'Hope' Actor Eom Moon-seok: "Director Na Hong-jin and Bong Joon-ho praised me for five minutes... I was moved" [Interview ②]

*This content was translated by AI.

Actor Eom Moon-seok shared his emotional reaction to receiving praise from directors Na Hong-jin and Bong Joon-ho.

On the afternoon of the 29th, Eom Moon-seok met with StarNews at a café in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, for an interview about the film 'Hope' (directed by Na Hong-jin).

'Hope' tells the story of 'Beom-seok', a camp manager stationed in the Demilitarized Zone, who learns from local youths that a tiger has appeared. As the entire village goes into alarm, he encounters an unbelievable reality. In 'Hope', Eom Moon-seok played Yang-bae, a carpenter, delivering a powerful performance.

That day, Eom Moon-seok mentioned the director's Q&A session for 'Hope' held alongside Bong Joon-ho. At that time, Director Bong Joon-ho praised Eom's portrayal of Yang-bae by saying, "He looks more alien than an actual alien."

Eom Moon-seok said, "I watched that scene over 100 times. I was so grateful. Just the fact that they remembered my name—three characters, 'Eom Moon-seok'—made me incredibly happy." He added, "It's amazing that both Director Na Hong-jin and Director Bong Joon-ho talked about me. For about five minutes? Maybe around 5 minutes and 15 seconds—they spoke about me."

Eom Moon-seok shared, "I was truly moved, thinking, 'Is this even real?' At the same time, I felt I needed to work harder on my acting practice. I told myself, 'Moon-seok, don't get lazy—practice more.' I believe I must deliver better performances in future works and show them something good."

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*This content was translated by AI.