Dramabeans » Park Chan-wook

Colin Firth signs on to Park Chan-wook film

javabeans — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:24:24 +0000

Park Chan-wook’s big Hollywood debut project Stoker has got some hefty A-list stars attached, the latest being Academy Award winner Colin Firth, who plays a vampire. From Darcy, to king, to the bloodthirsty undead? Interesting choice…

Firth joins Nicole Kidman and fast-rising star Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), as the uncle who suddenly appears after Wasikowska’s father dies. Kidman plays the girl’s mother, the widow. The movie is reportedly inspired by the story of Dracula, according to scriptwriter (and Prison Break star) Wentworth Miller — not in a blood-sucker way, necessarily, but in its interpretation as a “sad love story.”

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Nine Korean films at Berlin film festival

girlfriday — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:23:13 +0000

Korea’s making a big showing at the Berlin Film Festival, with nine films headed abroad, in competition for jury prizes. A few are films we’ve talked about for a while, like Late Autumn, while a good number of them are experimental films or shorts that are more artistically adventurous. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of these. Also, Binnie’s having some year, isn’t he?

Here’s a list of the films in competition at Berlinale:

Love Me, Love Me Not, by director Lee Yoon-ki, starring Hyun Bin and Im Soo-jung in a melodrama about a married couple on the brink of divorce. (Poster above.) This is THE HAIR that made me go crazy. Is it wrong to watch a movie for a hairdo? Well I don’t care ’cause I’m gonna do it anyway.

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© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 64 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: film festivals, Hwang Jung-min, Hyun Bin, Im Soo-jung, Kim Hyo-jin, Park Chan-wook, Ryu Seung-beom

Park Chan-wook’s Hollywood debut

girlfriday — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:36:16 +0000

Master of the psychologically disturbed dark thriller, director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Thirst) is poised to direct his first film in Hollywood, starring…Jodie Foster? I’m trying to wrap my head around Park Chan-wook directing Jodie Foster…hm…does anyone else think that if they remake Old Boy, they should make HER the star? And have him direct? Now THAT’s a thing I’d like to see.

The thriller stars Carey Mulligan (An Education, Pride and Prejudice) alongside Foster, as a young woman whose uncle reappears in her life in the wake of her father’s death. Nothing in the premise to suggest anything otherworldly, but there is reportedly a supernatural element in the story.

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Old Boy Hollywood remake gains traction

girlfriday — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:11:30 +0000

There have been talks of a Hollywood remake of Park Chan-wook‘s hallmark revenge thriller Old Boy for some time now, but the project was stuck in legal battles over the rights to the original story, from the Japanese manga of the same name. But with that dispute finally settled (to the tune of how many millions, I wonder), Old Boy is back on track to be the next big Hallyu-Hollywood crossover. Will it survive the process and actually become a watchable movie? Or will it die a slow death and get lost in translation?

Three big names are being bandied about in contention for the remake: Steven Spielberg, who has been attached as producer and possible director for some time now, Matthew Vaughn (Kick-ass, Layer Cake), and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting). I’d vote for either of the latter two, if I had my druthers, since they have more of an indie edge and will un-slick the Hollywood sheen off of the remake. I think Danny Boyle in particular could do something very urban and gritty with the source material, while creating something other than a carbon copy.

Because who needs a carbon copy when Old Boy is…Old Boy?

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© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 78 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Min-shik, Hollywood, Park Chan-wook

Mother, Thirst take home Director’s Cut Awards

javabeans — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:15:00 +0000

This year’s 12th Director’s Cut Awards were given out on December 21, and the top winners this year were Thirst, Park Chan-wook‘s stylish vampire-horror film starring Song Kang-ho as a vampire priest, as well as Bong Joon-ho‘s Mother, whose Kim Hye-ja is earning a number of accolades as the titular mother who goes all-out to protect her dimwitted son (Won Bin) from a false charge.

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Jang Jin-young, Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Dong-wook, Kim Hye-ja, Park Bo-young, Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho

17th Chunsa Film Festival

javabeans — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:53:59 +0000

Aw, isn’t little Wang Seok-hyun cute?

September 5 saw the end of the 17th Chunsa Film Festival and its closing-night awards ceremony, which was held in Icheon, Kyunggi-do. The winners list was dominated by the popular, recently released sports film Take Off [국가대표, or National Athlete], although vampire film Thirst did well, as did lush period piece Portrait of a Beauty.

Full winners list below:

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 31 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Cha Seung-woo, Choi Jung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, film festivals, Go Eun-ah, Im Joo-eun, Jo Ahn, Jung Jun-ho, Jung Soo-young, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Ji-suk, Lee Mi-yeon, Park Chan-wook, Park Hee-soon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Song Kang-ho, Wang Seok-hyun

Hollywood remaking another Park Chan-wook film

javabeans — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:34:43 +0000

With Hollywood remakes planned for Park Chan-wook‘s Cannes prizewinner Oldboy (2003) and the follow-up film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), I suppose it should be no surprise that the precursor to those two, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, is also getting the remake treatment.

Film producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura came to Seoul to promote the release of the action flick GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and said in a press conference on the 29th that they are currently in talks with CJ Entertainment over remake plans for Mr. Vengeance. As they are still in planning stages, they have not yet fixed on a director or actors. He went on to praise the visual aesthetics of Korean films, singling out Taegukgi as a particularly noteworthy achievement.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was released in 2002 and stars Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, and Bae Doo-na. It’s the first in what is called Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy” and had a short, limited U.S. theatrical run in 2005.

Given the high profile of the other two Park Chan-wook remake participants — Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Charlize Theron — one wonders what kinds of names may end up attached to this one.

Via My Daily

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hollywood, Park Chan-wook, remakes, Song Kang-ho

Thirst gets a U.S. release

javabeans — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:12:16 +0000

This is pretty cool: Park Chan-wook‘s recent Cannes jury prize winner, Thirst, will have a U.S. theatrical release.

Film distributor Focus Features (a division of Universal Pictures) has picked up the vampire thriller; it will open in theaters in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and other large cities on July 31. The film has already been sold to approximately 20 countries throughout Europe, South America, and Asia.

Via Chosun, Ain’t It Cool News

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kim Ok-bin, Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho

Thirst wins jury prize at Cannes

javabeans — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:18:16 +0000

Director Park Chan-wook had won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2004 for Oldboy (the second-place award, below the Palme d’Or); this weekend, he won another award for his vampire horror movie Thirst as the festival closed on Sunday.

The film starring Song Kang-ho (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) and Kim Ok-bin (War of Money, Dasepo Naughty Girs) took the jury prize, the third-place honor (top prize went to The White Ribbon by Austrian director Michael Haneke; second to French film A Prophet).

Director Park said he would share his honor with his lead star Song, with whom he has worked several times already in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Joint Security Area: “I enjoy making movies from the very beginning through the end, and the last step of that enjoyment is the Cannes Film Festival. I’d like to share this honor with my dearest friend and colleague, actor Song Kang-ho.”

Via Festival de Cannes, Yahoo News, My Daily

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: awards, Kim Ok-bin, Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho

Thirst’s preview attracts A-list VIPs

javabeans — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:11:33 +0000

Whoaaa. Check out this new still from the vampire film Thirst [박쥐], which recently confirmed that it will be screening at Cannes International Film Festival later this year.

The much-buzzed-about film held its press conference and VIP preview screening on the afternoon of April 24 in Seoul. Given the movie’s high profile (and its director and lead actor), the screening attracted some big names, such as Lee Byung-heon, Jeon Do-yeon, Won Bin, Rain, and Song Hye-gyo.

Lead actor Song Kang-ho, playing the vampire priest who falls for his friend’s wife (Kim Ok-bin), discussed some of the film’s more provocative scenes, one of which serves as the crucial point of the film. He had discussed the scene in some depth with director Park Chan-wook and had no qualms shooting it, as he agreed that it was essential to the story.

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 53 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Min-sun, Kim Ok-bin, Lee Byung-heon, Park Chan-wook, Rain, Song Hye-gyo, Song Kang-ho, Won Bin