Lim Soo-jung makes producer debut in mystery film 'Shadow Child', opening July 1

Lim Soo-jung is doing double duty on Shadow Child (그림자 아이). She plays mother Geum-ok and produces the film—her first producing credit. It opens July 1.

A press and distribution screening happened June 25 at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul. Director Yu Eun-jung attended with actors Park So-i and Yuna.

The mystery centers on Suan (Park So-i), who wakes from a three-year coma to find her mother Geum-ok (Lim Soo-jung) unrecognizable. Then she meets Jae-in (Yuna), a girl with the face of her dead sister Su-ryeon. Both threads pull Suan into the secrets of a "shadow fairy tale." Shadow Child was invited to the Vision section of the 30th Busan International Film Festival.

Lim signed on as an actor first. During the investment phase, the production company's representative asked her to produce, and she said yes. Director Yu Eun-jung said Lim "has always been interested in supporting small, good films" and compared her to how Margot Robbie backs smaller projects.

On set, Lim's role went far beyond contracts and budgets. Yu Eun-jung described her as managing "the on-set atmosphere that the director could not see." Lim kept saying she wanted the child actors to leave with good memories. The rooftop action sequence in the film's second half—both child actors involved—drew her particular focus. Yu recalled worrying whether the scene might leave physical marks on them.

Both Park So-i and Yuna felt the difference. Yuna said Lim "created an environment where I could focus perfectly on acting" and was thoughtful even about the shooting order. Park So-i said Lim stayed on set far longer than required, caught her weaker moments and corrected them, and made the atmosphere comfortable enough that "sometimes I felt like she really was mother Geum-ok."

Yu Eun-jung's previous film, The Door Opens at Night (밤의 문이 열린다), linked isolation and ghosts. This one connects "fear of loss and meeting someone who resembles me," she said. The first question: if you lost someone you loved, could meeting a person who looks like them fill that absence? "I thought it was a different texture from mourning," she said.