[TRANS] Secret Garden DVD Extra - Interview

Thank you for still loving Secret Garden.
I still can't come out of Gil Ra Im's character.
I hope this drama will be a drama that will be remembered even after many years pass by.

Gil Ra Im is a stunt woman who loves action, and doesn't act girly or pretend she's pretty.
She an honest cool woman who likes to be called "cool" more than "pretty."

After the drama ended, I've received about 30 interviews.

I've filmed other projects, and I also went on an overseas trip with my family.
I caught up on all my sleep, and I ate a lot of delicious food.

A similarity with me and Ra Im is that we both like & love action,
we both prefer "you're cool" to "you're pretty" as a compliment,
we both like cappuccino, we're both not very girly, we're both slow/inexperienced at love, and we both scream in the same way ("Gyak!")

Gil Ra Im's charm is that she does action very well and her way of talking is straightforward.
She has an honest and a bit of a pure/innocent charm.

A celebrity that I admired and gave me strength (like RI with Oska) was Seotaji & Kids.
My mom bought me album posters and stickers of them. 

My first fan's dream was to be a writer, so when she/he (gender is not specified) came up to Seoul, I personally took her to bookstores, and gave her/him a tour of Seoul. Right now he/she's a writer for a radio channel.
Like Ra Im (with Ah Young), she's a fan who I still contact and hang out with even after 13 years.

At first, it was hard to act as if my heart was fluttering/throbbing with the eyes.
As a joke, I said towards the end of the drama that my I felt as if my heart was about to explode.
In the beginning, director-nim kept on filming me until my eyes showed that my heart was fluttering.
As the time went by, Ra Im began to like Joo Won so I was able to act it out more naturally.
I think there's some sort of happiness and a strange charm to acting with the eyes.
I was really happy because I was able to look at the eyes of fellow actors as much as I wanted to.

I chose projects based on scenario, then character.
Before the Secret Garden synopsis came out, I thought the idea/theme of fantasy & soul switching was mine, so I decided to do it.
There are times I choose scenarios because the title itself shined.

It was hard to act like a man, but it was fun.
I wanted it to feel more genuine and real, so I thought that
I should act like Kim Joo Won instead of like a man in general.

I thought it'd be really fun if I could soul-switch in real life, so I had a dream where I switched bodies.
I pretended my alarm clock was a bell, and I thought "oh, I'm about to switch bodies" while flailing in my bed.
"Ah~ I changed (bodies)..."

I can only cry if I think/understand 100% that I can only cry only if it is this situation.
I can never cry if I think sad thoughts that are irrelevant.
Even if the staff is quiet or loud, it doesn't bother me (when I have to cry).
I had to film a lot of emotional scenes during the dawn, so it was really regrettable that I had to film when my body was tired/weak.

Hyun Bin's first impression...
I've seen him before in private/informal (사석) occasions, but I only thought "Oh, that's Hyun Bin-sshi" during those times.
I first met him during the script reading, and I thought that he was really comfortable to be around, and I won't feel awkward no matter what I do in front of this person.
I really liked it because I really did feel comfortable around him, and I thought he was a fun friend while I filmed with him.
He's very considerate, and I really liked his eyes (눈빛, 'expression of the eyes'). His first impression was good, but I think it got even better/I liked it even more as time went by.

I hope that people will think I'm the prettiest when I smile/laugh when I'm acting.
I didn't want to ruin the nice feeling of Damo scene (in Secret Garden), so I recorded videos while filming and I practiced a lot to make it look cool. I wanted to bring out the emotion/feeling of the scene to its maximum, so I put in a lot of effort and watched the moniter/recording after every scene.
Even though 7 years has passed, I still want to look young and I worked really hard especially for that scene in order to revive the scene realistically for all of the Damo fans.

I normally smile a lot, but people around me wonder "huh? why is she smiling" and think that something good happened to me, so it made me think that I was weird so I try to stop smiling as often now.
I couldn't stop laughing when Joo Won acted as Ra Im. During the wig scene, I had to suppress my laughter the whole time while I was acting.
It was so cute and funny when Hyun Bin acted as Ra Im, so I laughed a lot.

Towards the second half, I received the scripts late, so I was disappointed for not being able to express (the emotions) to its maximum.
I think I felt more and more disappointed as the second half went by.
Not including the action scene, I has to film constantly while my body was burning,
so I kept on thinking that I could've came out prettier if I slept at least a little.
As the second half of the drama passed by, my condition got worse and I couldn't do anything about it so I was really disappointed.

I didn't think it'd be a happy ending, so I'm glad it was.
I even dreamt a dream like the ending of episode 17, where one of the characters got really sick/injured or never woke up so the other character changed souls for that person.

I want to do all of the fantasy characters that the world can come up with.
The most important thing is that whatever life the character lives, I want to act out the character realistically/genuinely.

Thank you for loving Gil Ra Im, and it hurts my heart to let Ra Im go.
Always be healthy, and even though a long time as gone by please remember Secret Garden for a long time, and whenever you want to re-watch it, I hope you'll watch it through the DVD.
 

Thank you so much for loving Secret Garden. I love you all.

~ ★ ~

English translations by starcandii (Soompi) [Original Post]

Original summary in Korean came from DC Gallery.