Presenting Korea's New Tragic, Comic Monster Film: 괴물 (The Host)
(Posted In Asia Comedy Drama Film News Interviews ) 
"... there was nothing to hold onto - except each other"(Invasion of The Body Snatchers, 1956)
In 1990, Bong Joon-Ho was a young student, who drew cartoons for his school newspaper and took various part time jobs at film companies. Although his major at Yonsei University was sociology, his lifetime dream was to become a filmmaker. So after finishing college, he enrolled in the Korean Film Academy, from which he graduated with a short film called 지리멸렬 (支離滅裂, Incoherence). The short won him awards overseas, and great acclaim at home; he became one of the hot new kids on the block, creating a lot of expectations in the industry. But he never jumped the gun, slowly climbing towards the upper ranks of the industry. He helped write the script of 모텔 선인장 (Motel Cactus) and 유령 (Phantom: The Submarine) in the late 90s, and then it was time for his feature debut. In 2000 he made his big splash in Chungmuro with 플란다스의 개 (Barking Dogs Never Bite), an off-kilter black comedy which received great praise. But between his first feature film and the incredible critical and popular success of his second, the memorable 살인의 추억 (Memories of Murder), Director Bong was preparing something else. When Choi Yong-Bae of Cheongeoram asked him to work together, he had something in mind, something he dreamed of making since he was in college. But he already knew it was something which could take years to make. But what was that project about, and why would it take so long?
Although Japan's 怪 (Kaiju, monster) culture has created a huge niche even in the West, its Korean counterpart 괴수 (怪獸, Gwesu, monster) never really had any impact on the public, both at home and abroad. Although the first tentatives of the genre started in the early 60s, with Kwon Hyeok-Jin's 우주괴인 왕마귀 (Space Monster Demon King), the genre was never able to crack into the mainstream, even with works like 용가리 (Yonggari) - which did make decent money, but probably turned the whole nation off monster films. SF had never been one of Korea's favorite genres, and monster films were often associated with cheap special effects, bad storytelling and acting. So when one of the most talented filmmakers in the country announced he was making a 10 Billion Won monster film, a lot of people had only one question in mind: why?
Bong could have made anything he wanted. After striking the ball out of the park twice with his first two films, he could have played safe, make a little film to satisfy his appetite for genre Cinema, a big star vehicle with his distinctive touch but an eye to the box office. Anything. But why such a huge budget, and why one of the genres Koreans have never shown any interest in? You could consider it a mere challenge Bong is taking, but 괴물 (The Host) won't be your average monster film, just like 'Memories of Murder' wasn't your usual whodunit thriller, and 'Barking Dogs Never Bite' your usual comedy. The film could be compared to Hollywood films like 'Invasion of The Body Snatchers', although it will still carry genre specific elements. Using the monster as a metaphor for the witch hunting created by McCarthy-ism during the Cold War era, and the powerful and menacing threat of Soviet influence, the film bears a resemblance to some of those classic Hollywood films. But it will also retain that Koreanness, that unique humour of Bong's other works.
Starring Song Kang-Ho, Bae Doo-Na, Park Hae-Il, Byun Hee-Bong and Oh Dal-Soo, 'The Host' is set for Summer 2006.
--
Instead of our usual Q&A excerpts, I tried something different for this special. Since a lot of interviews used for this article were a little old, and things changed between then and now (like scripts being completed, actors cast, contract signed), I put different comments from director Bong on separate sections dealing with the same argument.
THE HOST"We started pre-production with the working title 더 리버 (The River). I always wanted to do a Korean style monster movie from the beginning, so I met with Cheongeoram president Choi Yong-Bae in 2001, and presented him the project. I've been working hard every day ever since. We started with a simple and slightly absurd concept: what if a monster appeared on the banks the Han River? When I was in high school, you'd always hear those news stories, like the appearances in Lochness or Mt. Baekdu, so why not Seoul? The film tells the story of a family of four people, running a small shop near the Han River. But one day a strange creature emerges from the waters of the Han River, and it starts injuring people. 'The Host' is a film about a simple family fighting with this mysterious monster."
WETA, ORPHANAGE AND CGI"To be honest, when I started thinking about 'The Host', I was worried Korean film technology wasn't up to the standards the film required - or that it would cost too much to do it. I didn't think we would be able to make such a fully 3D creature, so that was a really serious concern at the time. Since they have a lot of experience in dealing with things like this, they [Weta, Creative Workshop, Orphanage] lifted one big weight off my shoulders by working with us, and taking care of CGI. When we first met with Weta, they were surprised we'd even make a film like this in Korea. But the next time we met Robert Taylor, he was a little anxious because [in Korea] we don't usually blow large sums of money on special effects, and was afraid we'd propose some preposterous figure. After all, it's hard to turn down someone who came such a long way to work with you. Anyway, we told him it would be US$ 3 Million, and he quickly replied, worried: 'for the entire film?'. When we told him it would be 3 Million for the special effects only, he was really happy, and told us they could certainly do what we wanted for that sum of money. That's when things started, and we worked really fast from there. They thought the kind of monster we designed had really oriental features, so we scouted famous monster designer 'hellnaut' [who worked on many Korean online games] to do it."
MY OWN GENRE"Everyone thinks 'The Host' will be an SF film, but that's not the case. This film will have that kind of humour which lies dormant inside all my films, and comes from my own subconscious. So instead of following the basic tropes of surrealist films of this genre, 'The Host' will be much more concerned with realism, both in form and storytelling. Don't we live in an odd country? Our big, strong bridge finally collapses, a lot of people lose their lives, that supermarket which looked so solid vanishes into a pile of dust and debris in a matter of moments... so is the appearance of a monster that weird? This is a film walking the line between the real and surreal."
MONSTER"'The Host' is not all about the monster, but it was something we definitely had to deal with. We couldn't just put some fur on two assistant directors and let them prance around pretending they were a monster. It had to be a perfectly realistic living creature. We had a lot of up and downs, but I'm really happy with the final result. This is not the kind of Hollywood film where you see the formation of the monster after 10 minutes, its tail and feet a half hour later, and the main character having a stylish fight with it in the climax. Yes, Kang-Doo's family has to face tragedy thanks to the monster, but it's not one of those glamorous situations where a few families unite and decide to fight the monster together. The people in my film can't help but shed tears in front of their impending and tragic situation."
COMIC TRAGEDY"Disasters might be scary and tragic, but on the other hand they might have a farcical side to them. When that mall collapsed [he's talking about a real event from the mid 90s the film was vaguely based on], I felt sad and shocked. Looking at that mess every day though, I saw people using golf clubs to search for buried money, and all the thieves in the city were there... doesn't that make you laugh? Comic and tragic seem to always go hand in hand when disasters like that happen. Especially all those families who weren't prepared for the consequences became victims of that situation, it was inevitable. As a whole, it might be a film about a family's fight against the monster, but they're not gonna use some fancy laser guns to fight it, so all that's left to them is laugh. But that doesn't mean we'll consciously try to force comedy out of those situations. Korean disasters always seem to have that feeling, just like an absurd theater play."
HAN RIVER"We've shot so many photos of the Han River, it feels like home now. We persistently hunted for locations both in a microscopic and very detailed way: different hours of the day, different weather, different shooting angles and lenses, high, clean and dirty waters... we shot them all. I wanted to show the innumerable faces of the Han River in 'The Host', but it's not merely eye candy, it has a connection with the drama in the film. There's also a reason why we chose a lot of locations during the rainy season. It's not like we're making a video for the promotion of tourism, but if the Han River didn't have a connection with the story, why even bother shooting there? I wanted to dissect and look at all the parts that make the Han River what it is, just like picking every single one of the 200 and more bones that make a person, or the blood vessels that flow through our veins. The monster's form is the core of the production. If we can't create a realistic creature, the film will be never able to strip itself from the legacy of other 괴수영화 (monster movies). That's why we decided to work with world famous WETA, responsible for the special effects in the 'Lord of the Rings' series."
BURDEN'Why shouldn't one be burdened by many things. I have no interest in normal films, in things you'll understand in 5 seconds. I'm thoroughly working hard to make sure everything turns out as planned. And it's been the same from the beginning, during the first, second, third... many years of preparation. It's not like we're in an embarrassing or dramatic situation, we're not on the verge of jumping off the Wonhyo Bridge. If you just work with that mentality, then you can relax and focus on what you have to do."
INFLUENCES"It bears some resemblance to 'Signs', and even Spielberg's 'Jaws'. When I first talked about the film, people were confused about the size of the monster, expecting something gigantic like 'Godzilla'. But that's not the case, it's more like the kind of creature you see in 'Alien'. Anyway, there's really no film you can compare 'The Host' to: even when the marketing team was asking me a reference to compare 'Memories of Murder' with, I just told them there was nothing I could single out, that it was just a 'rural thriller', the 전원일기 (Lifetime in the Country) [THE family Drama in Korean TV history] version of 'Se7en'. So, in a way, you could call this the 한강수 타령 (Ode to The Han River) [a recent Family Drama] version of 'Alien'."
ISSUES"'The Host' is full current political and social issues helping paint the progression of the story. I don't know why I did that, perhaps it's because I was influenced by my previous film. That's not only a kind of genre-specific tendency, but also also something we can put into a certain context, and help it become a topic of discussion. Kang-Doo is not one of those 'people in high places', like a staff member of 119 rescue squads, or someone doing a briefing about measures to counter the problem. He's the kind of person who would ask you what kind of sauce you wanted with your instant noodles, going as far as checking the water's temperature. But when a calamity approaches the everyday life of people like him, they can't even imagine its repercussions. And then the viewers become one with them, they relate to his problems. I can't reveal what those social and political issues will be, until the film is released in theaters. But that will be a really important element of the film, and I wanted to have a little fun with that kind of idea, like in classic Hollywood SF films. It might be a deleted scene, but in Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove', there's a moment when Americans and Russians fight throwing cake at each other; and then there's that moment when one character acts like a cowboy on a nuclear missile... that kind of mood, you know? That kind of atmosphere fits really well with this genre, and would give the film a very bizarre energy."
Via Film2.0, nKino 1, nKino 2, Maxmovie, Chosun Ilbo via Naver Blog
Posted by X at November 19, 2005 08:17 AM http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004199.html#more
phew, glad to see we DO have a thread for PHI!! Love the wedding pics, but look whose cheeky smile is in the background of two of them (hint: RSB)! Was he the best man? He's wearing the same flower!
