Vogue: Now that Possible Love is streaming on Netflix and reaching a massive global audience, how are you feeling? Have you been hearing much feedback?
Jeon Do-yeon: I watched the movie once again as soon as it was on Netflix. I think Possible Love is a type of movie that leaves a different afterglow for different people, and people can analyze it differently and interpret it in endless ways. Now that it’s on Netflix, I feel like people are finding their own ways to think about the movie—it leaves a lot of food for thought. I’m very proud that people are talking a lot about it.
To go back to the beginning, you obviously have a deep history with director Lee Chang-dong. How did he first approach you about Possible Love? I believe this idea had been gestating for almost a decade.
I do know that Director Lee worked on this project for quite a long time—he had it in his mind for more than 10 years. Ten years ago, he wanted to talk about this worker and his wife, the couple who had been laid off. Sometimes that story diverged into different paths, and sometimes they were scrapped; I know there were a lot of different versions along the way. When I knew that he finally had a script, I really wanted to know what it was about. I was waiting for that script. [Laughs.]
Given how layered the story is, what struck you most when you finally read it? What drew you to Mi-ok?
When I first read the script, I could feel the 10 years’ worth of thought and effort that Director Lee put into it. I was very touched reading it, and I was like, “Of course this is a Chang-dong film. It is this good.” And then I thought about what I could relate to about my character, Mi-ok. Of all the traits that she has, I think she holds this anxiety, and that anxiety stems from her wish to protect certain things. Although Mi-ok may seem a little bit fragile or weak from the outside, I think she’s a very strong woman inside, so that is something that I took note of.
