Courtesy of Netflix.
At the heart of Netflixs latest big swing at prestige movies is an extremely precocious 13-year-old. Okja, the story of a girl named Mija palling around with a massive superpig in a whimsical mountain settinga fantastical friendship in the vein of classics like My Neighbor Totorostars actress Ahn Seo-hyun in the main role. Shes a bundle of fierceness and unrattled stoicism in a high-concept film replete with madcap plot points, the kind weve come to expect from celebrated director Bong Joon-ho and his top-tier talent (Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano). Though Seo-hyun was only 11 when she was cast (and 12 when she filmed), she holds our gaze in the palm of her hand. Shes a bottle-rocket talent and a surprisingly adept action star, someone who will sear a lasting impression on anyone who watches Okja once its available to stream, or see in limited theatrical release, on June 28.
In real life, Seo-hyun is petite and polite, with long bangs skirting her eyes. She speaks Korean, her first language, during interviews, but there are occasions where she happily blurts something in English to really convey her pointlike when shes talking about Tilda Swinton. The Oscar-winning actress was kind and protective of the young star on set, Seo-hyuns translator explains, even taking her to see Finding Dory when they had some free time.
I loved it, Seo-hyun gushes in English.
In fact, all of her co-stars were warm and protective, she says. When they filmed certain scenes in New York, Paul Dano took her to see a musical. Jake Gyllenhaal sent her a black luggage set as a wrap gift. Director Bong Joon-ho gave her near-total control of her character, which, for an actor, is one of the greatest gifts of all. When she was cast, Seo-hyun quickly rattled off a number of ideas to the director for what motivated Mija in certain scenes, to the point where she was even illuminating ideas to Joon-ho, who created the character and wrote the script. Oh, this is why she does this, she recalls the director saying. In the script, there was an idea of who Mija was, [but] it was still kind of in the dark, she says. Seo-hyun gave it the spark of life.
In the film, Mija is a quiet girl living in beatific mountains with her grandfather and Okja, a superpig gifted to her family by a livestock company called the Mirando Corporation, led by a slightly manic woman named Lucy Mirando (Swinton). But after a few idyllic years, the company decides its time to take Okja back and make him serve the purpose they bred him for, sending along deranged zoologist Dr. Johnny Wilcox (Gyllenhaal) to pignap him. A fearless Mija immediately goes after them, aided along the way by an extremist group called the Animal Liberation Front, which is led by a man named Jay (Dano).
The role is surprisingly physical, with Seo-hyun spending nearly half her time running after someone or something, bursting through glass, leaping from one thing to the next. The actress started training for the role before filming, but didnt get to use most of what she learned, as Joon-ho ultimately employed stunt performers or special effects for most of the scenes.
On screen, Seo-hyun also spends a lot of time acting with Okja, a friendly C.G.I. creature with the temperament of a dog and the size of a growing triceratops. On set, she was actually acting with a sponge-filled, Okja-sized puppet nicknamed Stuffy. At first, the young star was worried about how shed convincingly build that necessary connection to it. How will I express falling in love with this inanimate object? she muses in Korean.
Thankfully, she found her way in thanks to a man named Steve, who operated Stuffy, playing to him instead of to the giant puppet. On the final day of shooting with Stuffy and Steve, Seo-hyun felt like she was saying goodbye to a little pet she had for 10 years, her translator explains.
Seo-hyun has seen the film about four or five times now, she reckons, including sitting through the contentious Cannes premiere and the more welcoming New York City premiere, attended by the films stars and splashy producers like Brad Pitt. At a late-night after-party at the Top of the Standard, she quietly stood in the corner of the room, while adults all around her sipped Champagne and swapped industry gossipa perfect dichotomy of the surreal life of a talented child actor wrapping up a whirlwind press tour. If Okja gets the praise it deserves (and it really is quite lovely), this wont be the last time Seo-hyun finds herself espousing her craft and balancing the industrys everyday fishbowl of oddities. But if she can handle Joon-hos dark, ethereal worlds and the stranger-than-fiction landscape of Hollywood, she can probably handle anything.
She may have started out as Frank Underwoods cool, if slightly icy, wife who stands on the sidelines, but Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) quickly transforms into the shows stealthy Lady Macbeth with a chic pixie cut, delivering quiet, but shocking blows to her enemies. Im willing to let your child wither and die inside you, she once said to a pregnant former employee. Am I really the sort of enemy you want to make? Not. At. All.
Well, if it isnt the most corrupt, murderous fictional president to ever step foot in the White House. Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) is basically a caricature of a dirty politicianhes ruthless, manipulative, power-hungry, and violent, willing to do or say anything to stay at the top of the food chain. Get in his way and prepare to be bowled overor shoved in front of a moving train.
Orange Is the New Black is filled season to season with new villains, from the Season 1 terror of crazed religious freak Pennsatucky (who is, thankfully, reformed now), to Season 4s sadistic guard who forces an inmate to eat a baby mouse. But none have had the perfect open and close villainy of Vee (played by Lorraine Toussaint) in Season 2, a manipulative force who will do whatever it takes to get people to do her bidding, whether it requires shallow sweet talk or a blunt smack in the head.
Kilgrave (played by David Tennant) showed us exactly what can happen when an incredible power gets into the wrong hands. The Marvel baddie had the power to control other people, a chilling gift he used to achieve violent ends.
He was a villain who swore he was doing work in the name of a greater good. Aloysius (Jason Isaacs) trapped literal angels in his basement for years so he could conduct scientific experiments on themexperiments that included killing them over and over and wiping their memories so they couldnt remember what he did to them.
From Hannahs perspective, technically everyone who got a tape is a villain of sorts. However, none were more insidious than Bryce (Justin Prentice), the jock who was not only your typical high school bully, but also later revealed to be a serial rapist.
Were only kind of kidding. Sure, Rory (Alexis Bledel) was the precocious protagonist of the original series, but the all grown up version in Netflixs revival is a bit of a narcissistic mess, consistently messing up career opportunities, sleeping with her married ex-boyfriend (although it takes two to play, Logan, you flawed, filthy rich philanderer) while straight up forgetting her actual boyfriendpoor Paul.
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She may have started out as Frank Underwoods cool, if slightly icy, wife who stands on the sidelines, but Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) quickly transforms into the shows stealthy Lady Macbeth with a chic pixie cut, delivering quiet, but shocking blows to her enemies. Im willing to let your child wither and die inside you, she once said to a pregnant former employee. Am I really the sort of enemy you want to make? Not. At. All.
Courtesy of David Giesbrecht/Netflix.
Well, if it isnt the most corrupt, murderous fictional president to ever step foot in the White House. Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) is basically a caricature of a dirty politicianhes ruthless, manipulative, power-hungry, and violent, willing to do or say anything to stay at the top of the food chain. Get in his way and prepare to be bowled overor shoved in front of a moving train.
Courtesy of David Giesbrecht /Netflix.
Orange Is the New Black is filled season to season with new villains, from the Season 1 terror of crazed religious freak Pennsatucky (who is, thankfully, reformed now), to Season 4s sadistic guard who forces an inmate to eat a baby mouse. But none have had the perfect open and close villainy of Vee (played by Lorraine Toussaint) in Season 2, a manipulative force who will do whatever it takes to get people to do her bidding, whether it requires shallow sweet talk or a blunt smack in the head.
Courtesy of Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection.
Kilgrave (played by David Tennant) showed us exactly what can happen when an incredible power gets into the wrong hands. The Marvel baddie had the power to control other people, a chilling gift he used to achieve violent ends.
Courtesy of Myles Aronowitz/Netflix.
Sometimes a shows greatest villain can also be its star. Pablo Escobar (played by Wagner Moura) on Narcos is just that, and is based on the real life drug lord who got rich by peddling cocaine in Colombia, leaving a trail of blood and terror in his wake.
By Daniel Daza/Netflix/Everett Collection.
There are few things more villainous than committing yourself to a lifetime mission of killing children. Alas, thats Olafs (played by Neil Patrick Harris) lot in life, a commitment that constantly requires him to take his cartoonish villainy to the next level, constantly disguising himself so he can finally rid the world of those damn Baudelaire orphans.
Courtesy of Joe Lederer/Netflix.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt may be a comedy, but it still has one of the most twisted plot lines around, thanks to the Reverend (played by Jon Hamm). He trapped Kimmy and three other women in a bunker for 15 years, forcing Kimmy to marry him and tricking all the women into thinking the world was on the verge of an apocalypse.
Courtesy of Eric Liebowitz/Netflix.
He may be seductive, but hes also a snake. Cottonmouth (played by Mahershala Ali) was one of the more ruthless overlords of Harlem, a man with a perilously short temper and an unquenchable thirst for the total destruction of his enemies.
Courtesy of Myles Aronowitz/Netflix.
Dr. Martin Brenner, Elevens evil father, might seem like the obvious villain on this show. And dont get us wrong, hes definitely a villain . . . but, when push comes to shove you have to admit you would rather be up against him than the Demogorgon (played by a suited up Mark Steger), the horrifying demon-like creature who lives in the Upside-Down and feasts on both fear and flesh.
Courtesy of Netflix.
He was a villain who swore he was doing work in the name of a greater good. Aloysius (Jason Isaacs) trapped literal angels in his basement for years so he could conduct scientific experiments on themexperiments that included killing them over and over and wiping their memories so they couldnt remember what he did to them.
Courtesy of JoJo Whilden/Netflix.
From Hannahs perspective, technically everyone who got a tape is a villain of sorts. However, none were more insidious than Bryce (Justin Prentice), the jock who was not only your typical high school bully, but also later revealed to be a serial rapist.
By Beth Dubber/Netflix.
Were only kind of kidding. Sure, Rory (Alexis Bledel) was the precocious protagonist of the original series, but the all grown up version in Netflixs revival is a bit of a narcissistic mess, consistently messing up career opportunities, sleeping with her married ex-boyfriend (although it takes two to play, Logan, you flawed, filthy rich philanderer) while straight up forgetting her actual boyfriendpoor Paul.
Courtesy of Saeed Adyani/Netflix.
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Okja Star Ahn Seo-Hyun Carries Netflix's Next Prestige Film on Her Small Shoulders - Vanity Fair