South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon initially turned down Cannes award-winning role

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon said Wednesday she initially turned down the role that earned her the best actress award at this year's Cannes Film Festival because she couldn't understand the character's motivation.

Jeon, 34, won the prize for playing a widow struggling to cope with her husband's death in "Secret Sunshine."

"I turned down the offer at first because I could not understand from just reading the script the feelings and circumstances that (lead character) Shin-ae experiences," she said.

But then director Lee Chang-dong helped her understand, and "when I read the script again after that, I could feel Shin-ae's pain that I couldn't before," Jeon told a news conference carried live on national TV.

"I wanted to experience it and know what would be the end of the pain," she said.

Secret Sunshine is the name of a town in southeastern South Korea where the character Shin-ae's husband was born. She moves to the town following her husband's death, but loses her son there, too.

South Korea has heralded Jeon as a new national hero. Her award garnered front-page news coverage and drew congratulations from President Roh Moo-hyun.