Park Chan-Wook's Thirst for a Great Vampire Movie

by Eric Kohn | Published July 31, 2009

Writer-director Park Chan-wook has emerged as one of the most provocative moviemakers of the last decade. Although not limited to the genre, his explicit horror movies—such as Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance—transcend the boundaries of such narratives by way of elegant camerawork and stories grounded in credible humanity. Chan-wook’s latest feature, Thirst, follows a well-meaning Catholic priest (Song Kang-ho) who is accidentally stricken with a disease that turns him into a vampire. As he slowly gives into his newfound desires, cultivating a deadly relationship with a curious young girl, the character’s plight becomes a fascinating symbol for human vices.

As Thirst finished its run at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it split the Jury Prize with Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, Chan-wook spoke with MovieMaker about the vision behind the production.

Eric Kohn (MM): Why vampires?

Park Chan-Wook (PCW): I didn’t really set out to make a vampire movie, per se. Rather than the fantastical elements of supernatural powers and romanticism that are usually associated with vampirism, I thought what was interesting is how many limitations there are when you are a vampire. It limits the hours of the day you can be active, severely limits the kind of food you can live on and there are not that many opportunities to use the powers you have.

In this sense, the way I treat vampirism is as a kind of a disease, dealing with it at an existential level so as to make the observation more objective; to bring out the themes embedded in the story of a priest who has fallen into a terrible moral predicament.

MM: The main character goes against many of his ethical boundaries in the movie, but maintains a sense of morality. How important was it for you to maintain this balance?

PCW: One of the main themes in this film is there being moral aspects to every choice you make in life, whether they are big or small. I wanted to look at it in a very objective, naturalistic way. We painted a picture of a person who, as a priest, is acutely aware of morality but has to deal with the storm of emotions rising from facing his new identity as a vampire. Maintaining the balance between how his existential needs and desires drive him out of his moral boundaries and how he still does not stop believing in his principles was important. It gives reality to the internal conflicts and his struggle to remain moral, making it more relevant to the audience.

Becoming a vampire, which is the base opposite of the principles he lives by, is not something he wanted or wished for. It is something that has happened to him while he was trying to help humanity by volunteering for a biological experiment. This is the kind of irony found in real life when, despite our best intentions and our efforts to be good, we are misunderstood or are met with tragic circumstances

MM: Can you elaborate on your decision to bring Catholicism into the story?

PCW: I grew up in a very Catholic family and went to a Jesuit university [Sogang University], so Catholicism was something very familiar to me. Although I didn’t have Catholic faith—even back 10 years ago when I was looking for a character who could be considered highly noble so as to make his moral downfall most dramatic, it was quite natural for me to choose a Catholic priest. Also, for him to fall to the extreme base level of becoming a vampire means he needs to drink other people’s blood. Now, every day during mass, priests reflect on the mystery of Christ’s blood, which they say was spilt for the redemption of mankind. As part of the rite, they drink wine, which symbolizes the blood of Christ. With the new identity of a vampire, the main character now has to drink the actual blood of other people in order to subsist. There’s a great irony in that.

MM: The horror elements of the movie are frequently offset by comedy. How did you introduce humor to the narrative?

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