In one of the most memorable scenes of Korean director Park Chan Wook’s movie Old Boy, takes place in a narrow hallway lit by a single, flickering florescent bulb. In that hallway Wook’s middle-aged protagonist wields a hammer and faces off with a gang of young thugs armed with baseball bats and crowbars. The fight is suspenseful, visceral and absolutely captivating. But then again, Wook had good source material. Old Boy is a live-action feature length film adaptation of the manga by the same name.Wook made two other movies in the same vein as Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeanceand Lady Vengeance, creating what fans commonly refer to as the "Vengeance Trilogy."Wook’s new movie, Thirst, is about a priest turned vampire and is inspired by Emile Zola’s book, Therese Raquín. PW Comics Week met with the directorat the recent San Diego Comic-con and discussed the giant pop culture show, its fans and why it’s good for a creator to torture his characters. Translation was provided by Wonjo Jeong and Focus Features.
PW Comics Week: How do you like Comic-con so far?
Park Chan Wook: Well, I’m stuck in here doing interviews, so I haven’t had a chance to enjoy it the way I would have liked. But I walked the convention hall and gave a panel yesterday, and I could feel from this group of people, these are the most enthusiastic fans of all. Perhaps these people in their ordinary lives are friends and neighbors and we look at them and think they’re a strange bunch. But for four days of the year they have the opportunity to be the mainstream, to be on the main stage. They have the opportunity to find an outlet for their enthusiasm and their passion. It was a moving thing, to see this.
PWCW: Is that why you wanted to screen your new movie, Thirst, at this show?
PCW: That’s right. During my panel, I mentioned my film I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay, a movie that I made for my daughter.And at the mention of this film, there were fans applauding and cheering, showing their recognition of this film. I’m a Cyborg is the least known of my films but to see these people who have seen it and their affection for this film - that’s something that I can only come across at a place like Comic-con.
PWCW: For Thirst, what type of material did you use for your research? Books? Comics? Other vampire movies? I ask because I know that your movie, Old Boy, was derived from the comic.
P CW: Emile Zola’s novel, Thérese Raquin, was the source of inspiration for this film. I can’t say that it was based on this book, but a lot of inspiration was taken from it. Emile Zola is probably a representative of the naturalism school of literature. He’s well known for doing lot of research and reflecting reality in his work. To take something from his novel and turn it into a vampire film might have been unimaginable for him - and maybe if he’s alive he wouldn’t allow for me to use anything from his book. So what I set out to do was create a very realistic film for a vampire film and in creating that realistic mood, I took elements from Zola’s book. From that perspective, he’s contributed significantly to this film. That’s why it’s fortunate that the writer passed away 100 years ago.
PWCW: You have a distinct sense of humor which is reflected in your movies and is often surprising to your viewers. What is the importance of humor to you? Why is it necessary to have it in your films—like Old Boy, and now Thirst—which are dramatic pictures?
PCW:Well maybe it has something to do with my personality. I’m a serious person but can’t stand situations where I remain serious for too long.The reason why humor is important is because when you look at these people who are in desperate and painful situations, all you have to do is look at it from a slightly different angle to find them ridiculous or very funny. What this can be compared to—and every filmmaker is aware of this—but if you take a close up of somebody who is experiencing sorrow and crying, then freeze that close-up, it is sometimes appears as though they are laughing aloud. The more their face is contorted in crying, the harder they cry, the harder it looks like they’re laughing.
Coming back to Thirst—where you find comedy and humor is looking at the protagonist. He can’t let go. He’s trying to hold onto his faith and his new found identity as a vampire. It’s a desperate struggle to hold on to these two ideas which can be said to be mutually exclusive. In this struggle, you can see some funny things take place.So it can almost be said that the audience that laughs the most watching this film is the ones who understands the tragedy of this character the most.
PWCW:Vengeance is a theme that you explore in Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance.But in the Vengeance trilogy and in Thirst there is also an underlying theme of redemption. Why is redemption so pervasive in your work?
PCW:Well, in my opinion, dealing with redemption is something that every artist often tries to deal with. Actually, in modern art, especially literature and film, these mediums where there is a narrative structure, dealing with redemption and ethics may appear old fashioned. But these themes are forever. And they are probably more relevant in this day and age and come across as refreshing.In my film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, she is a character who desperately wants redemption. But coming out of prison, she’s offered a block of tofu [which prisoners eat upon release to signify a fresh, pure, start] that she refuses. In the end she makes a cake in the shape of tofu—and gorges on it. This is is the act of somebody who desperately wants redemption. But what’s important here is that this cake is something that she made herself rather than with outside help. So she’s able to find redemption through her own efforts.These efforts may appear stupid to an observer, but I cherish these efforts.
PWCW: Your characters always seem on a mission to find salvation but even when they achieve that goal, the result is still a certain spiritual emptiness. Why is it important to torture your characters like this?
PCW:Well, in our lives, all the trials and tribulations that we face, maybe they aren’t to the extentof those ofthe characters in my films, but through two hours, through this story, I’m trying to present an intense image. Films in their entirety are sort of a metaphor to present an idea, dilemma, or an issue. What I want to do is present it in the most vivid and pure form as possible. So that the questions I am asking the audience will not be distorted in any way.They will be conveyed in the clearest manner possible. This is why I often like to use violence as a device to this end. So in the film, if the character achieves total salvation and it ends on that note, the audience will come out of the theater satisfied.But I don’t want the audience to come out satisfied. I want to leave something with them that will annoy and bother them so that they can think about these issues.
