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Park Chan-Wook's Thirst for a Great Vampire Movie
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PCW: To me, humor is probably the most important part of my filmmaking. I’ve come to realize that in life, depending on the angle, some of the most desperate actions someone can take while struggling in dire circumstances can appear comical to an observer who is a step away from that situation.
I have come to recognize life as a tragedy. The kind of humor in this film is not standalone, but infused with other emotions, such as fear, grief, anger and so on.
Two of the scenes that get the biggest laughs from the audience are when the woman finds out the main character is a vampire and runs out from the hospital ward—we see him on the floor sucking on an IV tube—and another, at the end, when the main character pushes the car off to reveal the woman hiding underneath to avoid sunlight. The audiences laugh, but immediately realize why the characters are doing those things, and then feel guilty about just having laughed.
The humor in my films is something that I include from early on in my filmmaking process—from the script to the thorough storyboards I prepare, which includes every scene of the film.
MM: There is a lot of gore in Thirst. What motivates you to insert this kind of material in a movie?
PCW: Everything in my films is there through careful calculation and design; not only gore, but everything else you see and hear. So the gore certainly is not put in my films out of impulse.
Unlike slasher films, where you may see some audience members cheer and whistle, you wouldn’t find such reactions to my films. This is because I don’t include gore for entertainment. It is only there so you can acutely feel the fear of facing violence and the morality associated with it.
When I place what may be considered extreme expressions in my films, it’s because I want to dig down deep to the roots of the themes. In order to make the question I throw at the audience stronger, it should be simple and clear. The effective way to achieve this is to create a stimulating situation, to insert this kind of material.
MM: There is talk that Will Smith and Steven Spielberg want to make an American version of Oldboy. What do you know about this project and how do you feel about Hollywood dealing with this material?
PCW: I probably only know as much as you do about the project, but I’m sure Steven Spielberg and Will Smith will make a new film that is different from the Oldboy that I made. So as a member of the audience, I eagerly wait for the film to be made and to go see it.
MM: There is also some talk of a Hollywood remake of Thirst.
PCW: I tend to welcome my films being used as a source for other creative projects, including English-language remakes. It would be interesting to see my film get interpreted in new ways to give life to a different film.
MM: Have you ever considered making a movie in the United States?
PCW: Making a movie in the U.S. will depend entirely on whether a good script ends up in my hands. The script is the most important thing. If I get a good script, it actually doesn’t matter where it comes from; I am prepared to make a movie in any other country, in any other language.
MM: What do you like about working in your native country?
PCW: I am a born and bred Korean through and through, so working in my native country has the comfort of being home and using my native tongue. Also, working with a dedicated crew who are very familiar with my filmmaking process is something that provides me with comfort when I work in Korea.
MM: Do you make movies for a specific audience or for yourself?
PCW: I don’t have a specific audience in my mind when I make films, except perhaps their age, due to the way I put forward the subject matter in a number of my films.
I used to make films because I simply enjoyed making films—and also as a job. The more films I make, the more I find out about internal aspects of myself, which I would not have found out had I not been making films. So what filmmaking means for me has evolved. But I have always made films to simply tell a story that asks questions. Although these questions come from me, it is something that I put out to all of you. MM
Focus Features will release Thirst on July 31, 2009.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Crazy Vision on 9/10/11 at 12:07 pm
thanx for shring this ..
please feel free to visit my blog asalah
This story was published in the Summer 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Cold-Blooded Calculation/Park Chan-wook brings his dogged preparation and careful consideration to vampires with Thirst
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