Bustle Exclusive
The actor opens up about playing Sunja, her viral Oscars speech, and dancing in public.
Flustering a veteran actor like Youn Yuh-jung is no small task.
The obstacle to be conquered?
Dancing for the shows joyous opening credits montage.
Im 78, Im old-fashioned, Youn tells Bustle.
I never danced in public.
In my time, [you didnt dance] unless you were a very bad girl.
The new arc posed another challenge for Youn: memorizing lines in a foreign language, Japanese.
She blames it all on Ha, whom she considers a very great actor.
But Im too old to memorize, Im not adopting new things.
Then, with a laugh: It was a terrible experience.
But Sunja is very different.
Why do you think that is?
WasIdifferent than the Western grandmother?
[Being a] grandma is worldwide.
If they make a mistake, its fine.
But Sunja was different.
Did you draw on memories of your own grandmother or mother forPachinko?
My grandmother passed away during the Korean War [when] I was little.
But my great-grandmother lived until [I was] 10.
And the thing [I] regret is I didnt like her.
It was [a] stupid reason.
After the war, we had a city water restriction.
We had to get the water and save it for the next day.
She would reuse the water again and again.
I felt so dirty, I thought she wasnt hygienic.
I didnt know she was saving for us.
Ive been praying for her.
I ask her to forgive my ignorance.
Wow, thats really powerful.
Did you ever draw from that experience to portray Sunja?
The situation was different, so I wasthinkingof her, but not throwing her situation to this character.
Cooking for her family is Sunjas love language.
Is that also true for you?
Eating is very important for Koreans.
Instead of [saying] hello, we say, Did you eat?
After my two sons graduated college, I told them, Im [a] working mother.
I couldnt cook for them.
I didnt have time.
So, I talked to my first son.
[I said,] Every family has a mothers recipe.
I feel sorry for you.
And then he said, Thats why we are skinny.
Im so grateful that we are skinny.
Thats the Korean way.
And of course, she brought his favorite dish, Galbi-jjim: braised short rib.
My editorspoke with Jin Ha, who mentioned youre a bigOutlanderfan.
What do you like about that show?
Its kind of embarrassing.
People tease me because I dont want to see violent scenes, sex scenes, and time slips.
And it has all three of them.
I probably watched until Season 4.
I don’t watch Netflix anymore because you [get] addicted to it.
YourOscars acceptance speech went viral for shouting out Brad Pitt.
Have you talked to him since?
No, I didnt.
Brad Pitt is such a big star.
But to me, he was the producer ofMinari.
In Korea, producers usually visit the set and then treat us to some kind of meal.
[A] meal is very important for Koreans.
[But] he never showed up.
I thought, Why didnt you show up while we were shooting?
Then people got so shocked.
After that, we had a little chat backstage.
Am I saying it right?
Thats what I heard.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
