As mentioned in previous post, So Dam talked about Fukuoka with Cine21. Director Zhang Lu (Jang Ryul in Hangul) is famous for blending real life personalities of his actors with fictional characters’ persona, and he demonstrates the flowing persona of So Dam in Fukuoka.
So Dam took some of her time from Youth Record‘s photoshoot and first approached the reporter with warm persona. During the interview, they freely discussed about Fukuoka and filming situation.
-It’s the second meeting with director Zhang Lu. In “Fukuoka,” Sodam, who traveled with Jemoon, sings at a secondhand bookstore there like a fantasy. In “Ode to the Goose,” Joo-eun (Park So-dam) hugs a Japanese doll she played with and sings the same Japanese song that Joo-eun used to sing, which is strangely connected to the character of her previous work.
=Director Zhang Lu is not the type to direct with specificity and restrict actors’ thoughts. I asked him about the scene of the song from the beginning, and he replied, “Just try it.” As I entered into the scene and acted without any aberration, I thought that the director had thought of “Fukuoka” together since filming “Ode to the Goose” and had a connection between Joo-eun and Sodam, which was how I was somehow persuaded.
– A woman in her early 20s and a middle-aged man who had a relationship with a bookstore owner are not commonly seen in movies. What was Sodam’s mind to suggest first, “Let’s go to Fukuoka?”
=I thought that it felt like Sodam and Jemoon teleported into a certain space. Rather than going to Fukuoka according to a plan, there is a huge change in the place where the two people are located. The director also said that we can adjust to the situation that is in front of us rather than understand it logically.
– While Hae-hyo, who runs a bar in Fukuoka, and his junior Je-moon are talking about the past, Sodam roams around downtown Fukuoka alone. While it was impressive to see Sodam speaking Korean naturally with Chinese and Japanese, it was also fun to observe actor Park Sodam alone in the foreign space.
=I have never actually traveled more than 4 nights and 5 days. It was also my first experience to stay abroad for two weeks through the filming of “Fukuoka.” I often took a walk because the filming location and accommodation were close, but after shopping alone, buying coffee, and taking a walk, I felt like I was really living in this neighborhood after spending about 5 days like that. At first, I had a lot of worries about how to adapt to the role in a foreign place, but everything seemed to have progressed like water as I slowly got used to the city of Fukuoka.
-Why do you keep appearing in director Zhang Lu’s films? What kind of passion does his work bring to actor Park So-dam?
=I once asked that question to Park Hae-il. “Once you’ve worked with him, you will know,” he said. “Director Zhang Lu’s directing scene is a highly anticipated.” As Park Hae-il said, director Zhang Lu’s directing has the power to raise expectations about what synergistic effects the actors will meet in whichever scenes. It’s hard to explain, but when I talk to the director, I fall in love with the work and get persuaded. Director Zhang Lu’s movie may be eccentric and unfamiliar at first, but after watching it all, it seems to have the power to keep thinking about it and make me imagine something else.
-What kind of role did you play in the tvN drama Youth Records that is currently being filmed?
= I play Ahn Jung-hwa, a 26-year-old makeup artist who is a fan of actor Sa Hye-joon (Park Bo-gum). She went to a large company and resigned in her mid-20s to become the youngest person in a makeup shop in search of her dream. She is not old enough to enter the shop as the youngest, but she has a clear desire and dream that she wants to do, and she practices it 100 percent. From the time I read the script, I wanted to do it because the character in the drama seemed to have a lot in common with me.
-When you became a rising star in Chungmuro after “Black Priests,” you continued to visit the small screen through dramas. Even after “Parasite,” you returns to the drama. You seems to balance his work well at the public eye level.
=Good directors and writers, I think we do it when interesting subjects approach us. There are no special standards and people who share each work are the most important. The power of directors and actors who work together is enormous.
– What was the first work to feel the power of a colleague?
Since “Veteran”. The character “maknae,” who appears in the drinking scene of Cho Tae-oh (Yoo Ah-in), was a small role without lines, and director Ryu Seung-wan and senior actors took care of me a lot. I even get called all the small drinking parties and invited by Jang Yoon-joo, who appeared as Miss Bong, to the wedding ceremony. Even though it was a really small role, I felt blessed and the energy that my seniors gave me at that time was really big. When I won the Best New Actor Award for “Black Priests,” director Ryu Seung-wan even took a picture of me with his fingers and sent it to me, saying, “Congratulations under the podium.” Such precious relationships have continued since the early age of 23.
-Let’s talk about parasites. I heard that the filming was a perfect line of motion at the time and was able to create a difficult scene in single shoot, but did you have a similar feeling while filming the “Jessica Song” scene?
In fact, Jessica Song’s lyrics were the first lines I memorized while preparing to shoot “Parasite.” It was a series of words, not sentences, so I had to memorize them first. At the time of the shooting, I burst into laughter when I saw (Choi) Woo-sik face-to-face with him and he memorized it hard. The field staff laughed together. It was at the Cannes International Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as the Cannes Film Festival) that I first felt that “the audience liked Jessica Song scenes a lot.” At the time of the shooting, if Ki-woo and Ki-jung were preparing so much to enter Park’s house and our atmosphere as actors who acted it was funny, at the Cannes Film Festival, audiences with completely different languages laughed together at the result. It was really touching to see the audience clapping and laughing and to feel that we are now falling into “Parasite” together. I thought it worked, and I was glad. And director Bong Joon-ho thought he had a plan.
-In early 2015, you were selected as the Rising Star by Cine21. Five years later, you have appeared in more than 20 films, including movies, plays, and dramas. What’s the secret of never getting tired?
=I have been exhausted since 2015 and rested for about a year. That’s when I filmed Director Zhang Lu’s “Ode to the Goose.” I’d like to know how not to get tired. (Laughing) I went to the acting department of the Korean National University of Arts for four years and graduated right away at the age of 23 and got to work right away. I was doing a good job in running, but I don’t think I knew how to look back and rest at all. When I met people, they asked me, “What do you do to rest?” It’s important to take a good rest and recharge well if you want to keep going. I didn’t even know I had this many stories. (laughs) It seems like the play continues and the movies and dramas continue to pile up a lot.
-Director Zhang Lu has called actor Park So-dam “a person who is born to act.” In “The Priests,” you acted freely with different voices in different languages. Do you have your own secret to acting?
=Try to adapt to the scene as soon as possible. At the filming site, you actually encounter the environment you imagined while reading the script. When I get used to the actors who act within the environment, I feel that I am becoming a part of the character. At the beginning of the filming, there is a moment when I try to play a role as actress Park So-dam, but after a certain moment, I feel like I am connected to the character.
-You challenged yourself to the action you wanted to do with <Special Cargo>, which is being prepared to release.
Eun Ha is a person who delivers everything that the post office doesn’t deliver quickly. Somehow, I have a child to take care of, and when I take care of him, I get into a fight. Rather than a person trained to fight, I desperately fight against others as I adapts to the situation. There were many moments when I was beaten and fought. It’s so much fun and I want to do it again. There was also excitement. It was very embarrassing to watch the performance of the lines on the monitor, but it was really fun to monitor after the action. I keep watching how I move and how I look on the screen. I monitored so much that I didn’t have before.
-What role do you want to play in the future now that you have completed the dream of doing action role?
=Role… (Thinking hard) I want to play a role that suits me as I get older. Although nothing seems to have changed since I turned 30 this year, there seems to be a heavy role that can be played by mid-30s. I would like to play a professional woman in a weighty work such as “Secret Forest,” directed by Ahn Kil-ho. Actually, I’ve never played a professional female character before, but I really want to play it.
-I heard from Director Zhang that So-dam Park is a good drinker. You drink well, has a good personality, and seems like you haven’t traveled anywhere as a representative of the department. You must have been a class president in school.
=It was really a lot of initiative. (Laughing) I was the type who nagged the classmates alot in the class. Then my classmates joked, “I was scolded by Sodam again today.” I still make jokes like that when I meet my colleagues. I didn’t do it on purpose, but I didn’t rest for four years and “graduated” alone. Everyone said it was toxic. I was acting because I was having fun, so I graduated because it was time to graduate. It wasn’t too difficult until graduation. One thing I regret is that I couldn’t travel and stayed at school in my early 20s. Once again, graduation wasn’t too difficult for me. (laughs)
-Last congratulations on becoming a member of the American Academy Association. If you become a member, do you get congratulatory messages or registration certificates?
=Something will fly in. (laughs) I get e-mail and I have to sign up as a member. I’m still not sure about the vote or anything that will affect the awards ceremony. I’ll take a closer look around the awards ceremony. (laughs)
So Dam(n) In Love 