Han So-hee Wants to Marry Before 40 and Would Quit Acting to Raise Her Kids

Han So-hee had the press room laughing within minutes when she declared she would quit acting to raise her children, and then had them leaning in when she got serious about what she wants in a partner. The interview, held on the 8th at a café in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, was ahead of the September 16 release of The Intern, a Korean remake of the 2015 Hollywood film, in which Han stars opposite Choi Min-sik.

Two completely different characters, and one familiar flaw

In the film, Han plays Seonwoo, a young CEO running a fashion startup that shot from obscurity to industry dark horse in just three years. Choi Min-sik plays Giho, a 37-year career veteran who joins the company as a silver intern after retirement. Their dynamic, separated by age, rank, and every chapter of their lives, is the emotional core of the story, with a shared piece of an old Korean rice snack called oranda standing in for the warmth that bridges the gap.

Han was quick to find herself in Seonwoo. "I have perfectionist tendencies, but I'm actually not perfect, that part is the same," she said. "The anxiety that comes from wanting to do everything right, the way she pushes herself to the edge, that's very much me." She also noted that both she and her character place human connection above efficiency. Where she drew the line was Seonwoo's ability to cut people off cleanly when necessary. "Seonwoo knows when to end things. In that sense, I'm a bit of a pushover," Han said with a laugh. "Maybe it's because she has money."

On the remake question, something co-star Choi Min-sik has spoken about with visible nerves, Han had no ambivalence at all. "I thought it was an honour to be cast as the lead of a remake based on such a well-known original. Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway did it one way; Choi Min-sik and Han So-hee will give it a completely different feeling."

What Choi Min-sik taught her at the table read

Before cameras rolled, the production held multiple script-reading sessions to help the cast gel. Han, who describes herself as someone who does her best work on set, admitted she approached those readings at maybe half-speed, until she watched Choi Min-sik across the table. "He was giving it 100 percent energy at every single reading," she said. "That's when I realized I wasn't under-rehearsed, I just wasn't prepared." The lesson landed. She'd expected the senior actor to be intimidating based on his screen presence alone, but she found someone who "sneaks up on his younger co-stars with jokes." He is, she said with a bashful smile, "just cute and loveable now."

The Cannes moment she can't stop talking about

Ask Han So-hee which celebrity she'd most want to interview, and the answer comes fast: Jeon Ji-hyun. The story she tells to explain why is the best part of the interview.

Earlier this year, Han attended the Cannes International Film Festival. While moving from the airport to her hotel, she crossed paths with the team behind Gunche, one of the Korean productions competing at the festival. Standing among them, in a white outfit, was Jeon Ji-hyun. "She was not a human being," Han said, the words tumbling out in one breath. "I grew up rewatching her films, I loved My Sassy Girl so much as a kid, and suddenly that person was standing right in front of me." She called it "shocking" and said she spent the rest of the moment thinking, I just want to exchange one real word with her.

(When someone pointed out that Han herself is often called a goddess, she waved it off: "No, I'm just a person who looks unusual." Then, after a beat: "But if someone out there thinks of me that way, I'm genuinely grateful.")

The Cannes encounter has sharpened her ambition. "I need to work really hard," she said. "I want to be good enough to share a project with her one day."

She also admitted that playing a CEO gave her a new appreciation for office workers. If she could intern anywhere, she said, she'd pick an entertainment reporter's desk: fast typing, celebrity access, and the possibility of getting Jeon Ji-hyun in a room for an interview. She acknowledged the press corps found that answer funny.

Marriage before 40, and a very specific checklist

The most quoted moment of the day came near the end, when Han talked about her personal life with unusual frankness. She wants to be married before she turns 40. More than marriage, though, it is parenthood she's drawn to, and she has already decided what happens after. "When I have a child, I'll stop acting. At least until they start primary school, I want to be fully present as a parent and give them everything I have."

As for her ideal partner: stable, she said, and, delivered with a laugh, "genetically good-looking."

The Intern opens September 16 and is positioned as one of the main Chuseok holiday releases.