Girl group-turned-actresses dreaming of becoming the ‘next Suzy’, including GFriend, IZ*ONE, and Weki Meki, will be throwing down the gauntlet to theaters in November. They are showing their determination to make their presence felt as actors in the audience through their screen debuts in various genres, from heart-fluttering youth romances to unique horror films.

Kim Min-joo, formerly of IZ*ONE, will be releasing the movie ‘Cheongsul’ on the 6th, which has already taken first place in advance ticket reservations and raised audience expectations. In the drama, she plays the role of Ga-eul, the younger sister who truly cheers on the love of her older sister Yeoreum (Noh Yoon-seo), who has been devotedly supporting her for a long time.

For this character, a swimmer with a hearing impairment, she received sign language training three months before crank-in and also completed intensive swimming and various strength training exercises. She also prepared and ate meals similar to those of actual swimmers, and even built up her physique.

Kim Min-joo said, “I really trained and practiced every single day thinking only of ‘Cleansing’,” and confidently said, “Since the character is aiming for an Olympic gold medal, I really worked hard to look like a ‘pro’.”

Kim Do-yeon, formerly of Weki Meki, and WJSN‘s Son Joo-yeon (active name Eunseo in the girl group) also debuted on the big screen in the horror comedy ’Ameba Girls and School Ghost Stories: School Anniversary‘, which was released on the same day as ’Cleansing‘. This film is about girls who must survive the cursed hide-and-seek game on the night of their school’s anniversary when school ghost stories become reality. It previously received favorable reviews at various film festivals, including the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, as a “fresh and creative work that twists the horror genre clichés.”

Kim Do-yeon and Son Joo-yeon play an aspiring film director and an aspiring celebrity with an average grade of 8th grade, respectively, who jump into the cursed hide-and-seek game in order to get a perfect score on the college entrance exam. Director Kim Min-ha, who directed the film, said of Kim Do-yeon, “She‘s like an archer who calmly looks at the target while pulling back the bowstring. The moment filming began, he pulled the bowstring and kept hitting 10 points,” he highly praised, and also said of Son Joo-yeon, “She was so perfect that I thought there was no actor who could replace her.”

Another horror film, ‘4 Minutes 44 Seconds’, which has been meeting audiences since the 1st, is attracting attention as a gateway to the screen for actors from K-pop groups. This is because not only girl group members such as Lovelyz’s Yoo Ji-ae, GFriend‘s Kim So-won, and I.O.I’s Im Na-young, but also fresh faces such as SHINee‘s Onew and Infinite’s Lee Sung-yeol appeared in the film.

They each took full responsibility for their own short films in this unique film that captures the mysterious incidents at the Bukchon Apartment, where residents and visitors go missing one after another at 4:44 PM every day, in eight short films that are each 4 minutes and 44 seconds long.


Reporter Lee Seung-mi smlee@donga.com