Actress Lee Elijah is a well-known name to fans of Korean TV, but her acting chops have been limited to the small screen.

Yet director Lee Jang-hee cast Lee Elijah as lead character Hye-jin in the upcoming romantic comedy “My Bossy Girl.”

“There is a certain excitement and tension that comes from the word ‘first.’ Since this is my first (movie role), I just focused on having fun, doing the best I can to make a great film,” Lee Elijah said during a press conference for the film.

She plays a wheelchair-bound archer who never hesitates in anything she does or says. “She is like a bull when it comes to dating. Honestly, I had trouble playing her as I am actually very shy in real life.”

Her co-star in the film is Ji Il-joo, another actor known predominantly for his TV roles. In his rare outing on the silver screen, Ji plays college kid Hwi-so, who has never had a girlfriend in his life.

“The trauma that my character has, how he overcomes that with Hye-jin and his friends, that was what I liked the most about the character, how I connected with him the most,” Ji said.

Director Lee, who is directing his first feature-length film, said he focused on the message of treating everyone equally, despite their differences.

“Even when you are in a wheelchair, when you are socially awkward, we should treat each other the same, not step over the line. The focus of my directing was depicting how we treat each other like friends, as members of the society,” he said.

Lee also mentioned that his main committed herself to her role as an athlete, training for perfection. The actress said she trained under an archery gold medalist.

The film opens in local theaters in November.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)