[Interview] “Stand by Me for Girls—Even if They Give Up the CSAT, They Can’t Lose the Animals!” Director Yoo Jae-uk, Actress Park Hye-jin ②

In Hye is an earnest kid who pours her heart into caring for poultry even as the CSAT approaches.

Park Hye-jin Actually, I’m not the kind of person who studies that hard either, so her actions really resonated with me. (laugh) Honestly, because it’s the CSAT, does everyone just study? There are kids who live by doing what they want besides studying, too. When I saw In Hye, I felt a lot of familiarity.

Director Yoo Jae-uk In Hye actually reflects a lot of my own self. I’m the kind of person who tends to follow people around pretty well, and when someone asks for a favor, I’m good at doing it. When you look at a cool character like Seo-hee in the film, you can see that she follows along, tries things together—that kind of side is similar to me, too. It also seems like In Hye takes care of the breeding facility—at first, she ends up doing it by chance, and after that, she keeps going without much complaint. She can be a bit clumsy or awkward, but when she has something she wants, she’s also stubborn and moves forward. Her behavior toward her boyfriend in the second half is strange in an odd way, but I had In Hye do what I’ve always wanted to do in my day-to-day life.

Park Hye-jin In Hye is a lot like me too. (laugh) After I saw the teaser she put out at the distributor Cinema Dal, one of my seniors I know contacted me. “She’s just not you!”—that’s what she said. I think there was even more of a sense of closeness because her tone of voice, her mannerisms, and the way she expresses emotions match my real self so closely. It didn’t feel like I arrived at it by analysis; it felt natural. I also tend to speak slowly and do a lot of talking to myself, and that was similar too.

Director Yoo Jae-uk At the audition, I read the scene where the animal in the opening talks—after I did that reading, everyone else fell back. It was so funny. It felt like there was one more animal there. You call that “nerdy.” That exact image showed up on screen. Hye-jin the actress doesn’t know she’s nerdy. When I wrote the script, it felt like I met the very same version that was in my head.

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Based on that kind of connection, the two of your coming-of-age stories also seem like they can be linked in the same way.

Park Hye-jin I started acting when I was 9, and of course there were times in between when I didn’t like it. But things changed after I shot a short film, 〈/LANGLE_BRACKET/〉Container〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉 (2018), when I was in first year of middle school. After that work, I went to a lot of film festivals, became interested in acting, and threw myself into entrance exams. The director and I are juniors and seniors at Dongguk University. I saw the admissions process many times until I got into school, and while preparing, it seemed like I was able to find my bearings about my career path. Now, I felt like this job is something I can’t do without.

Director Yoo Jae-uk At first, I didn’t even know I really wanted to make movies right away. My friend Lee Seung-hwan had a big influence—around the time I was in second year of high school, we made 〈/LANGLE_BRACKET/〉Lime Crime〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉 together. He watches a lot of movies and says he’s going to go into the film department, so I kept thinking, “What is that? I should go to a movie theater too. Making films sounds fun.” It feels like I found my direction while having those thoughts. After I got into college, the desire to keep doing film just grew. To be honest, while preparing for feature length, there was a time when everything fell apart. At that time, it felt like a blot on my life. These days, I think it was because the conditions didn’t line up or I wasn’t prepared. I tell myself not to dwell on it too much and to keep living by steadily doing what I want to do.

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Let’s also touch on the film’s background. The main setting is the school’s animal enclosure and the shelter at a camping site. In coming-of-age films, the “hideout” that always appears is an important element, so the shelter’s setup mattered, too. If there’s something central, it’s that.

Director Yoo Jae-uk I thought of places like an urban green belt—areas where there’s plenty of nature and where adults don’t interfere, where wild animals would likely show up. When I was young, I played a lot in places like that. I thought it would be great to create a hideout for the girls there. The shelter sits on terrain with a lot of slope, and since I saw these kids as quirky, slightly off-kilter characters, I thought the space itself would feel similar. I wanted to make good use of that landscape.

Park Hye-jin When I think of the shelter, I remember how freezing it really was. We started filming from October, but the scenes where they go into the water were filmed in November, so it was even colder. Still, the filming site itself was fun. Above all, the four of us actors had really good chemistry. We ate lots of snacks on set too. (laugh) I also got close with the costume team and the makeup and hair team’s unniis, and they took very good care of us. We took a lot of pictures together, and it felt like we became really close. The director was also very busy at the site, of course. (laugh)

Director Yoo Jae-uk We decided to show the natural environment as much as possible, so we shot a lot of trees. But since the animals are small, we paid attention to the aspect ratio so we could fit both in the same frame. We shot with a slightly taller frame from top to bottom, using 1.6:1 rather than 2.35:1 or 1.85:1. I think that decision made the friends’ acting come across in a more harmonious way.

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Animal actors play a huge role just like the human actors do. How well did the control go?

Director Yoo Jae-uk We have a professional animal acting team called the Wrangler team. But for ducks and chickens, training like you do with dogs or cats doesn’t work, so we had no choice but to wait until they were ready. While the actors were delivering serious performances, the ducks would quack, and that caused a lot of NGs.

Park Hye-jin There were two ducks. If one person started quacking, the other one would follow and quack too. It gives you that feeling of searching for each other. In the behind-the-scenes footage, every time a take goes over, there are more and more equipment and staff members gathered around. They had to be standing by and grab the ducks when the moment came.

Director Yoo Jae-uk We went around a lot to catch the ducks. (laugh) Once you put them into a fenced area, they all escape anyway.

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Behind the story that plays out like a bright adventure, of course, there are serious issues too—such as domestic violence and culling. And especially, the shock coming from the appearance of actual culling footage was huge. It’s also a moment that strongly departs from the film’s tone and manners.

Director Yoo Jae-uk I like putting that kind of realistic footage into a movie. I think it’s definitely uncomfortable to watch. But I wanted to show something uncomfortable on purpose to the audience. We just hear about things like avian influenza or foot-and-mouth disease in words, and it’s not easy to see them. We don’t even try to look. But I figured that, for people watching this film, maybe—just like they’re borrowing time—I want to show them for even a moment. Then maybe, seeing it, they’ll feel a little like, “I should save these animals,” at least to some extent.

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In the end, a coming-of-age story brings you to a change you meet after adventures and a journey. In Hye, who’s being tracked by her boyfriend, also finds her own path.

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Park Hye-jin At the beginning, watching In Hye get tossed around by Chae-young-i frustrated me too. (laugh) But I understand it. Back then, she didn’t have friends. I thought Chae-young-i was her only friend, and she ended up leaning on her and expecting her support. Even if that person criticized me or gaslit her, she just went along with it. But as they built the shelter, she met three friends, and their own world was established in a way. In that process, I think In Hye created the right kind of relationships that allowed her to stand up on her own. With those friends around, I think she also found the courage to talk to Chan-hyeong properly about their relationship.

Director Yoo Jae-uk When making this film, I wanted the characters to be diverse. They might save animals, but each person’s reason should be different. It could start from being a bit selfish, and we set out from there. It begins with the girls saving themselves, but that gets transformed into saving others, and in the end, the film builds toward a flow where they want to find their own place of refuge.

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__LANGLE_BRACKET/〉Bighorn Sheep〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉—Please share your last remarks for meeting audiences.

Director Yoo Jae-uk I just did a press screening, and it feels like this long journey is finally over. Co-directing and then standing on my own can be lonely at times, but in some ways, it was also a free-form kind of work, so it became a new experience too. When 〈/LANGLE_BRACKET/〉Lime Crime〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉 came out, it was during the COVID period, so I remember there were difficulties in meeting audiences. This time, there’s also 〈/LANGLE_BRACKET/〉Spider-Man〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉, but still, I feel good because I can meet audiences freely.

Park Hye-jin With my previous work 〈/LANGLE_BRACKET/〉It Was a Good Thing to Be Born〈/RANGLE_BRACKET/〉 (2020), it was during the COVID period, so I was disappointed, but with this film, I think I got to do the red carpet at the Busan International Film Festival and gather a lot of experiences. I had my birthday not long ago, and it felt like a birthday present. (laugh) At the press screening day, I met the staff members for the first time in a long time. As soon as I sat down, tears started to well up in my eyes. It’s really a film that will remain as a great memory. I want to share this feeling with audiences.

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