{"id":141128,"date":"2025-10-23T18:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/141128\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T18:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:53:08","slug":"park-chan-wook-explores-ai-dark-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/141128\/","title":{"rendered":"Park Chan-wook Explores AI & Dark Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPark Chan-wook<\/a> is a master of genre \u2014 he\u2019s put his visceral, cheeky stamp on romantic noir, action thrillers, gothic horror and, now, blistering satire. Set to receive the International<\/a> Auteur Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the Korean icon returns with No Other Choice, adapted from Donald E. Westlake\u2019s 1997 novel The Ax and centered on Yoo Man-soo, a paper-industry expert struggling to rebound after getting abruptly laid off. He comes upon an extreme solution: Kill his rivals for an open new job. The movie\u2019s title says it all \u2014 and in Park\u2019s hands, you\u2019ll laugh until it really, really hurts.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you find this film\u2019s tone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMy favorite part of the novel was the comedy, and I saw potential to use the actors\u2019 movements and [expressions] to make it even funnier. Just because the story is dealing with a darker subject matter and it\u2019s inherently tragic, doesn\u2019t mean that it can\u2019t coexist with comedy.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou worked on this script for more than a decade but landed on the key culprit of Man-soo\u2019s predicament, the onset of AI, only recently. How did that evolve?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the first draft, I wanted to reflect contemporary technological advances, which is how AI came in. When Man-soo is at a job interview, they discuss a test run of the AI light-switching system; there\u2019s also a shot of the lights going out. The audience begins to question how long Man-soo can last in this job that he killed three people for. I wanted to convey the message that getting fired is a very violent act that destroys one\u2019s humanity \u2014 and AI is doing that to mankind right now.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve worked with the film\u2019s star, Lee Byung-hun, over many projects. Was he attached for all these years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAround 12 years ago, we were catching up, because we do that often, and I brought [this] up as my next project. I followed that up by saying, \u201cYou should never even dream of being in this movie because you\u2019re not white and you\u2019re too young for the role.\u201d At the time, I\u2019d planned for it to be an American project; with the passage of time, everything fell into place for him to play the lead role. Even before I started working on the Korean version of the screenplay, I told him, \u201cI want you to be in this movie.\u201d Over this very long period, in which I\u2019d been rejected by French and American studios, I ultimately feel very grateful \u2014 they allowed this to turn into a Korean movie. I could make it the way I wanted to.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy was it rejected? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThey did like the project, but the level of budget that they thought was appropriate for the project didn\u2019t match up to what I\u2019d wanted. It wasn\u2019t like they offered zero dollars, we just had different ideas on how it should be executed.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis summer, you were expelled by the WGA for postproduction work on your HBO series <\/strong>The Sympathizer<\/strong> during the 2023 strike. [<\/strong>This means, among other things, that Park likely can\u2019t work on WGA-contracted movies, which includes the bulk of American studio films.] <\/strong>Your company put out a statement disagreeing with the decision, saying, \u201cEditing does not constitute writing.\u201d Months later, how do you reflect on the situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t believe I worked during the strike. There was a difference in interpretation of work between me and the guild, but since I can\u2019t change their decision, I guess I have to accept it. I do want to add that I completely and wholeheartedly agree with the cause behind the strike, and I stand with writers organizing for their rights. It was frustrating. The hearing committee suggested to the guild executives that this should only be a warning. I was very taken aback by the result.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat are your feelings around AI in filmmaking right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s developing at a very unpredictable pace. I believe it has the potential to threaten many people\u2019s jobs and the power to completely transform the aesthetic of the filmic medium. Those things aren\u2019t very pleasant for me. But one bright side to this is that it has helped make it easier and cheaper to make films \u2014 to realize one\u2019s imagination on the screen. I could see young people using AI to make independent shorts with better technology. If they wanted to make a sci-fi movie set in the future, it would [typically] cost $100 million; with the help of AI, they can make all of those strange and wondrous movies in their mind.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Oct. 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Park Chan-wook is a master of genre \u2014 he\u2019s put his visceral, cheeky stamp on romantic noir, action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,1452,17,327,69768],"class_list":{"0":"post-141128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-international","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-park-chan-wook"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115424998473141005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}