F(x)’s Krystal Jung talks about her first K-movie lead role in More Than Family, starring alongside Parasite’s Jang Hye-jin
The K-pop star is focusing more and more on her acting career, appearing in hit TV shows like Prison Playbook and The Bride of Habaek – and met the challenges of her first big movie role head on
In the film, Jung plays To-il, a pregnant college student who heads out on a mission to find her birth father Hwan-gyu (played by Lee Hae-young), who she hasn't heard from for more than a decade, before her wedding.
Once she tracks down her birth father, To-il faces another challenge: her soon-to-be-husband Ho-hoon (Shin Jae-hwi), who is still a high school student, goes completely off the grid. So she wanders from place to place with her family to find him.
“When I first heard the role would be a pregnant woman, I sighed deeply,” Jung said during a press conference. “But I read the script in one sitting and was really drawn to it. So I decided to take on the role of To-il.”
Jung went on to explain that To-il represents the modern woman. “To-il is always confident in her beliefs and really cool. I was able to relate to her,” she said.
She also said she quit her diet to look like a woman who is five months pregnant. “When I first met with director Choi Ha-na, she looked at me and said I was too skinny for the role. So I started gaining weight to look like a pregnant woman,” Jung said.
Parasite actress Jang Hye-jin, who plays her mother, Sun-myung, in the film, lauded Jung for her behaviour on set.
“Soo-jung is adventurous and audacious, but polite at the same time. Her attitude was like, ‘It sounds difficult, but I’ll give it a try,’” she said. “We became close like a real mum and daughter. We actually live very close to each other, so I’m looking forward to taking a walk and drinking coffee with her in our neighbourhood.”