Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wookis a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. One of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native country, Park is most known for his films Joint Security Area, Thirst and what has become known as The Vengeance Trilogy, consisting of 2002's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, 2003's Oldboy and 2005's Lady Vengeance. His films are noted for their immaculate framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter...
NationalitySouth Korean
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth23 August 1963
In our lives, we have good things and bad things, happiness and pain.
In Korea is what I do is I watch the playback of each take with all of the actors and spend a lot of time discussing each take. Also, I use the process we call auto-assembly because I storyboard my entire film right at the beginning, even before pre-production ever begins, so my vision is already laid out on the storyboard for everybody to share. It enables the on-set assembly person, as we call them, to cut together each take into a sequence. This enables a director to review the take within the context of the sequence of the scene.
I've grown up watching a lot of Western genre films on TV, and America is not just a country, but it's one of the most important countries in the world, and examining the process of how this nation came to be, it's an important thing, even for outsiders.
If you would ask me what my ideal process is, I would say, long pre-production, long production and long post-production.
Actually, I can't stand watching violent scenes in films; I avoid watching horror films. I don't tend to watch action films mainly because I find them boring, but I watch the films of David Cronenberg and Martin Scorsese, usually in a state close to having a heart attack. I'm a complete coward. I make violent films as a result of my sensitivity to violence - in other words, my fear of violence.
When I was growing up, we were taught in school that North Koreans, and especially the North Korean leadership, were all devils.
I actually pay careful attention to that sort of thing - infusing humor into my films - because that's how important I think humor is.
I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but 'Mad Men' changed my perspective. I admire Matthew Weiner who came up with the idea and wrote such a great TV series, and the broadcasting company for being bold enough to air such a series.
I don't really believe in the auteur theory.
In my opinion, all relationships between people have some sort of violence, and it is central.
Actors are professionals who deal with people's emotions and their thoughts.
I believe there are more films that involve love and forgiveness than violence, but they often seem fake and are almost embarrassing to watch.
You could say that evil is contagious in that we have this mesmerizing mentor in Uncle Charlie who comes into your life. Every person has a seed of evil inside them, and when you come across such a mesmerizing mentor, he is able to successfully turn it into a flower of evil.
If your work requires you to travel, you will understand that there's no vacation destination like home.