Page 39 - The Hollywood Reporter (January 2020)

What has awards season been like for you?
“When director Bong tells me he has a part for me, I tend to
agree to it before I even look at the script.” SONG KANG-HO
the overall film industry. I have a very posi-
tive view of the Academy’s effort to become
more international. Thanks to Parasite being
included in this year’s lineup, now people are
paying more attention to Korean cinema, and
that makes me very happy.
Had you worked with Bong Joon Ho before
Parasite? How did you come to be involved in
this film?
It’s my first time working with him.
My company was the production company
for his 2009 film, Mother, and we had known
each other ever since I was in my late
20s. When director Bong was making his
short film [Incoherence], I was a writer on a
film magazine called Kino; in our magazine,
we [covered] director Bong’s short film.
Director Bong said that he was a big fan of
our magazine, and that’s how we came to
know each other.
VITAL STATS
STUDIO Neon
RELEASE DATE Oct. 11
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
$137M
DIRECTOR Bong Joon Ho
CAST
Song Kang-ho, Park So-dam,
Choi Woo-shik,
Chang Hyae-jin,
Cho Yeo-jeong, Lee Sun-kyun
TOP AWARDS
Palme d’Or at Cannes,
6 Oscar noms,
4 BAFTA noms, 1 Globe win,
1 SAG Award nom
Director Bong has brought a welcome sense
of humor to this whole process of awards
season. What’s his personality like when he’s in
production and shooting?
He’s actually very funny even on set. He’s
very detailed and very fast with his deci-
sions. The humor you see from him during
this awards season, he’s the exact same way
on set and in normal life. Everyone in the
Korean film industry is aware of director
Bong’s personality. Of course, people want
to work with him because he creates great
films. Also, they just want to experience a set
that’s very fun.
What were your key challenges as a producer on
this film?
T H E
We actually didn’t have a lot of difficulties
in terms of the production. What was more
difficult was promoting the film and sharing
the story with the public because the genre
of Parasite is not easy to define, and we could
really only share the first half of the story.
Determining how to approach the audience
was a challenge for Parasite.
It’s unusual for a movie with subtitles to per-
form so well with American audiences. Why do
you think Parasite has been able to overcome
what has traditionally been a barrier for non-
English films here?
I think the reason is pretty simple: It’s the
quality of the film. The film itself is really
gripping. It’s unpredictable. The perfor-
mances are great. In terms of all the major
elements that comprise a film, all of it was
well done and very captivating. I think people
talk about that, so through word-of-mouth the
film just reached more and more people.
Parasite earned six Oscar nominations, but
the actors weren’t nominated. Why do you
think that is?
I’m not sure. I heard about the voting system
and the result is an accumulation of every
individual’s decision. It’s difficult for me to
really think about what was going on in their
minds. We really did hope for a nomination.
Song Kang-ho is the greatest actor in Korea.
He also has a pretty substantial fan base in
the international community. We had hoped
that he would get nominated along with
the film. It was a disappointment, but I’m
not really sure why [it happened this way].
Perhaps one of the reasons is that he wasn’t as
familiar to the voters in the Academy.
Some people have speculated that it might
reflect a bias, that some voters haven’t taken
time to get to know Asian actors like they have
other groups.
It would be a stretch for me to ask why all
those individuals made the decisions and for
which reasons.
Song Kang-ho looked pretty happy in that
video online of him holding a coffee cup and
celebrating when you all got the news that
Parasite was nominated for best picture.
He was definitely overjoyed with the nomina-
tions. He is a leader of the actors. Regardless
of which nominations he received, person-
ally he was very happy that the film that we
all cherished so much is doing so well at the
Academy. He was very happy.
H O L L Y W O O D R E P O R T E R 3 5 J A N U A R Y
Have you been attending many events? Have
you met any interesting people?
It’s my first time going through an awards
season, so it’s all very surprising. It feels very
new because the cultures are very different.
Like director Bong says, in Korea when we
meet other people, we’re always sitting down
around a table. Here in the States, we all have
to stand up for a very long time and mingle
in parties. I met so many people, so many
directors and actors in films that I’ve watched
and admired.
Have you learned anything new about your
cast or director Bong while going through
the season? It’s a lot of time you’ve all spent
together starting from Cannes until now.
I already knew that they had a lot of passion, a
lot of focus, especially with director Bong and
From left: Song Kang-ho, writer Han Jin Won, editor Yang Jinmo,
production designer Lee Ha-jun, producer Kwak Sin-ae, Lee
Jung-eun and Bong Joon Ho at the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice
Awards on Jan. 12.
Song Kang-ho, but it’s been great to see how
well they’re doing in the process. I know that
the reason why they’re going through all of
this is because they know that the success of
the campaign will influence the Korean film
industry and bring a lot of support and inter-
est to Korean cinema.
What are some of the other countries where
Parasite has found an audience?
The film did incredibly well in France,
Vietnam and Germany, but overall the film
has done well in every country where it
was released. The fact that a Korean film has
never been nominated for an Oscar, when I
first came here I felt very distant from this
whole scene. Now thanks to our film, I feel like
that gap has closed a bit more. I feel hopeful
and like there is so much potential to com-
municate with the international audience. I’m
very excited and happy for that.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
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