Park Chan-wook, filmmaker
Park Chan-wook, filmmaker
May 25, 2004
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: After graduating from Sogang University with a degree in philosophy, Park Chan-wook began his career as a movie critic before becoming an assistant director in 1988 on "Kkamdong" and then making his directorial debut in 1992 with "Moon Is ... Sun's Dream." But Park's name really took off in 2000 with "Joint Security Area: JSA," a mystery-thriller about North and South Korean border guards along the Demilitarized Zone that became the highest-grossing film ever in Korea at the time. Park followed that up with "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," a much darker film about a kidnapping that goes horribly wrong and a father looking for revenge. "Vengeance" won much critical praise but performed poorly at the boxoffice. His most recent film, "Old Boy," finally pulled together critical and commercial success with its rich, twisted tale of a man who finds himself suddenly abducted and imprisoned for 15 years without any explanation. When he finally is freed, he is left to try to discover who jailed him and why. Park spoke with The Hollywood Reporter's Korea correspondent Mark Russell.
The Hollywood Reporter: What was your reaction to "Old Boy" being selected for Cannes?
Park Chan-Wook: It greatly surprised me. Many selections in that festival are screened Out of Competition. The fact that I was asked to go straight to the competing category even though I was never even invited for the Out of Competition section was something I never dreamed of. A friend of mine joked, "That's like being accepted into college without an elementary or junior high school diploma."
THR: What was the biggest factor in your becoming a director? Influences?
Park: Originally, I intended to become an art critic. That was the reason why I majored in philosophy, so I could study aesthetics in depth. But the philosophy department at Sogang University, where I entered, was a citadel of English analytical philosophy at that time. For four years, they offered only one course in aesthetics. Naturally, I was unable to settle in to my major, and after roving around aimlessly for a while, I joined a photography club and started engrossing myself in photos. Then one day, I saw Hitchcock's "Vertigo." During the movie, I found myself screaming in my head, "If I don't at least try to become a movie director, I will seriously regret it when I'm lying in my deathbed!" After that, akin to James Stewart when he was blindly chasing after some mysterious woman, I searched aimlessly for some kind of irrational beauty. It is clear that Hitchcock's movie had a great impact on me at the beginning. Now, however, the influences that keep spurring me on are people like Sophocles, Shakespeare, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Balzac, Zola, Stendhal, Austin, Philip K. Dick, Zelazny and Vonnegut.
THR: Whereas "JSA" had incredible commercial success, "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" enjoyed much critical acclaim. "Old Boy" was able to generate both commercial success and critical praise. How do you feel about this?
Park: Many people tend to differentiate starkly between commercially successful or nonsuccessful movies, but the simple truth is merely that people have differing tastes about what kind of movies they like or don't. The audience seems hazy to me, shrouded in a veil through which I can't see. They are not real, not concrete. So I chose one person to be my sole audience, representing all the audiences out there. That person is my wife. From the scriptwriting and the editing process all the way to deciding on the music, I discuss everything with her thoroughly in detail. She is a normal housewife with an incredible eye who constantly offers me much advice and help.
THR: Between Cannes and being selected by aintitcool.com as the best film of 2003 (Harry Knowles wrote that), what came as more of a shock?
Park: Definitely the latter. For Cannes, we sent them an application form, but for aintitcool.com, they sought out my movie, saw it and selected it. I am just surprised and thankful that they praise my movies so much, though none of them has even been screened in America.
THR: Future plans?
Park: Currently, we are in the process of working on "Three, Monster," a project involving three Asian countries. It is due for release in August. Miike Takashi and Fruit Chan are with me on this project. My episode lasts for about 45 minutes. In November, I will be working on a new feature. The only thing I have decided on is the movie's title, which will be "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." Following "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Old Boy," this will be the concluding chapter in my "Vengeance" trilogy and will feature a woman in her mid-30s mercilessly dealing with vengeance. It will have a story consisting of a sharply contrasting variation from the kidnapping motif in "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and the imprisonment motif of "Old Boy." I am planning to write the script in a hotel in Cannes. Following that, I am planning to start shooting "Live Evil," a movie involving vampires, at the end of next year.
THR: What's your opinion of Korean directors and the production process of today? What do you think is the most important thing needed for today's Korean movie industry?
Park: The problem with distribution is severe. Since the fixation of the wide-release structure in Korean movies, the situation where one film dominates over one-third of all the screens in the country keeps recurring. Movies that are unable to generate huge commercial interest within the first week of release disappear in the opening week or the next. Because of this, audiences who are searching for European or Asian movies, American independent films, Korean art films, documentaries or animation flicks can no longer watch what they want to (unless they are really, really quick on their feet). This is the shadow underlying the era of "10 million viewers." In talking about the movies themselves, I still believe we have a long way to go. We still haven't been able to produce a virtuoso such as Kurosawa or Ozu, and we still lack the explosive character of the fifth-generation Chinese directors who vied with each other in putting forth such great works as "Yellow Earth" and "Red Sorghum." However, the fact that a multitude of directors with limitless potential are currently working in the industry, that they are working tirelessly, that they are still young, that they are not overshadowed by an overly charismatic senior figure, that they are not isolated from the audience, that there are many artistically motivated producers and that there is a continuous flow of capital going to competent directors are several factors that allow us to view favorably the Korean movie industry and its positive future.
THR: How do you formulate your ideas?
Park:The plotting of my movies is done in an instant. The entire outline for "Three, Monster" was formulated in one cigarette. After I come up with the basic gist of the outline, I try to write down the rough draft of the scenario as quickly as I can. Though I might have to resort to briefly course through the more difficult scenes at times, it's important that I finish the draft as quickly as I possibly can. I finished the draft for "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" in just 20 hours. Afterwards, the scenario undergoes some major reworking for several months. "JSA" was worked on for some six months. In other words, I plan out the outline with the speed of a jet, write out the draft with the speed of a sports car and retouch the script like an afternoon walk.
THR: The theme of vengeance recurs in your films. Any particular reason?
Park: With the development of civilization and the rise in education levels, people have had to hide their rage, hate and grudges deep within them. But this does not mean that these emotions go away. As relationships become more and more intricate, the rage only grows more and more. While modern society is burdening the individual with a growing sense of rage, the outlets through which people can release their rage are becoming narrower. This is an unhealthy situation, and it's probably why art exists. In reality, however, the vengeances represented in my movies are not actual vengeances. They are merely the transferring of a guilty conscience. My films are stories of people who place the blame for their actions on others because they refuse to take on the blame themselves. Therefore, rather than movies purporting to be of revenge, it would be more accurate to see my films as ones stressing morality, with guilty consciences as the core subject matter. The constantly recurring theme is the guilty conscience. Because they are always conscious of and obsessed with their wrongdoings, which are committed because they are inherently unavoidable in life, my characters are fundamentally good people. The fact that people have to resort to another type of violence in order to subjugate their initial guilty consciences is the most basic quality of tragedy characteristic in my movies thus far.
The Hollywood Reporter: What was your reaction to "Old Boy" being selected for Cannes?
Park Chan-Wook: It greatly surprised me. Many selections in that festival are screened Out of Competition. The fact that I was asked to go straight to the competing category even though I was never even invited for the Out of Competition section was something I never dreamed of. A friend of mine joked, "That's like being accepted into college without an elementary or junior high school diploma."
THR: What was the biggest factor in your becoming a director? Influences?
Park: Originally, I intended to become an art critic. That was the reason why I majored in philosophy, so I could study aesthetics in depth. But the philosophy department at Sogang University, where I entered, was a citadel of English analytical philosophy at that time. For four years, they offered only one course in aesthetics. Naturally, I was unable to settle in to my major, and after roving around aimlessly for a while, I joined a photography club and started engrossing myself in photos. Then one day, I saw Hitchcock's "Vertigo." During the movie, I found myself screaming in my head, "If I don't at least try to become a movie director, I will seriously regret it when I'm lying in my deathbed!" After that, akin to James Stewart when he was blindly chasing after some mysterious woman, I searched aimlessly for some kind of irrational beauty. It is clear that Hitchcock's movie had a great impact on me at the beginning. Now, however, the influences that keep spurring me on are people like Sophocles, Shakespeare, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Balzac, Zola, Stendhal, Austin, Philip K. Dick, Zelazny and Vonnegut.
THR: Whereas "JSA" had incredible commercial success, "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" enjoyed much critical acclaim. "Old Boy" was able to generate both commercial success and critical praise. How do you feel about this?
Park: Many people tend to differentiate starkly between commercially successful or nonsuccessful movies, but the simple truth is merely that people have differing tastes about what kind of movies they like or don't. The audience seems hazy to me, shrouded in a veil through which I can't see. They are not real, not concrete. So I chose one person to be my sole audience, representing all the audiences out there. That person is my wife. From the scriptwriting and the editing process all the way to deciding on the music, I discuss everything with her thoroughly in detail. She is a normal housewife with an incredible eye who constantly offers me much advice and help.
THR: Between Cannes and being selected by aintitcool.com as the best film of 2003 (Harry Knowles wrote that), what came as more of a shock?
Park: Definitely the latter. For Cannes, we sent them an application form, but for aintitcool.com, they sought out my movie, saw it and selected it. I am just surprised and thankful that they praise my movies so much, though none of them has even been screened in America.
THR: Future plans?
Park: Currently, we are in the process of working on "Three, Monster," a project involving three Asian countries. It is due for release in August. Miike Takashi and Fruit Chan are with me on this project. My episode lasts for about 45 minutes. In November, I will be working on a new feature. The only thing I have decided on is the movie's title, which will be "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." Following "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Old Boy," this will be the concluding chapter in my "Vengeance" trilogy and will feature a woman in her mid-30s mercilessly dealing with vengeance. It will have a story consisting of a sharply contrasting variation from the kidnapping motif in "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and the imprisonment motif of "Old Boy." I am planning to write the script in a hotel in Cannes. Following that, I am planning to start shooting "Live Evil," a movie involving vampires, at the end of next year.
THR: What's your opinion of Korean directors and the production process of today? What do you think is the most important thing needed for today's Korean movie industry?
Park: The problem with distribution is severe. Since the fixation of the wide-release structure in Korean movies, the situation where one film dominates over one-third of all the screens in the country keeps recurring. Movies that are unable to generate huge commercial interest within the first week of release disappear in the opening week or the next. Because of this, audiences who are searching for European or Asian movies, American independent films, Korean art films, documentaries or animation flicks can no longer watch what they want to (unless they are really, really quick on their feet). This is the shadow underlying the era of "10 million viewers." In talking about the movies themselves, I still believe we have a long way to go. We still haven't been able to produce a virtuoso such as Kurosawa or Ozu, and we still lack the explosive character of the fifth-generation Chinese directors who vied with each other in putting forth such great works as "Yellow Earth" and "Red Sorghum." However, the fact that a multitude of directors with limitless potential are currently working in the industry, that they are working tirelessly, that they are still young, that they are not overshadowed by an overly charismatic senior figure, that they are not isolated from the audience, that there are many artistically motivated producers and that there is a continuous flow of capital going to competent directors are several factors that allow us to view favorably the Korean movie industry and its positive future.
THR: How do you formulate your ideas?
Park:The plotting of my movies is done in an instant. The entire outline for "Three, Monster" was formulated in one cigarette. After I come up with the basic gist of the outline, I try to write down the rough draft of the scenario as quickly as I can. Though I might have to resort to briefly course through the more difficult scenes at times, it's important that I finish the draft as quickly as I possibly can. I finished the draft for "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" in just 20 hours. Afterwards, the scenario undergoes some major reworking for several months. "JSA" was worked on for some six months. In other words, I plan out the outline with the speed of a jet, write out the draft with the speed of a sports car and retouch the script like an afternoon walk.
THR: The theme of vengeance recurs in your films. Any particular reason?
Park: With the development of civilization and the rise in education levels, people have had to hide their rage, hate and grudges deep within them. But this does not mean that these emotions go away. As relationships become more and more intricate, the rage only grows more and more. While modern society is burdening the individual with a growing sense of rage, the outlets through which people can release their rage are becoming narrower. This is an unhealthy situation, and it's probably why art exists. In reality, however, the vengeances represented in my movies are not actual vengeances. They are merely the transferring of a guilty conscience. My films are stories of people who place the blame for their actions on others because they refuse to take on the blame themselves. Therefore, rather than movies purporting to be of revenge, it would be more accurate to see my films as ones stressing morality, with guilty consciences as the core subject matter. The constantly recurring theme is the guilty conscience. Because they are always conscious of and obsessed with their wrongdoings, which are committed because they are inherently unavoidable in life, my characters are fundamentally good people. The fact that people have to resort to another type of violence in order to subjugate their initial guilty consciences is the most basic quality of tragedy characteristic in my movies thus far.
Share on LinkedIn
