[Herald Interview] E Ji-ah debuts on big screen as special ops agent

Actress E Ji-ah has been at the center of many bizarre theories -- people have speculated she could be a secret agent, a vampire or even an alien because of the mysterious aura that seems to follow her.

She is famous in the Korean entertainment world, but has seldom really opened up to the public.

For all her fame, she has a surprisingly short filmography. What is known about her is that she has proven her athletic chops on TV, speaks English fluently and has a degree in graphic design from an American college. She has also been in the limelight for news of a more scandalizing nature. The actress was once married to megastar Seo Tae-ji, and was dating another top actor when news of this broke. 

It is no wonder the public does not seem to know what to make of her.

But when she sat down with reporters at a cafe in Seoul to talk about her big-screen debut in “Musudan” on its opening day, March 3, E was anything but veiled, answering each question with sincerity and often breaking into laughter.

“It wasn’t my intention to be mysterious,” she said. “I think that image was given to me because I didn’t make a lot of public appearances.”

Throughout the interview, she mentioned several times that her experiences with the media and public have made her overly cautious about everything she says. It is for this reason that she is only now beginning to come out of her shell, nearly a decade after her debut in 2007 on TV series “The Legend.”

In ”Musudan,“ which will be E’s big-screen debut, she plays the role of special operations agent Shin Yu-hwa, who must fulfill a top-secret mission with her team in just 24 hours. When asked about this choice, she said it had just felt “right,” although it seems unusual for an actress to choose a military thriller.  

“A lot of people seem to think that I always receive a pile of offers, but that’s just not true,” she said. “I believe that there’s a bit of fate at play when I get offered certain roles.”

“When I read the script, it was the kind of story I liked -- seeking out the truth, and it was cool that a female officer was deployed in a secret national security mission.”

While she knew the film would be a challenge, she said it felt like a “good opportunity” because it was rare to see a military thriller with a female lead.

“And then I regretted it every day,” she joked. E spent two months living in the mountains in the summer heat to shoot the film, dressed head to toe in full military gear. 

“What was the most difficult? Everything!” she exclaimed. “The uniforms don’t stretch. No air gets through, but somehow the mosquitoes do. The vest, the equipment is so heavy, and then there’s the gun. I think I shrank like 2 centimeters.”

Despite the difficulties, E saw it as significant that a woman could play the lead role in this type of film.

“It’s true that people don’t really go to watch movies that have an actress as the sole lead,” she said. “People have no qualms about casually saying that movies don’t do well if they cast a woman in the lead.”

E said she hoped she would have the opportunity to play a wider variety of roles in the future. “I want to be remembered as actress E Ji-ah, but most people know me for other things, which is upsetting,” she said, alluding to the notoriety she has gained for her personal history.

What kind of roles did she have in mind? “Vampires, aliens ... I want to do it all,” she said with a smile. “I like those characters. Don’t you?”

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)