In the peak season of the year-end and New Year‘s holidays, when blockbusters abound, actress Jeon Yeo-bin is present. She has shown her presence in every piece she appears in with her reliable acting, and she is aiming for ’back-to-back box office hits‘ by consecutively presenting ’Harbin‘ and ’The Black Nuns‘, which are considered the most anticipated works of the year-end and New Year’s holidays.

First, she will portray the loneliness and resolute fighting spirit of an independence fighter against Japanese imperialism in the mega spy action blockbuster ‘Harbin’, which was released on the 24th of this month with a production cost of 30 billion won. In the film depicting Ahn Jung-geun‘s Harbin Righteous Army Deed, he plays the role of a female independence fighter who runs an antique shop and supplies explosives and other weapons to Ahn Jung-geun.

In particular, through the female independence fighter who does not lose her strength while deeply mourning the loss of her husband’s body that was not recovered in battle, he is expected to gracefully portray the activities of female independence activists who were relatively unknown to the public compared to male independence activists. Among the actors Hyun Bin, Park Jung-min, Yoo Jae-myung, and Lee Dong-wook, who play Ahn Jung-geun, Jeon Yeo-bin showed outstanding presence and acting that surpassed the ‘only woman’, according to an insider.

Jeon Yeo-bin said about the character, “She is not a real person, but a character recreated by collecting historical materials from female independence activists,” and “I tried to act according to director Woo Min-ho‘s advice, who said, ’I want her to look elegant on the outside, but feel her inner power.‘”

A month later, on January 24th of next year, she will present ‘The Nuns’, which will be recorded as the first occult film in her acting career. Director Jang Jae-hyun, who joined the ranks of directors who have seen 10 million movies with ‘The Graveyard’, is a spin-off of ‘The Priests’, his debut film. It tells the story of nuns who embark on an exorcism ritual to save a boy possessed by an evil spirit.

Jeon Yeo-bin plays Sister Michaela, who has always believed that there are no symptoms of demonic possession, but feels deeply confused about phenomena that cannot be explained by medicine. The film portrays the complex emotions of a character who eventually joins the exorcism at the request of Sister Junia (Song Hye-kyo), who will do anything to save the boy.

Director Kwon Hyuk-jae said of Jeon Yeo-bin’s acting, “Because it was Jeon Yeo-bin, she was able to portray Michaela‘s growth and change in a more three-dimensional way.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com