The chameleon carries on: Actress Kim Go-eun’s versatility continues in The Price Of Confession

SEOUL – Even the most versatile actors inevitably develop an image over time, whether as a lead in light-hearted romantic comedies or as the hardened detective in a crime thriller.

Performers who move fluidly across genres are few and far between, but Kim Go-eun is one of them.

From playing a bright, innocent high schooler in K-drama Guardian: The Lonely And Great God (2016 to 2017) to embodying a charismatic, cold shaman in horror movie Exhuma (2024) to portraying a sexually open young woman in comedy-drama film Love In The Big City (2024), Kim has become one of South Korean cinema’s most trusted character actors.

She now takes on yet another guise in Netflix’s The Price Of Confession, portraying Mo Eun, a seemingly emotionless killer who strikes a deal with

fellow inmate Yoon-su (Jeon Do-yeon)

.

Through the series, Mo promises to confess to the murder Yoon-su is charged with, in exchange for Yoon-su killing someone for her once she is released.

Sporting her shortest haircut to date and erasing emotion as she commands Yoon-su, Kim says embodying Mo was challenging, as despite Mo’s unfeeling exterior, Kim viewed her as far more layered than a flat, emotionless villain.

In person, Kim has a sunny, easy-going presence. So, how does she manage to switch to Mo’s icy demeanour?

“As I started preparing for the role, there were a few things that kept weighing on my mind. I began noticing parts where the character’s logic didn’t quite line up. For example, the audience and characters believe Mo’s a psychopath. But if she isn’t actually one, how should I portray her when she’s alone?” said Kim during a press interview on Dec 12.

“That’s where my first big dilemma came from – how to satisfy the set-up while still maintaining internal logic. Eventually, I suggested that instead of the character pretending to be a psychopath, it might be more compelling if Mo simply exists as herself while others around her misunderstand her. So, rather than acting like a psychopath, I thought, she’s just Mo, but people perceive her as strange,” said Kim.

“The direction I envisioned for Mo was someone whose emotions have broken down. Since the upcoming storyline would clearly explain why she ended up that way, I felt that as long as the narrative showed that convincingly, it wouldn’t feel far-fetched. So that’s how I approached the character.”

For Kim, shaping Mo became an unexpectedly enjoyable creative exercise, one that made her realise how her expanding body of work has deepened her joy in acting.

“I do feel that the range of roles has broadened a bit. When one project does well, you tend to receive similar roles for a while, roles that follow the same tone or grain as that character. That image keeps coming in. But you can’t just sit around waiting for the next opportunity and, at the same time, you can’t insist, ‘I want to do this one’, when it’s not being offered,” she said.

“As I went through that period, projects like Exhuma, for instance, arrived in a way that felt completely unexpected. And that made it even more exciting. That’s something that brings me a lot of joy as an actor,” she added.

“And now, since the roles coming my way have definitely become more diverse in tone, I feel that things have improved a lot for me as an actor.”

Looking ahead, Kim hopes to keep pushing into new territory, not through strict strategising, but through flexibility, intuition and timing.

“You need some level of planning when choosing projects so that your next steps connect naturally. For example, after finishing a previous project, I naturally look for something that doesn’t overlap too much in tone,” said Kim.

“It’s hard to make a concrete plan like, ‘My next project will be this genre.’ So, rather than planning, I’ve been choosing based on the flow of what comes in. But this time, it was interesting because I happened to receive projects that matched my personal circumstances almost perfectly. That felt quite surprising.” THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK