Ha Ji-won Reflects on Career and Identity in New Film 'Portrait of a Family'

"'Who am I? Why am I doing this as an actor?' I was asking myself those questions when this project came to me. Analyzing Nam-mi, who's an actor herself, made me look back on my own life. The questions I'd been sitting with lined up with the script."

That is how Ha Ji-won described the moment she decided to join the film "Portrait of a Family," directed by Lee Ji-won. After years of fantasy and action roles, the veteran actor said she was drawn to Nam-mi, a character stripped down to the raw realities of life. She said every figure in the film felt fully alive on the page, not just her own.

"Portrait of a Family," which opens on September 2, follows top-star couple Jung-gu (played by Ryu Seung-ryong) and Nam-mi (Ha), whose marriage falls apart after Jung-gu's daughter Dong-ju (played by Kim Si-a) suddenly appears in their lives. Eight years later, when Dong-ju gets caught up in a shocking incident, the estranged pair join forces to save her.

Nam-mi was once a top actress. By the time the film catches up with her, she has fallen out of that life and now makes a living filming mukbang, the Korean online genre of live-streamed eating shows. She hides nothing, and she curses freely. Ha said Nam-mi is nothing like her in real life, but she connected to the character through their shared experience of what it means to continue working as an actor.

"There's a line where Nam-mi finishes a mukbang shoot and says, 'Being in front of a camera again, I finally feel alive,'" Ha said. "On the 'Portrait of a Family' set, I felt that too."

To understand Nam-mi, Ha spent long stretches of time talking with director Lee before cameras rolled. She put most of that work into pre-production. By the time filming started, she said, she had prepared enough to loosen up and let the character breathe. She changed her look for the role, too.

"I bleached my hair over and over on purpose to damage it. Damaged hair sticks around for a long time. Ha ha. During the shoot I stopped doing skincare treatments and stopped working out. I wanted to create a lifestyle that matched Nam-mi. The costume fittings were so much fun. The animal prints and patterns made me feel like I'd walked into a jungle. That's when I really started to understand her."

On top of the heavy makeup and bold wardrobe, Ha also took on scenes where Nam-mi eats larvae and frogs. The rough language was another break from the image audiences knew her for. She said she was disappointed that a large part of the mukbang scenes she worked so hard on ended up cut from the final film. These scenes showed just how far she was willing to push.

"I filmed those mukbang scenes with everything I had. Maybe they came out too intense. I watched the footage for the first time in years, and I barely recognized myself. I liked feeling of unfamiliarity. I showed my mom, and I think she was a little shocked. Ha ha."

Ha has now reached her 30th year in the industry. Even as a veteran with a wide filmography, she said playing Nam-mi felt like acting for the first time all over again. "I filmed this while I was really wrestling with the question of who I am," she said. "So my nerves on set were even bigger than when I was starting out." Asked whether the shoot gave her any answers, she said, "I think this is a question I'll be asking until the day I die."

"I've done a lot of projects, but I've become more careful and more serious about the work. I feel more responsibility, too. Instead of casually saying, 'I want to try this kind of character,' I want to sit longer with the character and the message of every project, and carry more weight into each one."