Name: Moon Choi
Notable past credits: Choi has starred in various Korean films, TV series and theater productions. In 2017, she won several acting awards for her lead role in biopic “Anarchist From Colony.”
Sundance project: U.S. Dramatic Competition film “Bedford Park,” costarring Son Sukku. Choi leads the film, her first American project, as Audrey, a first-generation Korean American woman haunted by her challenging family upbringing.
“ I just fell in love with this character,” Choi says. “She’s struggling with her past, but she doesn’t show it; it’s always simmering inside her, which kind of peaks up when she’s upset or when she’s talking to her parents, who she has this kind of love-hate relationship with.”
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Her mother gets into a car accident, forcing Choi to revisit her childhood. She meets the man responsible for the incident, a character played by Sukku, and the pair grow close as they bond over their difficult pasts.
“Audrey was challenging as an actor, but also very interesting,” Choi says. “Sometimes it’s easier to have a character that expresses a lot. It’s easier to laugh and cry and shout, but it’s difficult to contain everything, and just channel it.”
Choi first read the script for “Bedford Park” seven years ago, and signed onto the film after meeting with writer-director Stephanie Ahn in New York. They filmed a proof-of-concept short film, called “Accident.” A few years later, when the feature film was partially funded, Choi shared the short with Sukku while they were costarring in a play together. The feature’s lead male role was originally written for a white actor, but when Sukku — a very popular Korean actor — expressed interest in the project, Ahn rewrote the character to be a Korean American adoptee. With Sukku’s involvement, the project was able to attract additional investors to fund the project.
“Bedford Park” marks Choi’s fifth time working with Sukku, who she’s known for over a decade. “He was the best partner to work with. Especially being this my first time working in the U.S. on a U.S. film,” she says. En route to Sundance, the pair briefly stopped in San Francisco, where Choi spent a year of college as an exchange student at UC Berkeley.
The team learned they were headed to Sundance in late November as part of the festival’s U.S. dramatic competition slate. A day before the film’s premiere, Choi was excited to become part of the festival’s Park City legacy. “ It’s the final year here; I just feel like it’s a lifetime opportunity,” she says. “I might never have chance to come back here, you know? So I’m really grateful.”
After Sundance, Choi was headed back to South Korea, where she’s preparing for the global tour of a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” set in modern-day Seoul. The production, directed by Simon Stone, costars Cannes-winning actress Doyeon Jeon and “Squid Game” star Haesoo Park. The play will travel to Australia next month and to New York later this fall.
”Acting on stage is somewhat liberating,” Choi says of her theater work. “Because you don’t cut, so it’s a flow of two hours. It’s challenging, but I find it liberating.”
