyo-jin is not an extremely beautiful actress. She has a tall height, slender body, and small and cute face, which are definitely merits for an actress, but she approaches the public with a completely different strategy. She presented pure and intense emotion in the movie "Crush and Blush" (2006) and the psychology of a straightforward woman with an understated personality in the movie "Rolling Home with a Bull" (2010). Kong Hyo-jin received huge popularity with the drama "The Greatest Love" last year, and she has made a comeback to movies after a two year-break with her appearance with actor Ha Jung-woo in "Love Fiction", which was directed by Jeon Gye-soo. Kong Hyo-jin will play a provocative woman named Hee Jin who works in a movie production company. She will fall in love with an unknown novelist named Joo Wol (Ha Jung-woo) in the movie.

Kong Hyo-jin came to a cafe in Samcheongdong to give an interview about her new movie before its release on February 22. Kong said, "Before I started to film the drama "The Greatest Love" last year, my manager told me about this unique script which actor Ha Jung-woo personally suggested to the production company. I had met Ha Jung-woo before when we filmed a TV commercial together, and I found that we could form an excellent harmony at that time, and working with him was very exciting. So I decided to appear in this movie as I also liked the script". The character Hee Jin is a mysterious woman. She does not shave her underarm hair and she willingly spends a night with a man in order to take a photo that she wants. Many actresses were suggested to play the character, but they were reportedly reluctant to play the character. The major reason why they all refused to play the character was the underarm hair which they had to attach for filming. Kong said, "Actually I do not like any ordinary character, so there was no reason to refuse playing the character only because I had to attach the underarm hair. But I greatly agonized over whether I could successfully present the character Hee Jin".

Working with director Jeon Gye-soo, who had been in the spotlight with his movie "Ghost Theater" went very well with lightning speed. They filmed each scene without making many mistakes and there was no difficulties while filming, which made her feel nervous. She said, "The director did not ask many things to me and we usually did not repeat filming each scene. The director is a person who believes the first expression of the actors on the first shoot is the best. He usually listens to what actors ask, but he is stubborn about things. I sometimes thought after finishing filming a certain scene, "Will it be enough? Do I have to film this scene again?" But he just trusted the actors and went on to the next scene (laugh)". Jeon Gye-soo's style of directing was completely different from that of director Lee Kyoung-mi, who directed "Crush and Blush". Kong Hyo-jin once mentioned that Lee Kyoung-mi had a huge influence on her. Kong said, "Lee Kyoung-mi is a director who always asks many things to actors. I sometimes thought it was too much. She asked, 'Smile when you fight'.

I thought that her request was nonsense, but I just followed whatever she directed. After I watched the scene, I found out that I had made a completely weird facial expression, which perfectly matched the situation. I realized that I had to listen to what others said and I thought, 'There are many things out there that I cannot actually understand. I have to be fully open to the world and have a flexible mindset to accept those things". Just as Lee Kyoung-mi was a huge influence on her when she filmed "Crush and Blush", Ha Jung-woo reportedly also was a huge influence on her when they filmed "Love Fiction" together. Looking at Ha Jung-woo, who always continues to think, she reportedly swore, "Do not stop thinking just because I feel uncomfortable. Let's live with more intelligent thoughts". She explained, "Ha Jung-woo is a type of person who never stops thinking. He also has a driving force when it comes to work. I once complained, 'Why is there no movie in which only female protagonist appears', and he advised, 'Stop complaining and become more active. You go out there and cast the male actors'. I used to be one step behind, but I decided to change myself after looking at him (laugh)". She continued, "Actually I had had many floating thoughts in my mind up to now. I had complicated thoughts and the limitation of my thoughts actually made me stop acting. So now I am trying to break those limits of my own thoughts".

Kong Hyo-jin has appeared in small-scale movies up to now such as "The Birth of a Family" (2006), "M" (2007), "Crush and Blush" (2008), "Rolling Home with a Bull" (2010), and "Love Fiction" (2012), and those movies were not commercially successful. But there are many dramas that achieved great success with her appearance. Kong said, "I actually do not like blockbuster movies. I cannot stand the shallow commercial intent. I do not think that it matches me and I know very well that I cannot enjoy filming those movies. Even though it will become a commercial success, it will not help me at all in my acting career. I am not an appropriate actor for a blockbuster movie". She continued, "I have been waiting for a suitable movie for me before, but I realized that I was too passive. From now on, I will be more active and I will go out there to find the good work for me. I want to appear in a work which only has a female protagonist. I actually do not like to share the spotlight with the male actor (laugh). I will challenge myself by appearing in many different genres".

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