“Becoming a vampire means completely changing your identity.”
― Park Chan-wook
“A film set is a workplace for me; it’s my office, and nobody really wants to be in a stressful work environment.”
― Park Chan-wook
“If your work requires you to travel, you will understand that there’s no vacation destination like home.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When I was going through puberty, I had all these feelings of being unstable through those years, and being uncontrollably drawn to things of beauty and things that are bad.”
― Park Chan-wook
“The point of revenge is not in the completion but in the process.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Whether it’s trivial or important, every choice has a moral aspect to it to a certain degree.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When you first hear Mozart’s music, your first impression is that it’s very alive, but if you peel away the layers, you can hear sorrow and sadness behind it, and that’s what I try to be: multi-layered.”
― Park Chan-wook
“If you would ask me what my ideal process is, I would say, long pre-production, long production and long post-production.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When we are confronted with extreme situations, we forget about moral issues; we simply act and must then accept the consequences.”
― Park Chan-wook
“People who really try to be conscious of what they have done, who take responsibility, to me these kinds of people are heroes.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Lots of people think the violence in the films I make is overwhelming, but they think they’re seeing something that they aren’t seeing.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I guess I probably make violent films partly because I can’t express my anger in my real life very well.”
― Park Chan-wook
“The atmosphere of Catholicism in Korea is quite different to the way it is practised and perceived in Europe or the U.S.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I’d like to do a really masculine film.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I’d love to do a sci-fi movie, a western, or an espionage thriller. But I’m not going to limit myself. If a good script comes along, I’m not going to discount it because it doesn’t fit into one of these genres.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Certain subjects may no longer be taboo in cinema. But there are ways to treat them that still create shock.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I’ve read all of Sarah Waters’s novels which have been translated into Korean.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Whenever I visit a city, I like to see what classical music concerts are on offer.”
― Park Chan-wook
“There’s a humble beauty about listening to period instruments that I like.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I don’t usually watch a lot of TV, but ‘Mad Men’ changed my perspective. I admire Matthew Weiner who came up with the idea and wrote such a great TV series, and the broadcasting company for being bold enough to air such a series.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I am not going to do a film based on a bad scenario just to make a big Hollywood film or work with Hollywood stars.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When I grow older and less popular, there will come a time when I have to shoot films on low budgets.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I grew up in a very Catholic family. Up until puberty, I would go to a Catholic church every week.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When you consider the concept of vampirism, it is inherently part of a Western culture.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I hate jeans for no reason.”
― Park Chan-wook
“If I want to relax and not do anything, I don’t want to leave home.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I live in a rural residential area. It’s a great place for a walk. I’m at my happiest when I’m listening to my iPod while walking around where my feet take me.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Actors, I think, are all the same. Both Korean actors and American actors are all very sensitive people, and they are all curious to know what the director thinks of them and how they are evaluated, and they try to satisfy the director. And they like it if you listen carefully to their opinions and accept them.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Visual elements are, of course, the director’s job.”
― Park Chan-wook
“As I grow older I spend more time with my wife, and gradually my interest in the woman’s world is growing.”
― Park Chan-wook
“The reason I want to show shocking things is that they always pose an ethical question.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When I was making my first films, I was very interested in Hollywood B movies.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When I say that I am going to do an American film, I didn’t want to suddenly go off into a completely different world that which bears no relation to the style of filmmaking that I’m used to.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I have always meticulously storyboarded my films from beginning to end.”
― Park Chan-wook
“All of the characters in my films, they share one commonality. It doesn’t matter whether they are good or bad, it doesn’t matter whether they are smart or stupid, these characters all take responsibility for their own behavior. I’m much the same.”
― Park Chan-wook
“It is not possible for a person to be completely free of sin and be squeaky clean.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I became a film director, but I wasn’t successful with my first couple of films, so I had to turn to becoming a film critic to make a living.”
― Park Chan-wook
“A priest encounters temptation every day, and some of that desire is very natural.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I’ve always had an interest in vampire films – not just ‘Nosferatu,’ but there are many others that I have enjoyed: Abel Ferrara, Coppola, Neil Jordan.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When it comes to remaking my own films in the English language, I can only imagine that it is a very boring process, I wouldn’t ever dream of it.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I love Philip Glass’ work, not only as a film composer but also as a musician. The film score work that he does always amazes and shocks me.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I am sure I am one of 2,000 film directors in the world that Tarantino admires.”
― Park Chan-wook
“When I was growing up, we were taught in school that North Koreans, and especially the North Korean leadership, were all devils.”
― Park Chan-wook
“In our lives, we have good things and bad things, happiness and pain.”
― Park Chan-wook
“Living without hate for people is almost impossible.”
― Park Chan-wook
“In my opinion, all relationships between people have some sort of violence, and it is central.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I’m not the kind of director who aims to send a message out.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried to make something happen that I’ve absolutely had to force. You know how they say: if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. For me, it’s the other way around: if I can’t enjoy it, I avoid it.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I do like musical films more than big Hollywood films, especially those by Jacques Demi and Vincent Minelli.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I don’t really believe in the auteur theory.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I believe ‘love’ is very nice to hear, but it’s used so much that it’s come to a point where it’s almost meaningless.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I believe there are more films that involve love and forgiveness than violence, but they often seem fake and are almost embarrassing to watch.”
― Park Chan-wook
“I cannot believe that violence depicted onscreen actually causes people to act out violently. That’s oversimplifying the issue. If somebody commits a violent act after seeing violence in a movie, I think the question that needs to be asked is: would that person still have committed the act if he had not seen a violent film?”
― Park Chan-wook
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