First Lead Role in a Screen…”A Movie I’ll Think About Continuously”
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(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Young-jae = Actor Roh Yoon-seo (24) is often remembered in the youthful student roles from dramas ‘Our Blues’ (2022) and ‘Crash Course in Romance’ (2023).
This time, Roh Yoon-seo captures the excitement and conflict of a first love in her 20s. It is in director Cho Sun-ho’s new film ‘Hear Me,’ which opens on the 6th of next month.
‘Hear Me’ is Roh Yoon-seo’s screen debut. Her previous work ’20th Century Girl’ (2022) was a Netflix movie and not released in theaters.
“The theme of ‘Hear Me’ relates to ‘beginnings.’ It’s a story about first love as well. Since it’s my first screen film, I think I’ll keep thinking about it.”
Roh Yoon-seo said this with a smile at a café in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, on the 31st.
In the movie, Roh Yoon-seo plays Yeo-reum, who takes care of her sister Ga-eul (played by Kim Min-ju), a swimming athlete dreaming of winning an Olympic gold medal. The story begins when Yong-jun (played by Hong Kyung) sees Yeo-reum at the swimming pool and falls in love at first sight.
After seeing Yeo-reum and Ga-eul communicate in sign language, Yong-jun instinctively realizes that they are hearing-impaired and starts a conversation using the sign language he learned in college. Thus, the three of them exchange feelings through sign language.
Roh Yoon-seo explained, “Facial expressions account for 70% when communicating in sign language. Even with the same sign language, it can turn into a question depending on how you make facial expressions,” adding, “Focusing on expressions improved my expressive ability a lot.”
She stated, “Since I couldn’t use voice, I naturally relied on body expressions,” and added, “I learned a lot while focusing on gestures, and it seems like it will help in my future acting.”
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Roh Yoon-seo, Hong Kyung, and Kim Min-ju spent three months learning sign language together for a natural performance. Being all in their 20s, they became close quickly.
Roh Yoon-seo recalled, “There was a chemistry that came from being a similar age,” and “We were in sync, making the shoot enjoyable.”
‘Hear Me’ is a remake of a Taiwanese movie of the same name released in South Korea in 2010. It retains the pure emotions of the original while making bold changes to fit the times and Korean sentiment.
Regarding accepting the casting offer, Roh Yoon-seo said, “There were many scenes that touched my heart when reading the script,” and “The relationships among Yong-jun, Yeo-reum, and Ga-eul had depth and credibility.”
The character who experiences the most dramatic emotional changes in the movie is Yeo-reum. Believing her life is solely about taking care of her sister, she grows by going through conflicts not only with Ga-eul but also with Yong-jun, triggered by an unfortunate incident.
Roh Yoon-seo described the character of Yeo-reum as “a friend who is very cautious and considerate in new relationships,” adding, “She is trapped in such thoughts and ends up missing more important things in life.”
She recalled her co-star Hong Kyung injecting life into the scenes with witty ad-libs, saying, “He studied the character a lot and completely immersed himself. I felt a lot of respect for him as an actor.”
Roh Yoon-seo had majored in art in high school and university before embarking on an acting career. While studying, she worked as a model and then came to learn acting following suggestions to become an actor.
She also made a special appearance showing action performances in the Netflix series ‘In the Woods Where No One Belongs’ (2024).
Roh Yoon-seo said, “At that time, I received positive responses from various places,” adding, “I thought I should show a variety of appearances in the future.”
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ljglory@yna.co.kr
