‘The Glory’ star Lim Ji-yeon: ‘I wanted Yeon-jin to be hated by all fans’
By Bryan Ke
South Korean actor Lim Ji-yeon vehemently disliked her character Park Yeon-jin in Netflix’s revenge thriller “The Glory,” and she wants fans to share the same emotions toward the show’s main antagonist.
In an interview with The Korea Herald on Friday, Lim, 32, said that fans should hate Yeon-jin in the Netflix series due to her past actions, notably how she and her group severely bullied protagonist Moon Dong-eun (played by Song Hye-kyo).
“I wanted Yeon-jin to be hated by all ‘The Glory’ fans,” she told the outlet. “I hoped for her not to be tolerated nor understood, not even for a moment. Even I, who played Yeon-jin in the series, could not forgive her.”
Lim, who had never portrayed a villainous character in her 12-year acting career until she starred in “The Glory,” believes she did her job well considering the hate her character has received from fans of the hit Netflix show.
“If I have gotten all the drama’s fans to despise Yeon-jin, then it seems like my mission has been accomplished successfully,” she told The Korea Herald.
Lim revealed in a Korean press interview that while preparing for her role as the show’s antagonist, she solicited advice before filming her scenes as she really wanted people to hate her character, Allkpop reported.
“I prepared the character hoping the world to turn back on Yeon Jin,” she said. “I thought it would be easier to get hate from everyone than to be loved by everyone. I wanted everyone to hate Yeon Jin.”
Lim noted to The Korea Herald that Yeon-jin became a much more popular character in “The Glory” than expected.
She speculated that her character’s popularity might have something to do with how much the other characters call her out.
“Dong-eun called me [Yeon-jin] out in almost every episode,” she said. “Maybe that’s why the name got stuck in viewers’ heads and led the drama’s fans to have interest in my character.”
Lim’s popularity as Yeon-jin has even affected her personal life to the point where her own mother reportedly started calling her by her character’s name.
Despite being one of the most despicable characters in “The Glory,” however, Lim views Yeon-jin as a multi-dimensional character with two distinct faces that she shows to the other characters in the show.
Lim mentioned screenwriter Kim Eun-sook’s emphasis on Yeon-jin, in which she highlighted that she has the face of an angel but the heart of a devil.
Because I was the villain, I thought Yeon-jin might be a one-dimensional character – a vicious bully. But screenwriter Kim Eun-sook emphasized that Yeon-jin is an angel in front of her husband and the world’s prettiest woman as a weather forecaster. But she becomes a heartless villain who feels no remorse on her past deeds in front of the victims. This multi-dimensional side might have triggered the viewers’ interest as well.
“The Glory” follows the story of Moon Dong-eun, a schoolgirl whose dreams of becoming an architect are crushed after she is subjected to extreme bullying at the hands of Yeon-jin and her group of bullies. Moon drops out of school and spends the next two decades plotting her revenge.
Directed by Ahn Gil-ho, “The Glory” Part 1 was released on Netflix on Dec. 30, 2022, followed by Part 2 on March 10.
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