Who is to say Lee Young-Ae is the Lee Young-Ae we know?
From Leeyoungae.net
Translated by MOMO ^^
Who is to say Lee Young-Ae is the Lee Young-Ae we know?
Both I and Lee Young-Ae knew that parodied phrases like 'the kind Ms. Young-Ae' or 'the unkind Ms. Geum-Ja' would become popular. I wanted to do so too, and she nodded smiling, as if to agree. But her spectrum was actually much more wide and complex than to be confined in a single abjective. Turning off the recorder at the end of the interview, I began to think. Is this really the same Lee Young-Ae that we all thought she was? Is the Lee Young-Ae we believed we knew this very woman Lee Young-Ae? Was it Ok Ju-Hyeon who, imitating Lee Young-Ae, said that she swallows her breath instead of letting it out when she speaks? However, Lee Young-Ae sitting in front of me indeed exhaled when she talked, although her tone did have little fluctuation. I carefully examined her lips as they moved, pink and soft as a kitten's paw, but surely she let out her breath as she spoke. In fact, it's practically impossible to inhale while speaking unless one is breathing the last breath before death. Even while TV shows were filled with imitations of singers and actors, Lee Young-Ae's only imitation was the single phrase by Ok Ju-Hyeon saying "This is Lee Young-Ae." For Lee Young-Ae, there is no '-feel' either, a mocking term referring to stars that resemble another star, like Park Han-Byeol or Jang Hee-Jin who are frequently described as 'Jeon Ji-Hyeon feel'. Changed into her own clothes of a cotton gathered skirt printed with cobalt blue hydrangea and a white shirt, she sat down at the table across from me. It wasn't immediately after the photographing was over. She took time to look around the presidential suite room at Park Hyatt that had been specifically prepared for her, examining a champagne glass against the light like an experienced housewife, and trying a faucet at the bathtub made of firm limestone.
"I think I should get married. I will get married. These days I also think about how I should grow older."
She carefully read the welcome card that the general manager Simeon Olle wrote himself, and skillfully set up the fruit and wine also prepared by Olle. COEX (Seoul convention & exhibition center) rested on the extension of Lee Young-Ae's shoulder, smooth and fair as a peeled hard-boiled egg. She had seated herself for the interview. Her pure and dense fair skin came closer when she turned her sincere gaze toward the interviewer. She bended her knee and pulled up her right leg onto the chair. The blue hydrangea rose to the level of her white shoulder. "Have some grape," she said pointing at the white grapes in the wooden bowl, exhaling as if inhaling. Her casual use of a non-honorific form seemed to bring back the 8 years of time. The recorder started running, and the kind Ms. Young-Ae pulled the microphone closer to herself.
"So is the judgement that I'm putting on a face. If I really am pretending and pretense has become part of me because of the bad surroundings, I hope that they'll just leave me that way."
A real interview in a long time. You said you won't have interviews during the promotion of the new movie.
That's because I had enough interviews in the past. Why have more of them when there's not much to add? Plus, interviews are tiring. It takes a lot of energy. It seems that as one gets older not only the appearance but the thought changes. Before I used to think that I should speak of many things in person, but now I think that I can speak indirectly through my works instead. It may be more accurate to say that I didn't really want interviews, than there was a particular reason for not doing it.
How do you think you have changed since then?
I like it better now. At that time I desired too much compared to what I possessed. As most people in their 20's are, I was full of ambitions to succeed, as a result wanting to achieve more than I was capable of. When I look at my old pictures, I can see the restless determination to 'do well' in my face. Such a period has passed, and now I am able to embrace most everything, if not all. Although I may have more wrinkles, I'm more satisifed with myself now.
What is the ultimate you that you wish for?
It seems that nothing really works out just because you want it to. Now I'm aware that it only makes life hard for you. Not completely without a goal, but I'd like to lead a peaceful and ordinary life.
Would it be possible for you to be ordinary?
That's probably why I want an ordinary life the more. I want to live a common life like other people, getting married and having children.
So you want an ordinary life, which seems even harder to get than the highest fame as an actor?
Fame, there's no end to such thing. I suppose everyone would have a different definition of being ordinary, but all I want is just a quiet and unnoticed life, without being too greedy.
But your self-management is simply too extraordinary to lead an ordinary life. It's impossible for an ordinary person to be so strict about herself as you are. Your acquaintances say that there is no one like you in the entertainment world. Tell me more.
I'm curious what they say about me. There really isn't much to say, because you just don't give them much to say about you. You have spent more than 10 years without a noticeable flaw in this extraordinary circle, namely the Korean entertainment world.
Do you have, by any chance, a principle of your own?
I'll have to look back myself. You have known me for 8 years yourself. How was I at that time? Was I very different from now, say much agitated, since I was younger then?
No, you were calm and thorough. I haven't seen any other actor before or after then who came over to our office to look at her own photographs in person.
I did that? When was it?
That was when you were shooting . When I chose a photograph where your eyes looked pretty, you chose a different one, saying that your mouth in that picture was not tense enough. You seemed like an actor who wished to control everything about yourself, up to your fuzz hair in photographs.
I don't remember it, but I can imagine myself so. It must have been something like a sense of responsbility.
Are you still like that?
No, I'd like to be, but I can't afford to.
You have changed gradually, but not dramatically. And your thoughts are just as hard to guess as ever. Couldn't it be due to a lack of interest on your part? Do you need more attention from the public?
No, that's not what I meant.
In fact, your reputation now is incomparable to back then. When I recently went to Hong Kong, I was asked if I knew you more often than I was asked about Bae Yong-Joon in Tokyo. I was surprised myself. Being a historical drama with uncommon vocabulary, I never imagined it would be so well-received abroad. I heard that the detailed subtitles helped a lot. I heard that even the reputation of Kelly Chen, who dubbed your voice, is going up.
Have you changed at all in the midst of such frenzy?
While before I used to respond right away when I was hit, now I take some time before I respond. In other words, I restrain myself. I tend to think too much, which is both my strength and weakness. For a celebrity, deep thoughts and self-control are necessary. Actors need to be emotional and spontaneous, but one can easily lose balance because of that. In the entertainment world, you are bound to fall down when the wind blows unless you have a firm root. I came to believe that you need to possess a balanced way of thinking. This might be how I changed, if ever.
Are you spontaneous and emotional at all?
Sometimes I am, because when I act, I have to relax. But other than that, I usually stay tense and restrained. 'If you're in a place where what's seen externally accounts for everything, the best defense is to strictly control what gets to be seen,' this is what you had written for my interview, isn't it?
That's how I feel whenever I think about you. Which role you have performed do you think is closest to the real Lee Young-Ae? I can't get an answer for it in the form of an essay-type question without being given multiple choices to choose from.
That's not true. I had appeared in TV programs like , and had not avoided exposing the smallest details about myself.
Could it be that all of those were already forgotten? Couldn't it be perhaps because of your image that you have recently formed, or should I say, that became somehow fixed, since you may not have wanted that image yourself?
I think so too. I'm not too happy about the fact that people tend to judge me based on only the past 2 or 3 years.
Do you wish that people would stop caring too much about your private life? Or do you take it for granted?
We're all humans after all, and I'm an actress, and they are the public. How could an actress say 'please don't care about me', when that is the essence of their occupation? And in any case it's not like they will stop being interested just because I want them to. I have matured enough to take it for granted that I can't avoid being exposed to outside as a 'public figure', so to speak. That's why I think I need self-control. Now I am well aware that it only harms myself to respond directly to the public's interest and be deeply affected by it.
(rest of the interview only available on paper)
Translated by MOMO ^^
Who is to say Lee Young-Ae is the Lee Young-Ae we know?
Both I and Lee Young-Ae knew that parodied phrases like 'the kind Ms. Young-Ae' or 'the unkind Ms. Geum-Ja' would become popular. I wanted to do so too, and she nodded smiling, as if to agree. But her spectrum was actually much more wide and complex than to be confined in a single abjective. Turning off the recorder at the end of the interview, I began to think. Is this really the same Lee Young-Ae that we all thought she was? Is the Lee Young-Ae we believed we knew this very woman Lee Young-Ae? Was it Ok Ju-Hyeon who, imitating Lee Young-Ae, said that she swallows her breath instead of letting it out when she speaks? However, Lee Young-Ae sitting in front of me indeed exhaled when she talked, although her tone did have little fluctuation. I carefully examined her lips as they moved, pink and soft as a kitten's paw, but surely she let out her breath as she spoke. In fact, it's practically impossible to inhale while speaking unless one is breathing the last breath before death. Even while TV shows were filled with imitations of singers and actors, Lee Young-Ae's only imitation was the single phrase by Ok Ju-Hyeon saying "This is Lee Young-Ae." For Lee Young-Ae, there is no '-feel' either, a mocking term referring to stars that resemble another star, like Park Han-Byeol or Jang Hee-Jin who are frequently described as 'Jeon Ji-Hyeon feel'. Changed into her own clothes of a cotton gathered skirt printed with cobalt blue hydrangea and a white shirt, she sat down at the table across from me. It wasn't immediately after the photographing was over. She took time to look around the presidential suite room at Park Hyatt that had been specifically prepared for her, examining a champagne glass against the light like an experienced housewife, and trying a faucet at the bathtub made of firm limestone.
"I think I should get married. I will get married. These days I also think about how I should grow older."
She carefully read the welcome card that the general manager Simeon Olle wrote himself, and skillfully set up the fruit and wine also prepared by Olle. COEX (Seoul convention & exhibition center) rested on the extension of Lee Young-Ae's shoulder, smooth and fair as a peeled hard-boiled egg. She had seated herself for the interview. Her pure and dense fair skin came closer when she turned her sincere gaze toward the interviewer. She bended her knee and pulled up her right leg onto the chair. The blue hydrangea rose to the level of her white shoulder. "Have some grape," she said pointing at the white grapes in the wooden bowl, exhaling as if inhaling. Her casual use of a non-honorific form seemed to bring back the 8 years of time. The recorder started running, and the kind Ms. Young-Ae pulled the microphone closer to herself.
"So is the judgement that I'm putting on a face. If I really am pretending and pretense has become part of me because of the bad surroundings, I hope that they'll just leave me that way."
A real interview in a long time. You said you won't have interviews during the promotion of the new movie.
That's because I had enough interviews in the past. Why have more of them when there's not much to add? Plus, interviews are tiring. It takes a lot of energy. It seems that as one gets older not only the appearance but the thought changes. Before I used to think that I should speak of many things in person, but now I think that I can speak indirectly through my works instead. It may be more accurate to say that I didn't really want interviews, than there was a particular reason for not doing it.
How do you think you have changed since then?
I like it better now. At that time I desired too much compared to what I possessed. As most people in their 20's are, I was full of ambitions to succeed, as a result wanting to achieve more than I was capable of. When I look at my old pictures, I can see the restless determination to 'do well' in my face. Such a period has passed, and now I am able to embrace most everything, if not all. Although I may have more wrinkles, I'm more satisifed with myself now.
What is the ultimate you that you wish for?
It seems that nothing really works out just because you want it to. Now I'm aware that it only makes life hard for you. Not completely without a goal, but I'd like to lead a peaceful and ordinary life.
Would it be possible for you to be ordinary?
That's probably why I want an ordinary life the more. I want to live a common life like other people, getting married and having children.
So you want an ordinary life, which seems even harder to get than the highest fame as an actor?
Fame, there's no end to such thing. I suppose everyone would have a different definition of being ordinary, but all I want is just a quiet and unnoticed life, without being too greedy.
But your self-management is simply too extraordinary to lead an ordinary life. It's impossible for an ordinary person to be so strict about herself as you are. Your acquaintances say that there is no one like you in the entertainment world. Tell me more.
I'm curious what they say about me. There really isn't much to say, because you just don't give them much to say about you. You have spent more than 10 years without a noticeable flaw in this extraordinary circle, namely the Korean entertainment world.
Do you have, by any chance, a principle of your own?
I'll have to look back myself. You have known me for 8 years yourself. How was I at that time? Was I very different from now, say much agitated, since I was younger then?
No, you were calm and thorough. I haven't seen any other actor before or after then who came over to our office to look at her own photographs in person.
I did that? When was it?
That was when you were shooting . When I chose a photograph where your eyes looked pretty, you chose a different one, saying that your mouth in that picture was not tense enough. You seemed like an actor who wished to control everything about yourself, up to your fuzz hair in photographs.
I don't remember it, but I can imagine myself so. It must have been something like a sense of responsbility.
Are you still like that?
No, I'd like to be, but I can't afford to.
You have changed gradually, but not dramatically. And your thoughts are just as hard to guess as ever. Couldn't it be due to a lack of interest on your part? Do you need more attention from the public?
No, that's not what I meant.
In fact, your reputation now is incomparable to back then. When I recently went to Hong Kong, I was asked if I knew you more often than I was asked about Bae Yong-Joon in Tokyo. I was surprised myself. Being a historical drama with uncommon vocabulary, I never imagined it would be so well-received abroad. I heard that the detailed subtitles helped a lot. I heard that even the reputation of Kelly Chen, who dubbed your voice, is going up.
Have you changed at all in the midst of such frenzy?
While before I used to respond right away when I was hit, now I take some time before I respond. In other words, I restrain myself. I tend to think too much, which is both my strength and weakness. For a celebrity, deep thoughts and self-control are necessary. Actors need to be emotional and spontaneous, but one can easily lose balance because of that. In the entertainment world, you are bound to fall down when the wind blows unless you have a firm root. I came to believe that you need to possess a balanced way of thinking. This might be how I changed, if ever.
Are you spontaneous and emotional at all?
Sometimes I am, because when I act, I have to relax. But other than that, I usually stay tense and restrained. 'If you're in a place where what's seen externally accounts for everything, the best defense is to strictly control what gets to be seen,' this is what you had written for my interview, isn't it?
That's how I feel whenever I think about you. Which role you have performed do you think is closest to the real Lee Young-Ae? I can't get an answer for it in the form of an essay-type question without being given multiple choices to choose from.
That's not true. I had appeared in TV programs like , and had not avoided exposing the smallest details about myself.
Could it be that all of those were already forgotten? Couldn't it be perhaps because of your image that you have recently formed, or should I say, that became somehow fixed, since you may not have wanted that image yourself?
I think so too. I'm not too happy about the fact that people tend to judge me based on only the past 2 or 3 years.
Do you wish that people would stop caring too much about your private life? Or do you take it for granted?
We're all humans after all, and I'm an actress, and they are the public. How could an actress say 'please don't care about me', when that is the essence of their occupation? And in any case it's not like they will stop being interested just because I want them to. I have matured enough to take it for granted that I can't avoid being exposed to outside as a 'public figure', so to speak. That's why I think I need self-control. Now I am well aware that it only harms myself to respond directly to the public's interest and be deeply affected by it.
(rest of the interview only available on paper)
Hey Cha,
This is a great translation. You read Korean???
Keep up the good work,
Chopin
Posted by
Anonymous |
1:42 PM
Hi Chopin,
Hehe ^^ I wish I could take that compliment... but nope. That interview was originally translated by MOMO (many thanks to her) who is a great korean translator that helps many foreign fans of LYA to be able to read latest news of her.
It is originally in LYA.net official website. I posted the link there I think.
But thanks again for stopping by and posting comments :)
Posted by
Miss Cha |
8:36 AM
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