Speaker A
Feel free to talk to each other. It's time for the two of you. Will you snap a clapperboard?
Director Park Chan-wook discusses his Cannes-winning film Decision to Leave, scriptwriting process, and collaboration with actors.
Key Takeaways
- Park Chan-wook values collaboration and transparency in scriptwriting.
- He intentionally blends humor with serious themes to engage audiences on multiple viewings.
- Creating a focused, distraction-free workspace is key to his writing process.
- Early actor involvement helps tailor scripts to enhance authentic performances.
- His films consistently explore love stories with emotional complexity and subtle humor.
What the video covers
- Park Chan-wook celebrates 30 years as a filmmaker and his Best Director win at Cannes for Decision to Leave.
- He shares his desire for a wider audience and a more relaxed, PG-13 tone in his latest film.
- Discusses the balance of humor and drama, highlighting specific funny lines and actor Park Hae-il's performance.
- Explores his collaborative scriptwriting process with writers like Chung Seo-kyung and Lee Jahye.
- Describes his minimalist, monk-like writing workspace designed for focus and simplicity.
- Emphasizes the importance of actor involvement early in the script development to tailor roles.
- Highlights the natural and sincere performances he draws from actors, especially Park Hae-il and Tang Wei.
- Reflects on his filmmaking evolution and how he integrates humor and emotional depth.
- Mentions the challenges and benefits of writing scripts in real time with collaborators.
- Shares anecdotes about rehearsals, actor improvisation, and memorable on-set moments.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Festival Honors
- 01:37Park Chan-wook's Cannes Awards and Film Reception
- 03:20Humor in Decision to Leave
- 05:14Scriptwriting Collaboration and Challenges
- 09:04Work Environment and Writing Style
- 11:39Script Development and Actor Involvement
- 14:34Actor Performances and On-Set Stories
- 22:05Filmmaking Evolution and Closing Remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Thank you for watching Chungmuro Class at the 2022 Chungmuro Film Festival - Director's Week.
Speaker A
This is Lee Kyung-mi. I'm your moderator for today's session. The motto of the Chungmuro Film Festival is "Director is the Genre." We're excited to welcome director Park Chan-wook, who lives up to this motto more than anyone, to talk about his latest film, Decision to Leave.
Speaker A
- Hello. - Good morning. On the 30th anniversary of your directorial debut, you won Best Director at the 75th Festival de Cannes.
Speaker A
It was your third time winning an award at Cannes. Oldboy won the Grand Prix, the Jury Prize for Thirst, and the Best Director for Decision to Leave.
Speaker A
- Congratulations from the bottom of my heart. - Thank you. - We've got a special trophy for you. - Oh, another award?
Speaker A
Let's do a quick ceremony. We're so pleased honoring Park Chan-wook, who has been a filmmaker for 30 years and a Cannes-best director.
Speaker A
You're the Director of Directors! They say it's made of gold, pure gold! Really? I'm kidding.
Speaker A
That's lame. Oh... Mmm... - Yeah, that's cool. - Haha. Thank you. How does it feel to know your new film is about to hit theaters?
Speaker A
I want a wider audience to see it than my last film, The Handmaiden. It's PG-13, so I hope...
Speaker A
Decision to Leave seems to be doing well. It's been called Decision to Re-viewing. What's your favorite audience review?
Speaker A
1. Elegant and sophisticated 2. A heartbreaking melodrama 3. A new genre 4. Hilarious. Number 4!
Speaker A
I'm greedy for gags. If you look at my films, there are always some funny moments in them.
Speaker A
But the audience wasn't really laughing. They couldn't tell if it was funny or not. They said it's the kind of thing you can only laugh at on the second or third viewing.
Speaker A
That's always bothered me, and that's one of the biggest reasons I wanted to make Decision to Leave PG-13.
Speaker A
A film that you can relax and laugh at. Is there a line or scene that you were confident the audience would laugh the most at?
Speaker A
Actually, I'd say "You heartless woman." And also, "Seo-rae, your body is very upright. Few people have such posture unless they're nervous." It's Hae-joon's line.
Speaker A
I laughed so hard at that scene. And then his line goes, "I think it says a lot about you." Park Hae-il was so good at delivering the lines.
Speaker A
He's being too sincere, but she doesn't get it. Well, even when he says, "very upright," she doesn't seem to like it.
Speaker A
'Oh, that's why you like me? I'm so impressed.' It's not like that. Rather, her expression is like, 'What?' and that's why he keeps emphasizing it.
Speaker A
'I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. I think that says a lot.' In those moments, Park Hae-il is who he is, for real!
Speaker A
It's like he's blaming her posture for getting him into this mess. Park Hae-il's performance was so good.
Speaker A
He really captured the character and the emotion of the moment so well. For those of us who know him well, I think it's even funnier because he's so much himself.
Speaker A
Exactly. Let's talk about the way you write scripts, sitting down with a writer and writing it together.
Speaker A
I've written scripts with you before. When I think back to the experience of sitting across from you, there were obviously benefits to working that way, but were there any downsides?
Speaker A
Did you have any difficulties or anything like that? Of course, there are a lot of good reasons to stick with your way...
Speaker A
I can only think of good things. Oh yeah? Something bothered you? It took me a while to get used to it.
Speaker A
Because I wanted to hide what I wasn't good at. I was showing you everything in real time, even the things I didn't do well.
Speaker A
You didn't have to hide it while we were working together. I write a lot of pathetic stories and useless lines without much thought.
Speaker A
Just throwing ideas out there, you know. You can always clear it out. Chung Seo-kyung, she likes to tell stories.
Speaker A
She's a real funny storyteller. I think she's the kind of writer who works well with you, probably the best.
Speaker A
I recently did this with Lee Jahye, my script editor, and I've done it with you before.
Speaker A
Even if we have different personalities, this works best for me. I can work with anyone.
Speaker A
One of the things I've always admired about you, you're so easy-going, aren't you? - Yes, I am. - You are.
Speaker A
You've got a great personality, easy-going, not overly sensitive. When you're working, you don't mind the noise around you at all.
Speaker A
You do your work whether your workspace is comfortable or not. Dull, personality-wise. I'm a dull person.
Speaker A
You could say that, but I think you seem to be very focused when you work.
Speaker A
Well, that's a nice way to put it, but I'm not that kind of guy.
Speaker A
Dull, as I said. So, I'm not easily disturbed by anyone, anywhere. Noises around me or the chatter at the next table, I can't hear such things.
Speaker A
I don't believe I have a special ability to stay focused though. Is that so?
Speaker A
I don't care what's going on around me. Maybe... In fact, I'm not very good at picking up on other people's moods.
Speaker A
Unlike you, I need to be in a space that I'm used to working in.
Speaker A
My desk has to be a certain size, I need a certain scent. My lotion needs to be there, and the restroom has to be close by.
Speaker A
I can't stand inter-floor noise, and I know I'm a bit picky. I still remember when you and I were working on the Axe project.
Speaker A
It hasn't been made yet, anyway. You showed me your workspace, and there was a tiny little desk, the smallest I'd ever seen in my life.
Speaker A
I had to sit with my back upright. You were working there, I was really impressed.
Speaker A
The truth is, I worked there not because the conditions were unavoidable. The room was designed that way on purpose.
Speaker A
It was? I purposely designed that small room to be my writing room. No decorations, just a desk and chair. I wanted it to feel like a monk's room with a small window.
Speaker A
Minimized space, less stuff. I see...! It was a bit cramped for two. I couldn't even pull out my chair.
Speaker A
If you haven't seen this, you have no idea. It's even narrower than you can imagine.
Speaker A
Ah... The room was only this wide. I watched Decision to Leave at the premiere and then again for this conversation.
Speaker A
At first, I heard the lines, I didn't think much of them. On second viewing, I recognized the relationship between the lines.
Speaker A
You've obviously carefully planned and scripted to make sure they fit together. Isn't that what most of us are doing?
Speaker A
Today, I'd like to hear your tips. It wasn't like I spent more time on it than the others.
Speaker A
As you know, working with Seo-kyung was about 80 percent small talk, just chit-chat. We didn't just hang out, but of course, we talked about the project a little bit.
Speaker A
We wrote the original treatment first. It was about fifteen to twenty pages. Based on the treatment we completed together, Seo-kyung wrote the first draft on her own.
Speaker A
After that, we sat back down, got back to writing together. I remember the moment when I realized that this piece could really be made.
Speaker A
We were working on the treatment and came up with the last part, Seo-rae's exit.
Speaker A
And then I was able to take a leap of faith and enjoy the rest of the process.
Speaker A
About halfway through writing the script, I met with Tang Wei and Park Hae-il for the roles.
Speaker A
I explained everything in words, the whole plot. Because if you write a great script and the actors reject it, it's a waste.
Speaker A
I didn't want to do that, so I was like, "If you're going to say no, say it now." With that in mind, I spent nearly two hours talking to Tang Wei through an interpreter.
Speaker A
I didn't even finish the script, but I could explain it to her including all the visuals I had in my head.
Speaker A
After that, I met with Park Hae-il. Once I had two main actors in place, I was able to capture their personalities into the script.
Speaker A
Park Hae-il has shown a wide range of performances in many films, but he hadn't yet shown the real him that I had known all along.
Speaker A
I wanted to bring out his true colors a little more. His performance in Decision to Leave was the best Park Hae-il has ever done, I thought.
Speaker A
He really stood
Speaker A
I thought back to how those scenes might have been written in your script. It was interesting to see how those lines could be turned into something.
Speaker A
That's the thing about actors... Yeah, that's right. Actually, most of Park Hae-il's funny scenes were written with the intention of being funny.
Speaker A
But there were unintentional moments, moments that I didn't see coming at all. We have a scene Hae-joon asks Sea-rae, "Why did you ask the cat for my head?" "What will you do with it?" Seo-rae says, "I said heart, not head."
Speaker A
Park Hae-il delivered his line, "Ah..........!" with such a long pause. Completely unexpected... It was close when we were filming, because I was laughing.
Speaker A
I've seen it twice, it's still hilarious. Those who were on set that day were completely under Hae-il's spell.
Speaker A
Tang Wei showed a whole new side of herself in the scene you created. What's your favorite scene from her performance?
Speaker A
She's in Hae-joon's apartment and finds the wall with photos of unresolved cases. The camera sees her from the wall. In a close-up shot of Seo-rae face, she looks at Hae-joon emotionlessly and she asks "Do ants eat people?" It's a calm face strangely impassive.
Speaker A
The audience is like, 'How could she say such a horrible thing?' I thought that was a really great interpretation of the scene by Tang Wei.
Speaker A
Seo-rae's not a big talker, 'This is what happens, it can't be helped. People die. The body then rots or is eaten by worms. It's all like that.' She's the kind of person who thinks that way.
Speaker A
It was a defining one-liner that really captured Seo-rae's character. There was one short scene that stuck with me.
Speaker A
Seo-rae feeds the fish in the fish tank. As the camera tilts from top to bottom, Tang Wei moves her feeding hand like she's spreading her wings.
Speaker A
And I have to say, it was very mysterious. What she's thinking or doing in there, we don't know.
Speaker A
I didn't realize she was feeding at first. The motion of her hands, like spreading wings was beautiful, mysterious, and very impressive.
Speaker A
Is that something the actor just made up, or did you order those things? I order actors to do certain things, but I didn't ask her to do that hand acting.
Speaker A
Kim Ok-bin's body movements in Thirst are very impressive. She's also a good dancer. I think she's great at expressing her emotions through her body.
Speaker A
The scene where Tae-ju and Sang-hyun are fighting in the room, They started to argue and Kim Ok-bin says, "Why does that matter?" - She sits down, gets up, and moves her body... - Oh, that scene!
Speaker A
Did you direct her body movements? I didn't necessarily say do this or do that, I didn't show demonstrate it either.
Speaker A
You know, you have those moments when you're on set. You're rehearsing with your actors, you find the perfect performance.
Speaker A
When I rehearse or shoot multiple takes, I ask for a different performance each time.
Speaker A
I used to say, "No, not this one, but that one you were doing earlier." Sometimes you have to encouraging them. For example, "I like the way you just acted, but I want you to make it more convincing".
Speaker A
If the director enjoyed it, the actors get excited and do more of it. That's what happened in Decision to Leave. When the four of them meet at the fish market, Park Hae-il says the line, "Clearly Cleaner Nuclear." The way he spoke and smiled in rehearsal was perfect.
Speaker A
But when I asked him to do it again, he couldn't. "How did I do that?" he said...
Speaker A
The rehearsal wasn't even recorded. I was trying to explain it, but it didn't work.
Speaker A
After dozens of tries, I had a okay-cut that was kind of close. That's what you've seen in the film.
Speaker A
It was actually funnier in rehearsal. But he didn't mean to, he was just acting.
Speaker A
That happens sometimes. The actual scene you used was hilarious and the audience laughed a lot in a rhyming line "Clearly Cleaner Nuclear." I've always thought that you're always telling a love story, not just this one.
Speaker A
The feeling of love, the feeling of being in love. I had this idea that you wanted to make the audience experience those things.
Speaker A
The piece that really got me was Thirst. The answer to the question of why I wanted to see Thirst again while watching Decision to Leave came after I rewatched Thirst.
Speaker A
In Thirst, two people fall in love and share the end of a certain ugly side of each other, the tragic things happen between them.
Speaker A
That's what I saw in Decision to Leave, which made it more interesting. And then I watched The Handmaiden, I don't know if it's just me, I felt like there was a kind of a big jump in your work between Thirst and The Handmaiden.
Speaker A
- Have you ever heard that comment? - No. So I brought it up to the other director, and she was like, "Why did you leave out Stalker?" She said that she felt the feminine in you exploded in that piece.
Speaker A
Eventually, it was revealed. That's how The Handmaidenwas was born, she claimed. It made sense to me.
Speaker A
I can understand Park Hae-il's reaction now. Ah......! As I said, I'm not a very sensitive person.
Speaker A
I don't really recognize changes within myself, things like masculinity or femininity. I just let myself go with the flow and this is where I ended up.
Speaker A
When I watch a film, it's fun to look at the director's previous works to discover and interpret new aspects of his latest one.
Speaker A
Decision to Leave has a lot of those points. Personally, I think this is your best work yet.
Speaker A
I'm even more compelled to look up your old works to see how the masterpieces came to be.
Speaker A
That's all for me.
Topics:Park Chan-wookDecision to LeaveChungmuro Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalKorean cinemascriptwriting processfilm directingactor collaborationfilm humorfilm storytelling
