[Korean Film News] Interview Lee Hwa-si, Part I

First of all, could you explain how you became in involved in movies and how you came to work for Kim Ki-young?

When I was little, I lived in the country. Screenings were organized regularly in the villages, and I was around 9 or 10 years old when I saw my first film. That made me decide to become an actress, to be someone whom the public admires. When I was attending the university, I used to receive a lot of compliments on my eyes, people would tell me that I had very beautiful eyes. So I entered a competition where they were looking for someone with pretty eyes, but it never came to anything. Anyway, I was looking for an acting job, when I was spotted by the director of an acting school. Kim Ki-young happened to be looking for an actress for Ban Gum-yon [반금련] (1981). So I was introduced to him by the director of the acting school and offered the leading role in Kim Ki-young's film.

Between 1974 and 1980, you starred in five of Kim Ki-young's films. Could you describe the atmosphere during the production, his methods, what impressed you?

Kim Ki-young never gave out a script during shooting. He would have the actors arrive on the set and give them instructions as the day went by. A strong sympathy between the director and the different actors was therefore extremely important. Also, Kim Ki-young didn't care for actresses who behaved like Barbie dolls, putting their beauty before all else, he hated that kind of acting. That's why he would insist that women conduct themselves in a stronger, more imposing manner.

What do you recall from this period, from 1974 to 1980, both in your work and in Korean society at the time?

In the 1970s, Korea was under a military regime, dictator Park Cheung-hee was in power. All films were subject to strict control and severe censorship. Directors were very limited in what they could do. That didn't prevent Kim Ki-young from shooting what he wanted. But a lot of scenes were censored when the films were released in theatres. Anyhow, that didn't keep him from doing what he set out to do, even if afterward there was a very strict control beyond what took place on the set. In addition, there was something else that frustrated me no end. Kim Ki-young's films were considered cult films and didn't really enjoy success with the public at large. On top of their relative failure with this public, his films had been censored and were therefore very different from what had been planned at the outset. As an actress, I found this very frustrating. On the other hand, in 1977 the film I-eoh Island [이어도] came out, which didn't achieve anything like a popular success, but which was praised by a number of film specialists. That same year, I received the Best New Actress award at a festival organized by a Pusan newpaper. When I think about it now, I was in my twenties, I was working as an actress. So my memories concern mostly my work. I remember that I was very torn between what I wanted to do and what seemed sensible to do. It was a time when I thought things over quite a bit, when I struggled with myself. Certainly that's what gave me the reputation for being difficult to work with. In the eyes of others, I wasn't talkative and I thought too much. In any case, for me it was a time of conflict with myself, a time of artistic growth, of reflection.

In Love of Blood Relations [혈육애] (1976), you play a an extremely strong character, with a certain coldness. Especially in your gaze. And in Ban Gum-yon [반금련] (1981), you are once again at the center of the narrative, but this time you are much more impassioned. They are both very strong characters, but very different as well. Could you describe for us how you approached your roles, the way in which you worked?

In Love of Blood Relations, I played a student who belonged to a communist organisation in Japan. The film's ideology was communism. In Korea, students at the head of progressive movements are youths with cool heads, who look at reality in an objectvie manner. At the time, I was able to enter into the role quite easily, to play this student, this rather cold character. On the other hand, as far as Ban Gum-yon [반금련] (1981), goes, it's a love story, with a lot of passion, a great deal of competition between the partners... I identified easily with this character, which allowed me to better enter into the role. But the reason I put so much passion into my performance is that Ban Gum-yon was my first film, the one in which I made my debut. The film came out quite a bit later, because of censorship and many other problems, but it's the one in which I acted for the very first time. So I had placed a lot of hope into this picture. That's why I put so much love and passion into it. That's why it was so easy for me to take on a more fervent role.

Concerning Ban Gum-yon, the film was censored and had important consequences for your career. Could you discuss the reasons for the censorship and the impact this censorship had on your career?

When Ban Gum-yon was released in Korea, John Schlesinger's Midnight
Cowboy came out in theaters. It was said that the president's daughter had seen the film, which dealt with male prostitution, and that she had been very shocked. Supposedly she spoke about it to her father, dictator Park. Films like that weren't permitted to be shown in Korea. On top of which, in the 1970s, many erotic films of poor quality were being released. She must have mixed up the two and considered the film completely erotic. And she is thought to have advised her father to toughen censorship and reinforce the board of censors. It's at this time that Ban Gum-yon came out. But Ban Gum-yon, in spite of some erotic scenes, is not centered on that at all. It's a film that is critical of cohabitation, and what's more, it's a film based on an old Chinese tale. It's a film that contained many criticisms of cohabitation, but the authorities only saw the erotic scenes, which explains why the film suffered so much at the hands of the censors. Therefore, the general reinforcement of censorship had important consequences for Ban Gum-yon. That's why the film had to wait four or five years to be released. It wasn't until 1982 that the picture at last came out, and some forty minutes had been cut from the film. This version that finally was distributed frustrated me a lot, and I was sorely disappointed. It was my first film, I had placed all my hopes as an actress into it, and I was hoping it would open doors for me. So I thought that my career as an actress had been completely shattered. I was so disappointed and thwarted in my hopes that I no longer wanted to work. That's when I decided to quit acting for good. At the time I thought I was a loser. Today, I'm encouraging my daughter to become an actress and to realize the dream that her mother wasn't able to do.

Don't you see yourself acting again, either now or in the future?

Sure... (Laughs)

Interview, Part II

Translation by Jon Pais

[Source: Cinémasie]