Park So Dam Talks About Acting In Director Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" And Her "Audition" For "Okja"

Park So Dam discussed her role in the movie “Parasite” and shared an amusing story about her audition for the 2017 film “Okja”!

In “Parasite,” which was recently awarded the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the actress plays Ki Jung, the daughter of a family of all unemployed people. With the help of her brother Ki Woo (played by Choi Woo Shik), she gets the chance to be interviewed for a position as an art tutor and gives hope to her family that is desperate for a fixed income.

Park So Dam found similarities between herself and her character in the way Ki Jung looks after her older brother as if he’s the younger one. She said, “When I was in school, I was the class representative. I’m not one to just stand by and watch people do things. I’m the type who is more comfortable being involved.”

She continued, “In ‘Parasite,’ my character is the second child, but she’s really the eldest. Since I was young, I had to look after my own younger siblings, so the role wasn’t very difficult for me. Her spunky energy and sense of reality are also similar to me, so I had a fun time acting.”

At the time Park So Dam recieved an offer to star in ‘Parasite’, the actress was experiencing a slump. After receiving attention through the 2015 film “The Priests,” she worked hard without rest. When she felt tired, she shared that she did not want to meet with anyone. She further stated, “I wasn’t signed to an agency and was all alone, so my heart was even more closed-off.”

It was then that she was contacted by Director Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.” She commented, “At first I thought he had the wrong person. I wasn’t able to fully believe it in that state.”

She stated that it only felt real once she personally met Bong Joon Ho. She said, “I regained my desire to act. I really wanted to play the part, and I was worried that he wouldn’t contact me again.” She revealed, “After I received the offer to appear in the film, I didn’t hear back from Bong Joon Ho for two months. I was really uneasy and wondered if he had changed his mind in that time. I told the director later that I was really anxious back then. He asked me why and said that he’d been busy writing the scenario. I must have been the only one getting all worked up.”

“Parasite” is not the only film directed by Bong Joon Ho that Park So Dam has a connection with. The actress had been considered for the role of Mi Ja in Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja.” She revealed a funny story regarding her “audition” for the film.

“I was going to audition for the role of Mi Ja, but I found out that I was quite old for the part. I was 25 during the auditions and 26 when the movie came out, which is a whole 10 years older than Mi Ja. Bong Joon Ho saw a photo of me and thought I could pass for a teenager, but as soon as he met me, he said that I wouldn’t be able to do it. He suggested we have a cup of tea since we had already met, and we ended up chatting for an hour and a half.”

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