Han Ji Min Talks About Her Experiences With The Film "Josée," Overcoming Personal Hurdles, And More

Nov 27, 2020

Han Ji Min sat down for an insightful interview with W Korea, in which she offered some insight into her role in the movie “Josée” and shared what’s been on her mind lately.

With 2020 closing in on its last month, it’s been a year since Han Ji Min took on the role of Josée for the film. She shared, “When I finish filming a project, I usually wash away remnants of the character so that I can take on my next role. But with ‘Josée,’ I held on to it for longer, for the entire year actually. And now that the premiere is coming up, I have a mix of thoughts. To be honest, I was curious about the character Josée herself while I was acting too. It wasn’t an easily accessible world.”

When asked to elaborate, she explained her uncertainty about how much of the way Josée expresses herself reflects her real feelings, and she also described how the movie itself leaves much up for interpretation.

After filming the movie last winter, it’s now making its premiere in the winter of 2020. She said with a laugh, “It would be hard to imagine ‘Josée’ in the summer. I get a special feeling knowing that the viewers will watch the movie around the same time we filmed it ourselves.”

In the film, Josée is a physically disabled woman that spends the majority of her time at home, living life through imaginary worlds created in books. But her imaginary and real worlds collide after meeting someone special.

Han Ji Min described the importance of being careful when playing a disabled character and talked about learning to move in a way appropriate for the role. “The director offered me a lot of resources,” she went on to say. “I referred to videos as much as possible while I practiced. In order to become as adept as possible, I kept trying to move around at home using Josée’s wheelchair.”

The interview also highlighted Han Ji Min’s personal life, and she mentioned that she tends to have a lot of things on her mind. She continued, “Actually, my grandmother passed away this year. My grandmother raised me since I was a child and was always by my side, and she disappeared. I realized that although there will be more times in my life where I have to say goodbye like that, I don’t know how to get through that. So I thought a lot about life, and I tried to spend time focusing on looking after my own feelings.” She spoke about how this had also made her think about Josée’s emotions and the character’s own relationship with her grandmother.

Speaking of relationships, Han Ji Min also touched upon her friendships in real life, saying that as she gets older, there are fewer people she can call her own. She continued, “Of course there are people that influence me, like fellow actors and actresses that I aspire to be like. But I think the people that are truly best for me are those where we don’t even need to express ourselves to each other, where we feel comforted without even having a long talk. There aren’t many people I can comfortably speak my mind to. So I am thankful for the ones that I can do so with.”

Lastly on personal hurdles, she mentioned, “As an actress, there are hurdles after hurdles. The most I can say is that while I was timid and shy in my twenties, I am now able to look back at it and say it’s just a thing of the past. I also have learned not to be regretful over things I can’t change, despite all my efforts. Of course, I sometimes feel regret when I watch my previous projects. But since you can’t do anything about something that’s already happened, it’s more important to prepare for what I’ll do if a similar opportunity comes around.”

Han Ji Min says she is always going through potential projects, but that she is taking it slow. She hopes that “Josée” can be remembered by everyone as a representative piece of 2020’s winter.