'My Name' Director Jeong Ji-young: 'I Thought Someone Else Would Do It…' Why She Ended Up Directing It

Director Jeong Ji-young revealed what led her to direct 〈My Name〉.

On April 2, 〈My Name〉 was unveiled to the press at the CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Seoul. After screening at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, it was introduced in Korea for the first time: 〈My Name〉 tells the story of a mother, Choi Jeong-soon (Yeom Hye-ran), who loses her memories from childhood, and her son Lee Young-ok (Shin Woo-bin), who does not really like the name his mother gave him. At a press conference held after the press screening, director Jeong Ji-young and the lead actors Yeom Hye-ran, Shin Woo-bin, Choi Jun-woo, and Park Ji-bin attended.

On what motivated her to direct the film, director Jeong Ji-young said, “I was interested in the case, but I thought someone else would do it, so I assumed that would happen.” She added that she believed an ideological case had already been addressed in 〈Nambu-gun〉 and 〈Namyeong-dong 1985〉, both of which she had directed earlier. But she said, “(Kim Soon-ho, the producer) brought me the script. The ideas were really good, but then I thought, no—something doesn’t feel right. He then said, ‘What if we try it by revising it in the director’s style?’” She explained the filmmaking process, saying that after two years of revisions, the story’s current foundation for 〈My Name〉 was completed.

The film is set in 1998. On choosing 1998 rather than the time of the 4·3 incident, director Jeong Ji-young said, “I thought it would be difficult to tackle the incident directly. Up until then, there were taboos, so even now there is still a lot we don’t know. So I wanted to unfold it as a story of someone looking for answers.” She continued, “I made 1998—the period when the 4·3 incident began to be discussed publicly—the main backdrop. I thought viewers would think, ‘Oh, 4·3 is different from what I knew,’ or ‘It’s even more violent,’ and then they would want to dig deeper.”

Director Jeong Ji-young's latest film, 〈My Name〉, which she directed after titles such as 〈Broken Arrow〉 and 〈The Boys〉, will be released on April 15.