Hoyeon Entered Her Movie Star Era at the Cannes Film Festival

Hoyeon has already lived plenty of lives in the spotlight—rising from a top runway model (and Vogue cover star), to a full-on TV star (you may have caught her in Squid Game or Disclaimer). But now, the South Korean star is ready to move into the next exciting phase of her career: Movie star.

For this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Hoyeon attended the photo call and screening for her new, Na Hong-jin-directed thriller Hope, in which she stars alongside Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. “I’m just so excited and grateful to have the opportunity to present my new film at such a global festival,” says Hoyeon. “alongside audiences from all over the world who truly love cinema.”

In Hope, Hoyeon portrays Sung-ae, a rookie cop who teams up with a police chief (Hwang Jung-min) to defeat a mysterious monster wreaking havoc on a South Korean village. “Working on Hope is one of the experiences I feel most attached to,” says Hoyeon of the new acting challenge. “I dedicated a lot of time and effort to preparing for this character—probably the most preparation I’ve ever done in my career.”

Though Hyeon is no stranger to an action sequence—having famously fought for her life as Kang Sae-byeok in Squid Game—she admits that her training for Hope took things to a whole new level. (Being an action star, it turns out, is no small feat.) “To perform the action scenes in the film, I spent about five to six months training before shooting began,” says Hoyeon. “I went through physical training, firearms training, earned a manual driving license, and learned various car action techniques. Because I performed most of the action scenes myself. I hope audiences can truly feel the tension, energy, and sincerity I brought to the role.”

One of her favorite memories from set? Filming an intensive action sequence involving driving a high-speed car, a scene that required her to overcome a major mental hurdle. “I felt a lot of pressure and anxiety about whether I could really pull it off,” says Hoyeon. “Several crew members kept giving me notes about safety checks and technical details, so my head became crowded with too much information, and I started losing focus. But then Hwang Jung-min, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to me, simply said, ‘Just trust yourself.’ The moment he said that, it was like magic—suddenly my mind became completely clear.” (Fun fact: They ended up getting the scene on the very first take.)