All of Us Are Dead’s Cho Yi-hyun on how she took “zombie lessons” and found inspiration in Twilight

While there are countless zombies in All of Us Are Dead and a few lucky survivors, actress Cho Yi-hyun got to play a completely unique character - a hambie, someone who is part zombie, part human, and can control their urge to munch on others. It may seem effortless to the viewers, but Yi-hyun went through an extensive process to perfect her hambie portrayal.

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Cho Yi-hyun trained under a choreographer to perfect her hambie

In a recent interview with iMBC (via Soompi), Yi-hyun shared that, unlike the other zombies, her character, Nam-ra had to constantly shift from being a zombie to being a human. She confessed that it was “difficult acting out the process” and she had to take “zombie lessons” before she started shooting All of Us Are Dead.

“Before filming, I took ‘zombie lessons’ from a choreographer. I learned the choreography of how to use my face to frown, how to bend my fingers, and how to twist my neck [to look like a zombie], and I practiced a lot."

Talking about how the director helped her nail down the part, she said:

"The director also helped me center myself so that I wouldn’t go overboard with my emotions within the process of switching back and forth between zombie and human.”

Though the zombie lessons undoubtedly helped, the actress wanted to set Nam-ra apart from the zombies and thus turned to the vampires in the Hollywood movie Twilight.

“While pondering what a ‘half-zombie’ should be like, I watched the movie ‘Twilight’ and decided on my own that they would have a vampire vibe.”

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On the constant rise in her popularity

While it has been some time since All of Us Are Dead was released, the hype around the show and its characters is far from dying. Yi-hyun confessed that still feels “dazed and confused” and wonders whether her overnight success with the Netflix series is “actually real.”

“After All of Us Are Dead was released, my Instagram follower count went up, and it’s still increasing rapidly now—so it doesn’t feel like it’s my account. There are so many likes now, and the number of comments keeps growing."

She continued:

"I used to be able to read all my comments in just a few minutes, but now, there are even lots of comments in other languages.”

The popularity of the show - and the actors - seems to be on an upward trajectory, with rumors of a season 2 making the rounds. As fans wait for an official announcement about the second installment of the show, the uninitiated can stream season 1 of All of Us Are Dead on Netflix.