IU Says Attending Cannes Alongside Top Actors a Great Honor

Singer and actress IU has shared her excitement about her first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival with her first major film.

IU, who made her showbiz debut as a singer in 2008 at the age of 15, attended the festival last month as part of the star-studded cast of Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's Korean film "Broker," which also stars Song Kang-ho, Bae Doo-na and Kang Dong-won.

She plays a single mother in the film, which deals with a "baby box" where mothers anonymously leave babies they are unable to raise for adoption. It was invited to the festival's competition section. 

"I said to myself, 'I'm here with Song Kang-ho, Kang Dong-won and Bae Doo-na. I'm a success!' But actually, I was really worried," she said. "I felt like it was a team play, where my individual performance should contribute to the team's success. I felt like a football player trying to score a goal." 

Asked what acting gives her that singing doesn't, she said, "I get asked the same question a lot. I think singing and acting are very different but have some things in common. A recording studio and a film set are very similar. I have only one chance in a live performance, but I can make improvements in a studio, as I can record a song multiple times, listen to it, discuss it with the producer and make adjustments. I like the process of recording a song." 

Koreeda cast her after watching her TV series "My Mister," in which she plays a tough, poor girl living with her grandmother.

"The character in 'Broker' resembles my character in 'My Mister' in a way, but the two characters are completely different in other ways, so I thought I could show an unexpected side of myself," IU said. 

Asked about Song, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes, she said, "He often said we all created the movie together. I was impressed that a top actor wanted to share his achievement with others." 

Having been in showbiz for more than a decade now, she always tries to "be thankful for today and enjoy the moment," she said.