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

Any plans in particular?

I don't have any particular plans at the moment. But I just came here as part of this Korean delegation, with director Bong Joon-ho and Kim Hong-joon, who is also a director, and I'm counting on them for future collaborations, which we've already discussed. Considering my age and the long lapse in my career, I'm certainly not expecting a large role, but if somebody offered me a less important but very characteristic role, or something out of the ordinary, with a very strong character, I would always be ready to play the part, and I would do so with a great amount of passion.

I read that you had left to live in Canada for political reasons. Could you tell us a little about this period and what you did while you were there?

Actually, it wasn't for political reasons that I left for Canada. I think that those are just rumors. I left for personal reasons. I didn't have any work in particular, I wasn't employed, so I could leave easily. Above all, I wanted to change my life, I needed a substantial change in my life. That's what made me decide to settle in Canada, in a new environment. In Canada, I led an altogether normal existence. I didn't do any particular kind of work. I lived, quite simply -- I took care of the house. The life I led in Canada could be compared to a scene from The Greek Tycoon, a film starring Anthony Quinn about Aristotle Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy's second husband. At the end of the film, Anthony Quinn watches the sun set and sees his entire life flash before his eyes. That's a little bit how I see myself when I lived in Canada. I had an old house right in the middle of nature. And I would meditate on what I'd done, I saw the life I'd led in Korea.

In Love of Blood Relations, your character has a very strong presence. There is a feeling that the film really takes off each time you appear on the screen. As soon as you are in the picture, the film becomes more alive. There is this feeling that the camera is caressing you, that the director is in love, gazing admiringly at you. Do you think that women constituted a justification for Kim Ki-young's films?

I want to compare the cinematographic world of Kim Ki-young to a kingdom. Kim Ki-young would be the king. A king who bore an extraordinary love for those around him, which constituted his world, his films. And his actresses of course, the princesses, the queens, who gave a particular value to this kingdom. I think that the actresses had a special importance in his films and that Kim Ki-young saw things that way too: this kingdom, this king and his princesses.

Thank you very much. Here's hoping to see you on the screen again very soon.

Thank you.

Interviewed November 30, 2006 in Paris.

Translated by Jon Pais.

Interview, Part I

[Source: Cinémasie]