▲ A profile photo of actress Shin Hye-sun, provided by IOK Company on May 7, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- In the thriller film "Following," actress Shin Hye-sun portrays Sora, an influencer with a double life, contrasting with her appearance on social networking services (SNS). 

 

Sora, also known as a 'clinger,' is obsessed with attracting attention on SNS.

 

Shin Hye-sun skillfully embodies this antagonist character. With a cold expression, she creates a chilling atmosphere. 

 

"I've mainly done melodramas and romantic comedies in dramas. I wanted to try something new for myself in movies. Sora in 'Following' was a character I hadn't tried before. Just as I learned action properly in 'Brave Citizen' (2023) and did (horror) shivering acting in 'Target' (2023), I saw it as a process of expanding my acting spectrum."

 

During a meeting at a café in Samcheong-dong, Seoul on the 7th, Shin Hye-sun talked about her acting in "Following," directed by Kim Se-hwi and set to be released on the 15th. She said, "Playing a villain is a fun job for an actor."

 

▲ A still photo of upcoming film "Following," provided by Moving Pictures Company. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

However, Shin Hye-sun didn't immerse herself in the character of Sora. She also felt repelled by such a character. "In acting, there are times when I learn from the characters I play and sometimes I want to make friends with them, but there was nothing to learn from Sora. I didn't even want to be friends with her."

 

Shin Hye-sun admitted that rather than trying to evoke empathy from the audience when playing Sora, she acted while thinking about how to look more disgusting. She said, "Taking selfies like Sora, it's the opposite of my real self."

 

"It felt like I wandered around a lot taking pictures to post on Sora's SNS. Actually, I don't really like taking or being in pictures. I don't mind taking pictures to capture a moment, but taking pictures to show to people is a bit... But (during filming), I've improved a lot in photography skills."

 

"Following" unfolds as real estate agent Jung Tae (played by Byun Yo-han), who satisfies voyeuristic desires by secretly entering customers' vacant houses, accidentally discovers Sora's life and begins to peek into it. Jung Tae, who starts to treat Sora as a customer, begins to sneak into his house secretly, and one day, he discovers Sora's body stabbed with a weapon, getting involved in an unknown incident.

 

Shin Hye-sun previously acted with Byun Yo-han in the movie "A Day" (2017). Shin Hye-sun, who acted with Byun Yo-han for the second time, recalled, "We had such good chemistry that shooting was fun."

 

Having dreamed of becoming an actress since she was young, Shin Hye-sun majored in acting at university and debuted with the drama "School 2013." She gained popularity with dramas like "Stranger," "My Golden Life," "Still 17," and "Welcome to Samdal-ri," and has been actively working in movies such as "Return Match" (2014), "A Day," "Innocence" (2020), "Don't Buy the Seller," and "Brave Citizen."

 

"My first goal was to become an actor, and I achieved it. My second goal was to become a protagonist, and I achieved that too. Now I'm looking for a new goal."

 

Shin Hye-sun is preparing for a drama related to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). She revealed her passion for acting, saying, "When I act, an energy from inside me comes out, and there's something addictive about it."

 

Shin Hye-sun said of the audience of the movie "Following," "You could say it's a movie that depicts a certain aspect of modern society to an extreme. It would be good if you could enjoy it without thinking too deeply."

 

 

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