Domino Domino
Oct
17
2007

40th Sitges – Park Chan-wook Speaks on Bakjwi and The Snow Piercer (& 18 wallpaper images of him)

Posted by Blake at 8:37am.

Posted in Interviews , Thriller, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Asia, Sitges 2007.

NEWS FLASH - PARK CHAN-WOOK DIDN’T STOP MAKING MOVIES TO BE AN ASTRONAUT.

Now that we have that cleared up…

THE TWO QUESTION PARK CHAN-WOOK INTERVIEW

BLAKE: What can you tell us about your next film Bakjwi?

PARK CHAN-WOOK: Bakjwi is the Korean word for “bat.” It will be a very very sad and tragic melodrama about a vampire who has fallen madly in love with a married woman. It will not be like a Batman type movie or a vampire horror film.

Right now there are two English titles for the film. One is just “Bat” and the other is “Evil Live.” I think “Evil Live” makes it sound too much like a horror film or something along the lines of “Batman-ish” type science fiction, so I will be coming out with a new English title, which I haven’t decided on just yet.

BLAKE: Any updates on the project your producing for Bong Joon-ho for the French sci-fi graphic novel Le Transperceneige?

PARK CHAN-WOOK: Yes we now have an English title for the film, which is ”The Snow Piercer.” It’s going to have international casting and probably be the biggest Korean film production ever. Our current plan is to start shooting it in 2010.

Currently we are at the beginning stages of working on the adaptation of the graphic novel into a film script. One of the most famous Korean sci-fi novelists is currently handling this for us.

***

* Thanks to PiFan programmer Jin Hyung Park for stepping in to translate during this interview.

Notes on this interview and an 18 image wallpaper gallery of photographs (view here) I took of Park Chan-wook follow after the link bump.

***

NOTES ON THIS INTERVIEW

I should really note that the Sitges Film Festival typically handled all interview setups themselves but this one was handled outside of them by a rep who wasn’t very organized to say the least.

Call this the Park Chan-wook interview that mostly wasn’t. I spent three days at the 40th Sitges Film Festival setting up and preparing for a one on one interview with Park Chan-wook. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a one on one interview got switched on me at the last moment in being the biggest roundtable interview farce I’ve ever experienced. The roundtable was comprised of mainly fan-journalists (two that were only partially hand writing in particular his answers with no tape recorder of any kind in sight) felt compelled to ask completely random questions about if Park Chan-wook would comment on the Bollywood remake of Oldboy and if 9/11 was an influence for his films among other various questions. Another person present felt compelled to ask him what he thought about mental illness in South Korea, if he really was training to be an astronaut during one five year gaps in making movies (shock – there is no truth at all to this rumor) and why he didn’t want to remake Evil Dead (of which Park Chan-wook wants everyone to know he still is completely at a loss how this rumor got out there as it was only him and Sam Raimi that were supposed to know about it). It really felt like I was in trapped in a Saturday Night Live episode with the off the wall questions being asked during its duration. Being his last interview of the day though I thought I would be able to weather through this as there should be more time available but only to find out roughly ten minutes into everything and the rep suddenly mentions he has to leave immediately. This really was the only time I’ve ever spent three days preparing for what would ultimately just be a two-question interview. I will keep on hoping for a chance in the future to get something in-depth with Park Chan-wook as I certainly feel there is a lot left to discuss and explore with him in his films and sweeping cinematic voice. And in hindsight while this whole experience was completely frustrating at the time I can now fondly look back at this as one funny story to tell.

  • Digg This
  • Stumble It!
  • Reddit
 

Reader Comments

  1. Ardvark 10/17/2007 @ 11:15am

    Both movies sound awesome!

  2. Michael Guillen 10/17/2007 @ 12:16pm

    I’m actually fond of the one-question, two-question interviews.  They’re focused, easily digestible.  The two you asked were good ones.

  3. Blake 10/17/2007 @ 12:21pm

    Thanks! I was really curious about both projects and had to ask over asking something about the Cyborg film.

  4. Severa 10/17/2007 @ 9:26pm

    Nice! thanks for the information, Blake.

Post Your Comments

You must be a registered member to post comments.

If you have a Twitch account, click here to sign in.

If you don't have a Twitch account, click here to register. Don't worry, it's free!

Launch The Twitch Video Player

Stuff We Like

Shop at our affiliated sites and support Twitch while feeding your pop-culture addiction.

Our Latest Film & DVD Reviews

More Film & DVD Reviews...

Our Latest Interviews

More Interviews...

Recent Contests & Featured Content

Recent Comments