[Interview] "The Price of Confession" Kim Go-eun, "I Tried My Best to Look Gaunt"

"Suspicious innocence and a bargained confession".

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The Netflix series "The Price of Confession", which depicts the fierce psychological battle between two women standing at the threshold of a dark secret, has been drawing global attention by ranking high on worldwide charts shortly after its release. At the center of the buzz are its lead actresses, Jeon Do-yeon and Kim Go-eun.

Jeon Do-yeon plays Yoon-soo, a woman accused of murdering her husband, while Kim portrays Mo-eun, a mysterious killer who claims she will confess to the crime. Together, they weave a gripping narrative in which truth and falsehood are intricately intertwined. Defining "The Price of Confession" as 'a work full of hidden meanings and deep psychology', the two actresses said they hoped the series would approach viewers as an intense and compelling mystery.

"I tried to keep my body as gaunt as possible"

For Kim Go-eun, "The Price of Confession" felt like a monumental challenge. She described Mo-eun as 'a character who appears to be a psychopath on the surface, but in fact is not', adding that maintaining the delicate balance required to deceive even the audience was the biggest task.

"Mo-eun is someone whose emotional circuitry has been overloaded by a major incident in her past. As a result, she's actually emotionally numb. She processes everything in a very one-dimensional way, if someone keeps talking to her, she thinks, 'It's noisy', and if someone gives her coffee, she simply thinks, 'It's good'. That's how I approached her".

To emphasize Mo-eun's facial contours, Kim Go-eun even suggested cutting her hair extremely short, almost to the level of a buzz cut. She said that as soon as she read the script, she envisioned 'a face where everything is laid bare, with nothing to hide behind'.

"Honestly, the hairstyle I first imagined was even shorter. I'd always wanted to try a near-buzz cut, and this role happened to be the opportunity. Short hair is comfortable, but it really made me realize 'how important a down perm is'. (Laughs) After just one workout, my hair would stand up like a patch of grass".

To capture Mo-eun's lifeless appearance, Kim Go-eun also tried to maintain a sense of physical gauntness throughout filming.

"I swell up really easily, and it would look strange if I appeared plump. (Laughs) So the night before shooting, I either skipped dinner entirely or avoided soup and anything with broth as much as possible".

"Watching Jeon Do-yeon made me dream of becoming an actress"

For Kim Go-eun, "The Price of Confession" also held special meaning as it marked her reunion with Jeon Do-yeon for the first time in ten years since the 2015 film "Memories of the Sword". She described Jeon Do-yeon as 'the person who first planted the dream of becoming an actress in me'.

"Being able to act alongside someone like her in the same era feels like a miracle. When we worked on "Memories of the Sword", it was amazing just to see her on set. I was overwhelmed by everything back then, and she took such good care of me".

Kim Go-eun said that throughout filming, her greatest source of strength came from a single word of praise from Jeon Do-yeon.

"She's not someone who says nice things just to be polite, she only speaks sincerely. So when she says, 'Go-eun, you were really good today', it hits me so deeply. It gives me real confidence, like, 'Yes, I really did well today'."

"The Price of Confession" initially drew attention when Song Hye-kyo and Han So-hee were rumored to star in the project, before Jeon Do-yeon and Kim Go-eun were newly cast. Although the involvement of other high-profile actors might have felt like a burden, Kim Go-eun was firm in saying that it didn't matter.

"That kind of thing happens all the time in this industry, projects go through multiple actors and then fall through. This one just looked bigger because it was reported in the media. When you've been acting for over ten years, you realize it's a natural process. The only thing I need to focus on is the acting itself".