Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook is a South Korean filmmaker and former film critic. Widely regarded as a leading figure in South Korean and 21st-century world cinema, he is known for films that blend crime, mystery, and thriller elements with other genres. His films are noted for their cinematography, framing, black humor, and often brutal subject matter.
After two unsuccessful films in the 1990s which he has since largely disowned, Park came to prominence with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Joint Security Area, which became the highest-grossing film in South Korean history at the time and which Park himself prefers to be regarded as his directorial debut. Using his newfound creative freedom, he would go on to direct the films forming his unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, a financial failure that polarized critics, followed by Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, both of which received critical acclaim and were financially successful. Oldboy in particular is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country.
Most of Park's work following The Vengeance Trilogy was also commercially and critically successful both in South Korea and internationally, such as Thirst, The Handmaiden, which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Decision to Leave, which won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He directed the English-language miniseries The Little Drummer Girl and The Sympathizer. His 2025 film titled No Other Choice has been nominated for the Golden Globes and has been shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
Early life and education
was born in Seoul on 23 August 1963. He comes from a prominent, multi-generational local family. His father, Park Don-seo, was an architecture professor and dean at Ajou University, and his mother is a poet. Although Park originally dreamed of becoming a painter, he later shifted his aspirations toward becoming an art critic, believing that while he shared his brother's aesthetic sensibility, he lacked the technical drawing skills that his brother possessed.His passion for cinema developed in his youth, influenced by foreign films he watched on his family black-and-white TV, broadcast by AFKN. As these programs were intended for U.S. personnel, they were mostly aired without Korean subtitles, requiring him to interpret the films purely through their cinematic elements and narrative structure. Park also credits his early experiences watching the James Bond franchise in theaters as an influence.
Aiming to become an art critic, Park enrolled in the Department of Philosophy at Sogang University. However, the university did not have a formal arts program, so he joined the campus photography and film clubs. In the film club, screenings of foreign films from VHS tapes became a significant turning point in his life. After watching Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Park decided to pursue a career in filmmaking.
Career
Beginning in 1990s
After graduating, he began a career in film criticism and wrote articles on the subject for various publications. In 1988, he gained experience as an assistant director on Yu Yeong-jin's film Kkamdong. It was followed by 1989 film Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day, directed by Kwak Jae-yong. Park's feature film debut, The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream was released in 1992. Five years later, he directed his second film, Trio, but neither film performed well at the box office. Park supported himself by working as a film critic across television and radio platforms.Breakthrough
In 1999, Park was given the opportunity to create a short film titled Judgement, inspired by the Sampoong Department Store collapse. He collaborated with stage actors and held his first script reading, realizing that actors are not just "puppets." He appreciated the creative dialogue with them, acknowledging it as a luxury that novelists do not have.This collaborative spirit continued with his third feature film, Joint Security Area, which tells the story of four soldiers from both North and South Korea who develop an unexpected friendship, leading to tragic consequences. During filming, Park and the actors formed strong bonds, often working late into the night and socializing afterward. Released in 2000, Joint Security Area became a major commercial and critical success, surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the most-watched film in South Korea at the time. Quentin Tarantino praised it of "the top twenty films made since 1992." In a 2017 interview, Park reflected on this, stating, "Many people think my directorial debut film is JSA, but I want to keep it that way".
Moho Film and ''Vengeance Trilogy''
The success of Joint Security Area granted Park the independence to pursue more personal projects, leading him to establish his own production company, Moho Film, in 2002. Leveraging this newfound creative freedom, he directed a series of films that would become his unofficial "Vengeance Trilogy": Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance. Though not originally intended as a set, the films are linked by their exploration of the futility of revenge and the havoc it wreaks on those involved.The trilogy began with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, a financial failure that polarized critics. However, the second film of the trilogy, Oldboy, was a breakout success. American director Quentin Tarantino, an avowed fan of Park's work, served as the jury president at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Tarantino personally lobbied for Oldboy to be awarded the Palme d'Or, though the honor eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Oldboy instead garnered the Grand Prix, the festival's second-highest honor. Completing the trilogy, Lady Vengeance was later distributed by Tartan Films for its United States theatrical release in April 2006.
In 2006, Park was a member of the official jury section 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.
In 2009, Park directed the vampire film Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, which won the Prix du Jury at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He considered directing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but ultimately turned it down.
In 2011, brothers Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong collaborated under the creative brand PARKing CHANce to co-write, direct, and produce the fantasy-horror short film Paranmanjang.'' Featuring singer-actress Lee Jung-hyun, the film was entirely shot using iPhone 4.. This project emerged from a strategic partnership with KT, South Korea's exclusive iPhone distributor, which provided 150 million won in funding. The film was presented to over 100 reporters on January 11, 2011, before its public release on January 27. It garnered a nomination for Berlinale Shorts at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.
PARKing CHANce's second short film, Day Trip, was released in late December 2012. In this film, Song portrayed a long-haired, immortal master while incorporating pansori, a traditional Korean musical genre, which created considerable anticipation. The film received praise for elevating the artistic quality of a short film initially intended for commercial advertisement.
In 2013, Park directed his first film in English-language, 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.
Following this, PARKing CHANce released a music video in late July 2013. Starring Lee Jung-hyun, a well-known singer-actress and a pioneer of Hallyu in China, the music video was described as cinematic and disrupted conventional music video norms. It was lauded for its artistic merit and commercial appeal, racking up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
International acclaim with ''The Handmaiden''
In 2014, Park directed a short film A Rose Reborn, 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.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 Ryu Seong-hie won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts, and the film was nominated for both the Palme d' Or and Queer Palm. 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.
File:Park Chan Wook.jpg|thumb|Park presenting The Handmaiden at the 2016 Lumière Film Festival
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 an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Ax. Park had first discussed adapting the book in 2009, when he received approval from Costa-Gavras who owned the rights and directed a previous rendition of the novel.