Park Chan-wook facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Park Chan-wook
박찬욱
Park in 2013
Born	(1963-08-23) 23 August 1963 (age 60) Seoul, South Korea
Other names	Bakridamae (박리다매)
Alma mater	Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1992–present
Notable work	The Vengeance Trilogy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Oldboy Lady Vengeance Thirst The Handmaiden Decision to Leave
Spouse(s)	Kim Eun-hee ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	1
Awards	Best Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival
Honours	Eun-gwan Order of Cultural Merit (2022)
Korean name
Hangul	박찬욱
Hanja	朴贊郁
Revised Romanization	Bak Chan-uk
McCune–Reischauer	Pak Ch'an-uk

Park Chan-wook (Hangul: 박찬욱; RR: Bak Chan-uk; IPA: [pak̚ tɕʰanuk̚]; born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as 21st-century world cinema. His films have gained notoriety for their cinematography and framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter.

Park's first major critical and commercial success came with Joint Security Area (2000), which was the most watched South Korean film at the time. This film helped him to secure more creative freedom in his next films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003), which received widespread critical acclaim worldwide, with the latter also winning the Grand Prix prize at Cannes Film Festival. Lady Vengeance (2005), another film in the unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy, also received critical acclaim.

His psychological thriller The Handmaiden (2016) premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for the Palme d'Or and Queer Palm and won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts; the film saw critical and commercial success in several countries, including South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom. It also won the category of Best Film Not in the English Language. For Decision to Leave (2022), Park won Best Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or.

He is also known for Thirst (2009) and English-language works Stoker (2013) and The Little Drummer Girl (2018), a television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré.

Early life

Park was born and raised in Seoul and studied philosophy at Sogang University, where, in light of his disappointment with the analytic orientation of the department and consequent scant offerings in aesthetics, he started a cinema club, the 'Sogang Film Community', and published a number of articles on contemporary cinema. Originally intending to be an art critic, Park, upon seeing Vertigo, resolved to become a filmmaker. After graduation, he wrote articles on film for journals and soon became an assistant director of films like Kkamdong, directed by Yu Yeong-jin, and Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day, directed by Kwak Jae-yong (My Sassy Girl).

Career

Park's debut feature film was The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992). After five years, he made his second film, Trio. Park's early films were not successful at the box office, and he pursued a career as a film critic to make a living. In an interview in 2017, he said "Many people know my directorial debut film is JSA, but I want to keep it that way".

In 2000, Park directed Joint Security Area, which was a great success both commercially and critically, even surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the then most-watched film ever made in South Korea. This success made it possible for Park to make his next film more independently. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.

Park's unofficially-titled Vengeance Trilogy consists of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005). It was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Park won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for Oldboy. The films concern the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of those involved. Lady Vengeance was distributed by Tartan Films for the United States theatrical release in April 2006. American director Quentin Tarantino is an avowed fan of Park. As the head judge at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, he personally pushed for Park's Oldboy to be awarded the Palme d'Or (the honour eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11). Oldboy garnered the Grand Prix, Cannes's second-highest honour. Tarantino also regards Park's Joint Security Area to be one of "the top twenty films made since 1992."

In a May 2004 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Park listed Sophocles, Shakespeare, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Balzac and Kurt Vonnegut as influences on his career.

Since 2004, Park has been an owner of the filmmaking company Moho Film, which participated in the production of Snowpiercer (2013) and The Handmaiden (2016).

In 2006, Park was the member of official section jury at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2007, Park won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. The award, named after the festival's founder and in praise of works that introduce new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.

Park at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya 2009

In 2009, Park directed the vampire film Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, which won the Prix du Jury (alongside Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He considered directing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but ultimately turned it down.

In 2011, Park said his new fantasy-horror film Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) was shot entirely on the iPhone. The film was co-directed with Park's younger brother, Park Chan-kyong, who had no prior directing experience. It was nominated for Berlinale Shorts during the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.

In 2013, Park directed his first English-language film, Stoker. He said he learned to accelerate the production process and completed filming in 480 hours. Although Park does speak English, he used an interpreter on set. On why the script attracted his attention, Park said: "It wasn't a script that tried to explain everything and left many things as questions, so it leads the audience to find answers for themselves, and that's what I liked about the script... I like telling big stories through small, artificially created worlds". On 2 March 2013, Park appeared on a panel discussion about the film Stoker held at the Freer Gallery of Art in the Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art.

In 2014, Park directed a short film commissioned by luxury brand Ermenegildo Zegna, co-written by himself, Ayako Fujitani, Chung Chung-hoon and Michael Werwie, scored by Clint Mansell, and starring Jack Huston and Daniel Wu. It screened at the Rome International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival.

Park presenting The Handmaiden at the 2016 Lumière Film Festival

In September 2014, it was announced that Park would adapt Fingersmith, a historical crime novel by Sarah Waters. The film entered production in mid-2015 and ended on 31 October 2015. That film ended up becoming The Handmaiden and premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where Artistic Director Seong-hie Ryu won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts, and the film was nominated for both the Palme d' Or and Queer Palm. At the 2016 Buil Film Awards, The Handmaiden won for Best New Actress (Tae-ri Kim), The Buil Readers' Jury Award and Best Art Direction (Seong-hie Ryu). The film holds a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and saw box office success in several countries, including South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.

In October 2014, it was announced that Park had signed on to direct the sci-fi body-swap film, Second Born.

In January 2018, it was stated that Park would direct a TV miniseries adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl, a novel by John le Carré. It aired on BBC One in October of that year and stars Michael Shannon, Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård.

At the 24th Busan International Film Festival, Park said that he is writing scripts for feature films, for theater and for TV, including a new installment in the Vengeance Trilogy, and a second adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Axe.

In May 2020, it was announced that he was working on his next film's screenplay, tentatively titled Heeojil gyeolsim (The Decision to Break Up). It is described as a melodrama and will star Tang Wei and Park Hae-il. In October 2020, the title of the film was revealed as Decision to Leave, with the story described as a murder mystery romance. The film was set to begin shooting later that month. In April 2021, A24 optioned Viet Thanh Nguyen's 2015 novel The Sympathizer for a TV adaptation, with Park Chan-wook directing. He was awarded Best Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for his work on Decision to Leave.

Filmmaking

His films have gained notoriety for their cinematography and framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter.

Park has a history of successful collaborations with various talented individuals in the film industry. Among these collaborations, the longest-standing partnership is with Editor Kim Sang-bum. Their relationship dates back to when Park, then a college student, joined the directing department led by editor-in-chief Kim Sang-bum. It is worth noting that Editor Kim Sang-bum's late father, Editor Kim Hee-soo, was involved in Park Chan-wook's debut film, The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream as editor. Since the film Joint Security Area (1998), Editor Kim Sang-bum has edited all of Park Chan-wook's works, except for Stoker (2013), up until The Handmaiden. For his editing work in Park's latest film Decision to Leave, Kim Sang-bum won José Salcedo Award for Best Editing in Valladolid International Film Festival.

Park has also collaborated with music director Jo Yeong-wook since Joint Security Area (1998). The two have since worked on several other projects together, including Oldboy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave.

Park has also worked closely with art director Ryu Seong-hui. Ryu was in the middle of filming Memories of Murder when She got a call from director Park asking her to do Old Boy. Ryu have been working with director Park Chan-wook in I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, Thirst, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave.

Another notable collaborator of Park's is cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon. The pair first met during the production of Old Boy. The two have since worked on several other projects together, including Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, Thirst, and The Handmaiden. Chung is known for his exceptional use of lighting and camera work, and his visual style has been a strong match for Park's atmospheric and visually stunning films.

He has frequently collaborated with screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong on several projects, such as Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, Thirst, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave.

Park has a talent for attracting top-tier acting talents. Some of Korea's most well-known stars, such as Choi Min-sik and Song Kang-ho, have been integral parts of his casting selection. Song Kang-ho, in particular, has appeared in six of Park's feature length films. Park Hae-il and Shin Ha-kyun are another actors who has worked with Park on three occasions. Their collaborations have been highly regarded by audiences and critics alike.

Recurring cast members in Park Chan-wook's works

Actor Work	Choi Min-shik	Gong Hyo-jin	Kang Hye-jung	Kim Byeong-ok	Kim Hae-sook	Lee Young-ae	Lee Byung-hun	Park Hae-il	Shin Ha-kyun	Song Kang-ho	Yum Jung-ah
Three... Extremes			Y				Y				Y
Day Trip										Y
Anarchists
Joint Security Area						Y	Y		Y	Y
The Humanist
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance									Y	Y
A Bizarre Love Triangle		Y
Oldboy	Y		Y	Y
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance	Y		Y	Y		Y			Y	Y
Boy Goes to Heaven								Y			Y
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK				Y
Crush and Blush		Y
Thirst					Y					Y
Stoker
The Handmaiden					Y
The Truth Beneath
Decision to Leave								Y

Personal life

Park was raised in a devout Catholic family in Korea, and describes himself as an atheist. He has collaborated with his younger brother, Park Chan-kyong, who is a media artist. He dedicated his career tribute to his wife Kim Eun-hee at the 15th Marrakech International Film Festival. He voiced support for the Democratic Labor Party and was also a member of its successor, the New Progressive Party. He supported Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jung in the 2017 South Korean presidential election.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Television

Awards and nominations

State honors

Listicles

See also

In Spanish: Park Chan-wook para niños

• List of Korean-language films
• Cinema of South Korea
• Contemporary culture of South Korea