'The Glory' star Shin Ye-eun said portraying teenage bully Yeon-jin gave her nightmares, made her lose fans
K-drama actress Shin Ye-eun, who played the teenage version of primary antagonist Park Yeon-jin in The Glory, has revealed that even she got nightmares from the bully character she portrayed.
During the March 18 episode of MBC's Omniscient Interfering View, Ye-eun discussed her negative personal experience after filming the show.
"I knew it was all acting and fictional, but from time to time, I came out of the character while filming. For instance, I knew the hair iron was cold but seeing my opposite crying in pain had me thinking, 'What am I doing now?' And that's when I made a blooper. I had nightmares after I went home. I couldn't sleep without earplugs, because I got so agitated due to the dark character," Ye-eun said.
The hit K-drama only featured teenage Yeon-jin prominently in the first episode, after which she would only be shown in flashbacks.
However, this alone left enough of an impact on viewers who watched the bully smile while physically, emotionally, and psychologically abusing the teenage Moon Dong-eun (Jung Ji-so)—on top of making a scene at the church owned by her friend and fellow bully Lee Sa-ra.
In The Glory Part 2, Ye-eun's character was seen lighting another student on fire before pushing them off a building.
The actress actually landed the role after director Ahn Gil-ho saw her smile. He made the right choice, but Ye-eun played the part so well that she lost fans.
“After appearing on The Glory, my social networking service (SNS) followers actually decreased... I received unexpected and extreme messages, which led to a decrease in my SNS followers," Ye-eun said on SBS' My Little Old Boy.
Ye-eun's earlier credits include the popular web series A-Teen. Most recently, she starred in He Is Psychometric and Revenge of Others.
Fans observed that Ye-eun demonstrated versatility in her acting range, portraying a victim in Revenge of Others to becoming the villain herself in The Glory only months apart.
The Glory revolves around a woman who suffered childhood violence and now dedicates her life to executing a series of vengeful acts against her bullies and their accomplices. Part 1 of the show was released on Dec. 30 last year, while Part 2 was made available on March 10 on Netflix.