Ko Hyun-jung goes nerdy in ‘Miss Conspirator’

Yoo Hae-jin, left, and Ko Hyun-jung pose for reporters during a press conference for their new film “Miss Conspirator” on Wednesday.[NEWSIS]

She has played Korea’s first female president and a royal concubine. In her newest role, actress Ko Hyun-jung returns to the big screen as a nerdy, reclusive cartoonist with a serious social phobia in the new action comedy film “Miss Conspirator.”

“I agreed to the role because I found it interesting that Chun Su-ro [Ko’s character in the film] has a phobia and for me, to have such a phobia would make what I do impossible,” said Ko during a press conference to promote the film in Seoul Wednesday.

“Chun Su-ro in the end, is a lovable character,” she said. “I doubted at first whether I could play this sort of lovable role well but I did my best.”

In the film Chun Su-ro acquires a severe case of sociophobia - a fear of interacting with other people - after the death of her parents, and then somehow gets mixed up in a drug deal involving one of the biggest organized crime groups in Korea.

When a drug lord talks her into delivering a birthday cake secretly filled with drugs to one of his colleagues, Su-ro unknowingly agrees and gets tracked down by an undercover cop. As she runs from the police, Su-ro is forced to deal with her phobia and interact with others.

Ko’s love interest in the film is played by Yoo Hae-jin, who admitted that he was star struck at first by the actress.

A still image from the film Provided by 1st Look

“Ever since I was young, I have this image of Ko Hyun-jung as a big star, but thankfully she made shooting very comfortable with her attitude and I was able to do my role,” said Yoo at the conference.

Besides Ko and Yoo, the film has other big names from Korean films including veteran comic actor Sung Dong-il as well as Ko Chang-suk and Lee Moon-sik.

“It is an honor for me to be working with these established actors,” said director Park Cheol-kwan, who debuted with the 2001 action comedy film “Let’s Play Dharma.” “All directors I know want to have a chance to work with Ko Hyun-jung, Yoo Hae-jin, Sung Dong-il, Lee Moon-sik and Ko Chang-suk,”

After her comeback to film and television in 2006 following a divorce from Chung Yong-jin, Shinsegae vice chairman and CEO, Ko has been featured in weighty roles in art-house films including director Hong Sang-soo’s 2006 “Woman on the Beach” and director Lee Jae-young’s 2009 “Actresses.”

“Actually, this is the first time I’ve starred in a film that has a script,” said Ko. Hong Sang-soo is known to work without a script, giving a few lines of dialogue to actors on the day of filming, while “Actresses” was a mockumentary with a lot of ad-libing by the actors.

Meanwhile, the actress alluded to her comic side during the conference, making self-deprecating jokes.

“A lot of people think that I am picky about selecting my work but I’m not really,” she said, laughing.

“They also think I get a lot of movie offers but actually, I don’t get many .?.?. I like the fact that this film has an ending that is not so serious, something that is funny and fresh.”

“Miss Conspirator” opens in theaters nationwide on June 21.

By Cho Jae-eun[jainnie@joongang.co.kr]