ACTRESS Park So-Dam’s new period film Phantom premiered in South Korea yesterday. The Parasite and Record of Youth star plays Yuriko, a secretary to the Japanese Government-General during the Japanese occupation of the country in 1933.
The film follows a group of individuals, each under suspicion of being a spy known as the “Phantom”, planted by independence revolutionaries to collect intelligence from deep inside the Governor-General of Gyeongseong (now known as Seoul).
The suspects will be “gathered” at a remote hotel located on a remote cliffside, and no one can get out until the Phantom is found.
Recently, Park spoke to AllKpop.com about filming while overcoming thyroid cancer, which she was diagnosed with halfway through filming Phantom.
She said: “During the first half of 2021 when I was filming Phantom, I didn't know I was sick. I was afraid to be on the film set, and cried because I doubted my acting skills. But those were the signals my body was sending me. I just thought it was just a burnout.”
She then recorded the audio for her Phantom role while waiting for the results of the biopsy, after being told by her doctor that she would have lost her voice if the treatment was delayed.
To prepare for the film’s action scenes, Park had to first increase her stamina, which she did by running with a 4kg gun.
She also discovered that shooting came natural to her.
She underwent major surgery for her condition last year, shortly before her other film Special Delivery premiered. At the time, she said that her voice” didn’t come out” and she was unable to move.
“These days, I’m doing pilates while taking hormone medication and my body is trying to recover its old routine.”
Park also says that the entire cancer experience was a blessing in disguise, as it gave her time to invest in herself, which the actress said was previously impossible due to always working.
