Korean Directors Helm Three New Hollywood Releases

Korean directors Park Chan-wook, Kim Ji-woon and Bong Joon-ho are set to raise their global profiles with the imminent releases of three Hollywood projects, according to JoongAng Ilbo.

The psychological thriller Stoker is the Hollywood debut for Park Chan-wook, 50, who won overseas acclaim for the brutal revenge thriller Oldboy (2003). The film stars Mia Wasikowska as a teen drawn to an uncle (Dermot Mulroney) who comes to live with her and her mother (Nicole Kidman) after her father is killed in a car accident. The film’s creepy tone is created in part by the vagueness of its setting, according to Park.

“It’s hard to tell when or where the story takes place,” Park says. “Cell phones appear in the movie, but in other scenes it feels like the 1950s. You may not know whether the film is set in the western or eastern United States. All the vague elements play a meaningful role.”

“Shooting a movie in the United States was a novelty and a stimulating experience,” said Park. “But it was also a very awkward one, having to work with a new system and language. I was struck by how fast the production moved in Hollywood. There was a lot of shooting to be done every day, and I was a little sad that I didn’t have enough time to discuss things more with the actors.”

Stoker will premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and close the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam on February 2 before making its theatrical release on February 28 in Korea and March 1 in the US.

Kim Ji-woon, 49, makes his Hollywood debut in the updated western The Last Stand starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first leading role since he became California governor in 2003. He plays the sheriff of an Arizona town trying to fend off an invasion by a Mexican drug lord played by Eduardo Noriega. Backing up the sheriff is a naive young man (Zach Gilford), a surly veteran (Luis Guzman) and a deputy (Jaimie Alexander).

“The plot revolves around ordinary people along the US-Mexico border who risk their lives to fight off a strong enemy,” said Kim. “It’s a character-based action film. I think that the film’s lighthearted spectacle can be enjoyed in the same way as ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird,’” referring to his 2008 Korean spaghetti western.

Kim’s reputation was built by bringing his unique style to virtually every genre from the horror film A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) to the noir A Bittersweet Life (2005).

Working in the US was both challenging and lonely, Kim said.

“I found I was just another foreign worker here,” he laughed. “I don’t have a lot of friends here and all I did was work, so in a way I felt empathy toward foreign workers.”

The Last Stand is scheduled to be released on February 21.

Director Bong Joon-ho makes his English-language debut in Snowpiercer, a thriller set inside a train housing all the survivors of a post-apocalyptic ice age. The train remains a microcosm of a vanished society, with the upper class in the front and the lowest class in the back.

“Around the end of 2004 when I finished ‘Memories of Murder’ and was working on ‘The Host’ I went to a comic book store near Hongik University,” Bong recalled. “I go there once or twice a month when I am stressed out. ‘Le Transperceneige’ suddenly came into my sight, and I read the whole trilogy standing there.”

His adaptation of the French comic book series was shot in the Czech Republic with a budget of 45 billion won ($42.5 mil.), the most expensive film produced in Korea. It stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell and Ewen Bremner, and is set for summer release.