Warning: Spoilers for Past Lives ahead. There are many layers of in-yun (인연), a Korean term meaning providence or fate, between actress Greta Lee and Nora, the playwright Lee portrays in the profound A24 film Past Lives. Directed and written by Celine Song, the semi-autobiographical drama which released nationwide on Friday, follows the decades-long romance of Nora and Hae-sung, childhood sweethearts who reunite twenty-some years after Nora immigrates to North America. Lee, an LA-native who’s best known for playing bold characters in shows including The Morning Show and Russian Doll, had her own kind of delayed reunion with the film, landing the role of Nora more than a year after she was initially passed over for the part. Her career-defining performance shows why the actress was truly meant for the film as she seamlessly embodies an ambitious, thoughtful woman pulled between two loves in an existential story for the ages.
Here, Lee chats about how the role resonated with her experience as a Korean-American actor, what she thinks becomes of Nora and Hae-sung’s love story, and how Billie Eilish helped her get into character.
