Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Memories of Murder) spoke at a preview of Mother about the influences on his latest film, and how his own mother hasn’t talked to him about it since it’s release…

Bong Joon-ho’s latest film Mother (Madeo) previewed at the BFI during November’s London Korean Film Festival, which also held a season of his films. He spoke, through an interpreter, with Tony Rayns after the filming. As well as tales of growing up in Korea, his influences and how he got into movies, he talked in detail about his new film – the tale of a devoted single mother who’s simple-minded son is accused of murder and she sets out to clear him… with unexpected and harrowing results.

Bong said he’d had the idea for the film since 2004. The curious scene which ends the film – of a group of mothers dancing in the aisle of a moving bus – was the first he thought of.

“In Korea it’s a reality that mothers dance together on the bus, but they dance behind curtains so you can’t really see it as you’re going past,” Bong said. When he was younger he was embarrassed by it, but now as an adult he empathises with them: “It’s funny, but also sad at the same time.” So, he decided if he made a film about mothers that dance would have to be its last scene.

He decided to cast veteran actress Kim Hye-ja as the mother. In Korea she’s well-known for her television work, but Mother is only her third movie role.

“She was acting before I was even born and was one of those faces I always saw on TV. She was always really warm and an iconic mother figure, but in my mind I could see the slightly mad, crazy side of her and I always thought they tried to hide that from the audience,” Bong said.

“I wanted to concentrate on that particular aspect of her character and before the story even existed I wanted to work with this actress, so it wasn’t a typical casting process. I very much wanted to focus on her and how her crazy side could be explored.”

Fortunately, Kim also liked the idea and embraced the role: “she enjoyed this process and would suggest ways of taking it further and making it more extreme.”

The rest of the casting was just as subversive. He turned heart-throb Won Bin into the slightly simple and homely son, and made co-actor Jin Ku the sexy best friend. Bong said he “found happiness turning a handsome man into an idiot,” although he was scared about casting Won in the first instance because he already has a huge fan base in Japan and Korea.

“But when I showed him the script he agreed really easily – he’s actually very adventurous. He’s naturally quite strange and awkward and that helped. Although he’s famous for his looks, he [Won] grew up in the deep Korean countryside and knew the locations even better than I did.”

On the other hand he had to work hard to make Jin look sexy: “he isn’t sexy in real life so we had to work on it in the movie,” he joked.

Bong said he’s never entirely sure how his scripts are created – whether it’s the overall idea or a plot which he thinks of first: “I write scripts more out of instinct, then look back and ask ‘why did this character say this, what’s the hidden meaning behind it’. I hate writing scripts – it’s the part of the process that’s most painful.”

However, he’s exacting about the entire process. “I want 100% control of the movie-making process.” That’s why he draws all the storyboards himself one by one, and that’s the way he’s always worked.

He’s also obsessive about getting the look of the film just right. Unlike Hollywood, where a set would be constructed to the director’s specifications, a Korean film budget doesn’t stretch that far, so scouting the right locations is crucial. For Mother, as in his film Memories of Murder, he sent scouts all over the country looking for the right buildings, fields, interiors and streets: “they complained the price of petrol would be more than the cost of the film,” he said. The final result looks like one town and its immediate environs, but was, in fact, 26 different locations.

And he wanted these locations to mirror the mother as the central character: “I wanted to find locations that were feminine in feel.” He said it’s not easy to say what counts as a feminine location or setting, but he tried to concentrate on a particular look for the landscape, in particular the shapes of hills, curves and waves.

The core of the film is the relationship between the un-named mother and son – and how far a mother will go to protect her child.

“The film is about the mother becoming the monster,” he explained. “The mother becomes a monster out of love and devotion for her son. As love becomes more extreme, so she becomes a monster. I don’t think for a second that all mothers are monsters, but faced with an extreme situation like murder, not many mothers could say for sure they wouldn’t become monsters. Maybe it’s not the side of our mothers we’d want to see, but it is possible to see if you look directly at the situation.”

“Maybe that’s why my mother won’t talk about the film, even though she saw it five months ago.”

You can see more from the interview on BFI’s LIVE site, click here.

Mother is released in the US by Magnolia Pictures on 12 March, and by Optimum in the UK later in the year, but the release date is yet to be finalised.

We talk exclusively to Yang Ik-June about his fantastic debut feature Breathless…

If you’ve already seen Breathless, then the film’s lead actor (and writer, director and editor) Yang Ik-June wouldn’t be quite what you’d expect. Of course, it’s not as if you’d be expecting that intimidating presence, ready to spurt into a violent and angry outburst at the drop of a hat, but in person he’s charming, fun, hip and very laid back. He later tells me the girls always tell him how much cuter he is in real life.

He has much better dress sense too. None of those terrible, 90s style chavvy, unfashionable shirts on him today.

Even if it hadn’t been his directorial debut, Breathless is an impressive feature. Applauded throughout the world, winning awards from festivals from Rotterdam to Singapore – most recently picking up the Grand Prize and the Audience Award at the tenth annual Tokyo Filmex – it’s an uncompromising study of a two-bit gangsters life and domestic violence in working class Korea, about a hired thug who begins an unlikely friendship with an equally damaged schoolgirl. On paper it shouldn’t work, but on screen the film reaches an unexpected understanding of its characters and their motivations, reminiscent of films like Nil By Mouth and more recently the work of Andrea Arnold, including her Cannes Jury prize winner Fish Tank.

Most impressively, despite Yang Ik-June’s lead character of debt collector Sang-hoon being almost entirely devoid of any redemptive qualities, he ultimately wins over audiences without apologetically architecting your sympathies. Not bad for an actor whose roles have previously rarely made it into the first five names on a cast list.

‘Well, I made it just for you and so you’d be surprised’, he jokes.

Really, you shouldn’t have gone to this much trouble for me? But really, what was his inspiration for the film that deals so candidly with domestic violence?

‘Actually there wasn’t any! There was no message that I intended to deliver. It was only after the film had been written and made that I understood what it was trying to say. In that sense I’m just another member of the audience.’

Did he enjoy playing a character who is, at least until we find about more about him much later in the film, quite unsympathetic?

‘I love playing such emotionally strong and dominant characters. It’s actually ironic, because I wanted to show just how bad these people are, but actually it’s when I play roles like this that I enjoy it the most. In the scenes where my character gets violent and angry, I actually feel a sense of catharticism, of synergy with the part I’m playing and getting that burst of energy out.’

‘You know in some of those scenes where I’m so, argh!’ he screams loudly, ‘it was only because I couldn’t contain all those emotions, it was like I was screaming and letting it out. It was just a natural process for me. And like you said, he’s a very unsympathetic character. Korean audiences reacted in the same way. You watch the movie in the first half and he’s just such a pathetic character, you don’t feel any identification with him, he’s just aggressive.’

‘It’s only as the movie progresses you see that, although he does have this violent side, he’s not a bad person fundamentally, and you start to have more compassion towards him, By the end you want to care for him even. He’s quite a vulnerable and weak character. And I find that female audiences felt that a lot. On my movie homepage there was like 30 or so women who said “I’m completely head over heals in love with you, marry me, marry me”.’

‘When I meet some of those women at film festivals they’re always quite hesitant at initially to approach me. Then they say, “Oh my god, you’re much cuter than I thought you would be from the film”. Then it’s “Come on, swear to me, swear to me”.’ (His character swears almost non-stop through the film.) ‘They like that side of me.’ So of course he obliges!

The film itself is so wonderfully understated in its direction; the tone is naturalistic using handheld camera, and very, very little music. Was that deliberate?

‘I don’t know,’ he begins in English, ‘with regards to the music, I don’t know why I ended up using so little. In fact I asked a friend of mine, who happens to be in an indie band of sorts, to write me some music for the film. He came back with some 30 odd pieces and said, “I’m done! This is as much as I can make, take your pick”. From that I took a few songs, trying to pick the most unusual, the ones that didn’t sound like something you’d listen to commercially. I think they work well, because although they sound a little strange and weird when you first listen to them, the more you hear them the more familiar they become and the more you like them.’

‘As for the use of handheld camera, I think that comes from me having been an actor for the last 10 years. I’m sure there are plenty of elements that are important to a great movie, but for me it’s the actors, they are pivotal and I guess I wanted to pour into that. I just wanted to follow them, get up close to their emotions and facial expressions, stare right into their soul even.’

In fact he wanted to get a little too close. Until the filming director told him it would be far too much on screen, too uncomfortable and awkward to watch. He’d intended there to be far more of those kinds of shots on screen.

‘For me the actors emotion is the most important thing, and that’s what I wanted to capture. There’s an American actor/director who has a very similar style, John Cassavetes, so I think it must be something to do with being an actor.’

So had any other actors turned directors influenced him to make leap himself?

‘Not directly, no. It was more a case of when I was writing the script that I didn’t have any other actor in mind to play the role. And it wasn’t a case of his own acting ambitions either – I just felt it had to be me to portray those emotions.’

Similarly, he ended up editing the film, and even working on the poster with a friend.

‘I think I just wanted to pour as much of myself and my feelings as I could into the film as possible, and that’s why I took all these different roles.’

That didn’t stop him from searching online for actors like him who had turned director, out of curiosity to see what had come before, and found actors who, if they didn’t inspire him directly, he certainly admires. Takeshi Kitano, Clint Eastwood and Vincent Gallo.

‘Kitano I find really interesting because he’s so minimal. I’m an actor who likes to scrunch up my face to portray my feelings, but he is so calm in his facial expressions.’ (He drops into a flawless impression of Kitano, doing little more than raising one eyebrow.) He can get a sense of his feelings and emotions without these sort of violent outbursts and exaggerated facial. Clint Eastwood, I love the fact that he deals with human beings as his themes. I just love that. And Vincent Gallo, well, I just find him cute.’

Interestingly, all of these directors deal with unpleasant and often violent themes in their work. Does he think there’s anything in that? Could it be they wouldn’t ask someone to play a role they’re not willing to play themselves?

‘I don’t think it’s because they don’t want someone else to do it, like they wouldn’t trust another actor to do it. It’s more that it just feels right for them to play that role. There’s no ambition for them to have the “best role”. It’s just because, like in my case, with their love for their own film it just comes naturally.’

So how did he find his cast?

‘Let me say first, for me it’s not about getting the best technician or the best possible actor, or anything like that. But it has to be somebody who can fit into the setting comfortably. Someone who can have a good laugh and enjoy themselves, and somebody who suits my style.’

‘The lead actress Kim Kot-Bi, who plays the schoolgirl Yeon-Hue, I first saw her in a short film and I just leapt up! I was astounded by her ability to play emotions. Initially she was up for another role in the film, and there was another woman to play the lead, but things didn’t work out so I used Kim Kot-Bi instead, and she did excellently.’

‘Yeong-Jae, the part of the younger brother was supposed to be played by another actor, but again that didn’t turn out. So Lee Hwan, who had read the script from somewhere (!) came and found me and said he would really love to play this role. Eventually I gave in and said okay, you can play it.’

‘The father figures on both sides were difficult people to get. It was only in the middle of the film that I got conformation that they would be able to do it. And for the role of Sang-hoon’s sister, she was someone I knew from before. As was Man-shik Jeong, cast in the role of Man-Sik, the boss of the debt collectors company. He was a guy I knew and hung around with. I always had them in mind. So it was generally people I knew and people that I felt I could work with.’

‘I don’t believe that the technically trained and experienced actors were superior to any of the other actors in the film. It was more a case that our passion and our trust in each other could overcome those sort of technicalities and deficiencies that they might have in comparison to other actors and I do feel that the film has shown that.’

Amazingly, other than the main cast, all the extras seen in one or two scenes were made up from the filming staff and crew.

‘You know in movies when you see extras who are really obviously from the crew, awkward and conspicuous. My guys were nothing like that. I think everyone in my filming crew must be a born actor, everyone was so great and so natural!’

As for the future, does Yang see himself as a director now?

‘By no means, I don’t feel any sort of restrictions on my career. I’m just going to follow wherever my heart goes. My latest work has been as an actor, I’ve just finished one movie with another to start next month.’

But who knows what the future holds? One thing’s for certain, Yang Ik-June is certainly a talent to look out for.

Breathless is released on a special two-disc collectors edition DVD by Terracotta Distribution on 22 March.

Thanks to Yang Ik-June for his time, the guys from Terracotta and The Associates for setting up the interview.

In the last of our series of exclusive interviews, we chat to Sammo Hung about collaborating with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen on Ip Man and the upcoming sequel, ask his personal favourite films in his long career, and ask about… Martial Law!

How did you come to be involved as action director for Ip Man?

They asked me to! As you know, I’m very fat and need to eat a lot, so, as soon as someone offers me a job, it means I can eat again.

This isn’t the first time you’ve choreographed the martial art of Wing Chun for a film, you’ve previously done it for Warriors Two and (the all-time classic) The Prodigal Son. What’s the attraction to the Wing Chun style? Did you need to research more about the style this time around? Were you happy with the end result on screen?

When I was at Golden Harvest, I wanted to find a style that suited me. At Shaw Bros, Mr. Lau (Kar-leung) was doing films about the Hung Gar style, so I decided to focus on Wing Chun. I trained with a teacher called Guy Lai, and learned about the founders of the style, Leung Jaan, Leung Yee-tai… I found it looked good on screen, and it was something the audience hadn’t seen before.

There’s an obvious connection between you and Ip Man, in that you worked with his pupil Bruce Lee on films like Enter The Dragon. How important do think that is, and do you think it brings something extra to the film?

Not really. I have a lot of respect for Bruce Lee. Actually, when we first knew each other, we argued because he wanted me to be in his film (Game of Death), but I was too busy, and he blamed me. But he was a great martial artist and he earned my respect. I knew Bruce Lee was a student of Ip Man, but I respected Ip Man anyway.

In fact, you’ve been involved with several projects around Bruce Lee, including Game Of Death, infamously completed long after his passing away. Why do you think Bruce Lee has become such an enduring figure of both film and martial arts? What do you think made him so special?

Hard to say. Even if you have someone perform the same techniques as Bruce Lee, it won’t feel the same. He just had a unique power. I imitated him in a few films (Enter the Fat Dragon, Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon) and so I watched his fight scenes again and again. They still look so good, even today. If I knew his secret, I would have found someone to turn into a new Bruce Lee! But that’s impossible…

What was it like working with Donnie Yen again? Is it true you hadn’t worked together before S.P.L.? It does seem amazing to think that your paths had never crossed?

Actually, a long time ago, I was producing a film (In the Fire, 1989), and we really wanted Donnie to play one of the lead roles. I can’t remember what happened, maybe he was too busy. Anyway, we would see each other (in Hong Kong), and we always said ‘Oh, we should work together’, but it wasn’t until SPL that we got the chance.

You’re currently working on the sequel with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen. Is it true you’re going to appear on screen this time? Can you tell us about your character?

My character is very handsome and charming, but a bit fat. He’s actually the most attractive character in the film! Besides this, he’s a master of Hung Gar kung fu, he lives in Hong Kong and, when Ip Man comes, he wants to test his Hung Gar against Ip Man’s Wing Chun.

You’ve worked as actor, stuntman, action director and director in your own right. How different are those roles, and which one do you prefer?

Directing, definitely. In recent years, I’m just acting and choreographing, but I really want to direct again, and I’m working on a new project now.

In your long, prolific and amazing career in the Hong Kong film industry you’ve worked with literally ALL the great stars and directors, from King Hu to John Woo, Cheng Kang to Tsui Hark, Bruce Lee to Stephen Chow… and so on (I’m not even going to try and list any more names!) Add to that you’re one of Jackie Chan’s oldest and friends. Who have youreally enjoyed working with and why? What are your own personal favourite films?

My favourites would be Jackie and Yuen Biao, those films we did together (Project A, Wheels on Meals, Dragons Forever). The reason is that we have known each other for so long, so many years, the bond between us is very close, so it’s a great experience when we work together. Why don’t we do another film with the three of us? I’m ready! Ask Jackie Chan!

How do you think the Hong Kong film industry has changed over the years? What do you think of the state of it now, and how do you think the future looks?

Of course, it’s not a fair comparison. When I started, Hong Kong cinema was at its height, not just in Hong Kong, but throughout Asia. We had the most popular films in Taiwan, in Korea… Hong Kong stars were the biggest Asian stars in the world. Now, the ‘Hong Kong’ industry is almost dead, but many people who worked in Hong Kong movies, like me, work a lot in China. I think the Mainland Chinese market is very strong, and so there’s still hope.

Who do you consider to be the best ‘big screen’ martial artist in cinema today?

Maybe that Thai kid (Tony Jaa) in his first couple of films. If you understand filmmaking, you can see he doesn’t use wire, doesn’t use a double. Of course, you always get new people, younger people coming in, so maybe there will be someone better than him!

Whatever happened to the TV series Martial Law? Do you think you’d try to take on any other projects in the US?

I don’t know! First season, the audience was good, second, not so good. Anyway, compared to movies, a TV series is very hard work, so I don’t miss it! I would do another film in America. Like I say, they just have to come and ask me. I need to eat!

Ip Man is released by Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment as a two-disc DVD (£15.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£19.99) on 26 October 2009.

In the second of a series of exclusive interviews, we chat to director Wilson Yip about working with Donnie Yen, making a sequel for the first time and being in front of the camera…

Ip Man is your fourth film in a row with Donnie Yen as your leading star, and now you’re working on the sequel together. What attracts you to working with him?

When we first worked together, on SPL, I had never done an action film before, so I really relied on him for the martial arts choreography. I was really impressed that he knew a lot about filmmaking, not just martial arts choreography. I was also impressed with him as an actor. I felt he still hadn’t done his best work as an actor. We have very different characters, but, on the set, we work very well as a team.

Each of these collaborations has been very different in style. Is that a deliberate decision not to repeat your previous work together?

It just depends on the project. We’re doing Ip Man 2, which is obviously very similar to the first Ip Man in some respects. Flashpoint started off as a sequel to SPL, and then became something else, but the style of the action was still very MMA. I don’t think it’s a conscious thing, it depends on the script. For Dragon Tiger Gate, each character in the original comic book has his own specialty, so we had to find a way to show that on screen.

When talking about the film the producer Raymond Wong stated that, in the current market, Hong Kong action films must look beyond local box office success to an international audience. Is that a conscious decision for you? Has it changed the way you approach projects in the time you’ve been a director?

Not really. You always try to make the best film from the best script. I don’t think we’d have made Ip Man any differently if we were just making it for the Hong Kong audience. I think it you have a great story and great action and good actors, it doesn’t matter. You have a chance to find a market.

I believe Ip Man 2 will be the first sequel you’ve directed. How different is that to your normal projects? Is there more or less pressure on you as a filmmaker?

In one way, yes, because you don’t want to disappoint the fans of the first film, but the good thing is that its saves you a lot of time because, hopefully, the audience is already familiar with the characters. When you make a new film, you have to make so many decisions about how to present each character, the style of fighting… Its probably easier to make a sequel, but harder to make a good sequel!

What attracted you to the life of Ip Man as a subject for a film? Why do you think no one had ever attempted it before?

Actually, someone did attempt it before. (Director) Wong Kar-wai was developing a Ip Man project for many years, and I think he’s still going to do it. In my case, I knew of Ip Man as Bruce Lee’s teacher, then (producer) Raymond Wong came to me and said “Lets do a film about Ip Man, and show his Wing Chun…”, and the more I learned about him, the more interested I was. I do think that having the support of his son, Ip Chun, really helped us a lot.

How important was it to show the martial art of Wing Chun accurately on screen? Did the close-range of the combat change the way you might normally approach action scenes?

Very important. It has to look good, even to people who really know Wing Chun. Luckily, our action director, Sammo Hung, is very knowledgeable about this style of fighting, and knows how to make it look great on screen. I just took a step back and watched him work!

Did you encounter any problems during the shooting of Ip Man?

Not really. We started off with a good script, and the team worked together well. You always get some minor injuries making a martial arts film, but that was about it.

What scene are you proudest of in the movie?

I think the opening scenes, the ones in Foshan. They really recapture this lost time. Even though these kung fu masters are challenging each other, it’s all rather innocent, and this all changes when the Japanese invade.

What can we expect from the sequel, Ip Man 2? What’s it about?

Well, without giving too much away, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong, and he faces various challenges in life. He has to use his Wing Chun in a different environment, and against new opponents. It’s very much a continuation of the first film, but I hope we brought in some fresh elements.

You’ve appeared as an actor in several films, including The Eye. Which do you prefer, being in front of or behind the camera?

Oh, definitely being behind the camera. Definitely! I have no ambition to be an actor.

As a director which filmmakers work do you most admire? And who would you like to work with in the future?

Hmmmm. In America, I like Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann… Ridley Scott… Actually, I think if you ask most directors, they will name the same people, but these are truly great directors. I would love to work on a Hollywood film, but I don’t think my English is good enough for that!

Can you tell us about any other projects you have lined-up for the future?

Not really. I hate to talk about things before they happen. Sorry!

Ip Man is released by Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment as a two-disc DVD (£15.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£19.99) on 26 October 2009. And we’ll be chatting to Sammo Hung tomorrow…

In the first of a series of interviews, we chat exclusively to Donnie Yen about Ip Man, the sequel, the weight of inevitable comparisons to Bruce Lee, and much much more…

Ip Man was your fourth collaboration in a row with director Wilson Yip (and now you’re both working on the sequel). What keeps pulling you back together?

Well, we had such a good experience on SPL, our first film, that we just kept the winning team together! Seriously, Wilson and I are very different personalities. He is very low-key, never gets angry, you seldom see him at public events… I think it’s a case of opposites attracting. In the case of Ip Man, I could really turn the directing over to him and the action directing to Sammo and just focus on my acting, and I think that really helped my performance. I’m working with him again on Ip Man 2, and I’d work with him any time.

What attracted you to the story of Ip Man? Of all the well-known kung fu masters, why do you think he’s been overlooked for so long?

I think people only knew him as the teacher of Bruce Lee, so you only saw the character in films about him, kind of a supporting character. When you learn more about Ip Man, you realize that he had a really incredible life, and a huge influence on the martial arts world, in his own right. Maybe the right combination of elements didn’t come together until now to tell his story.

How much creative licence did you take with Ip Man’s life story?

Hmmm. Well, I’d say that everything we show has some kind of basis in reality, but of course we have to exaggerate some aspects to make an entertaining film. I mean, Ip Man did fight these challenges matches, he did have to survive in Foshan during the Japanese Occupation and he did move to Hong Kong to establish Wing Chun there. I think we did justice to him, and to his real story. His son, Ip Chun, was one of our advisors, and I know he was really happy with the film.

Film accounts of the legendary kung fu masters seem to be a genre of their own in Hong Kong movies, from hundreds of films inspired by Wong Fei Hung, to accounts of other masters like Huo Yuanjia (Fearless) and San Te (36th Chamber Of Shaolin), and so on. What’s your favourite movie based on a master?

It would still have to Bruce Lee playing Chen Jun in Fist of Fury. I played Chen in a TV series, and this year I’m making a movie about the same character. Also, I remember when the first Once Upon A Time in China film came out, with Jet Li as Wong Fei-hung. That was very impressive.

Wing Chun is a very different to other forms of martial arts. What makes it special? What research and learning did you have to do to bring it to the big screen?

The thing about Wing Chun is that the movements are like a chess game, where you’re countering your opponent’s movements. The techniques aren’t flashy; everything is at close range, but it’s one of the most effective styles of kung fu. I did a lot of research for the film. To be honest, after all these years making kung fu movies, I find it easy to perform any specific style on-screen. The real challenge I had was finding the character of Ip Man.

Your style of fighting on screen has become increasingly realistic looking, particularly since Flashpoint, and less obviously reliant on wires. Is this a deliberate move?

It depends on the project, and also on the setting. My own theory is that, if you’re making a contemporary film, unless its ‘Matrix’ or something like that, you can’t have people flying around. You go back to the era of Ip Man, you can have some more spectacular movements. Then, when you go back to like Crouching Tiger times, you can really have flying and so on. It’s the nature of the film that determines what style you will use. Now, with Ip Man, the setting was pre-war and wartime Foshan, and Ip Man’s style was Wing Chun, which is a very grounded, practical style, so the action had to suite those elements.

Unlike your other films with Wilson Yip, you handed over the reins of action director to Sammo Hung. Why was that, and what was that like?

It was a great benefit to have Sammo on the film. As fans of the genre know, he did several earlier Wing Chun films, Warriors Two, Prodigal Son, so we knew he had a deep understanding of the style. He brought all that to his choreography, and, as I mentioned, I could concentrate on just acting.

Is it true you hadn’t worked with Sammo Hung before S.P.L.? What was it like working with him again?

We were meant to do a film years ago, it was a thriller he was producing, and somehow it didn’t work out. Of course, I had known him for years and always respected him so much. When I worked with Sammo on SPL, I found him very patient and easygoing, and it was the same thing on Ip Man. Actually, we shot a cameo with me and Sammo, a scene that would have been at the start of Ip Man, but we cut it out, and now he’s playing a much larger role in Ip Man 2.

Did you encounter any problems during the shoot of Ip Man?

Honestly, whenever you make a martial arts film, the toughest thing is working with non-martial artists! You don’t want to hurt them and you don’t want to get hurt yourself! On Ip Man, of course Fan Siu-wong and myself have been making action films for years, but Ikeuchi-san, who played the Japanese general, had never really done martial arts before. But he trained very hard and we made him look good! That wasn’t a problem, but it was the biggest challenge of the film.

What scene are you proudest of in the movie?

Honestly, some of the acting scenes, the scenes with my family, after they’ve lost everything. The way Ip Man is forced to bow his head to the Japanese with all their guns. I mean, everyone has seem me do action before, but I never had the chance to play a character with this kind of depth.

It seems no film martial artist can go far in his career without being compared to Bruce Lee. I’m sure that’s happened to you in the past, and now – by playing the man who first taught Lee – that comparison is bound to be made again. Why do you think that is, and how does it feel to be compared to (or even ranked against) your hero? Did it occur to you that might happen when you decided on the project?

I’m sure every martial arts actor is described – especially in America! – as “the new Bruce Lee”. Of course, in my heart, I know no one can come close to Bruce Lee, but it’s an honour even to be mentioned in the same sentence as Bruce Lee. I didn’t really think about it before making ‘Ip Man’, because it was so obvious I was playing Bruce Lee’s teacher. I did before making the Fist Of Fury TV series, and I have been offered various projects over the years where I would have played Bruce Lee. I actually auditioned for Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story!

It’s been a while since you appeared in US movies like Shanghai Knights, Blade 2 and Highlander: Endgame. Have you given up on crossing over to a career in Hollywood to concentrate on your Hong Kong movie career instead? Or will you try again? How did you find the experience, and how different is filmmaking in the US?

No, I just had better opportunities here in Asia. It seems that, in Hollywood, if you’re Asian, you tend to get relegated to certain kinds of role, the sidekick, the villain… It’s the same thing Bruce Lee found when he tried to make it in Hollywood, and he really had to come back to Hong Kong to become a star. Of course, if someone offered me a great role in a great movie, I’d definitely consider it, wherever it was being made.

You’re now working on Ip Man 2, what can we expect from the sequel?

More and better, I hope! More drama, more action… We have Sammo Hung as a rival kung fu master, an expert in the Hung Gar style, so that is going to be new. We also have almost all the characters from the first film returning, so it’s a real sequel. You see the progression of Ip Man as a person, and also get to see Hong Kong during a very interesting era.

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Too many! I already finished Bodyguards and Assassins for Teddy Chen, 14 Blades for Daniel Lee, I’m going to do a movie version of Chen Jun… I really feel blessed that, after the success of Ip Man, I’ve had some great projects offered to me.

Ip Man is released by Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment as a two-disc DVD (£15.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£19.99) on 26 October 2009. And we’ll be chatting to director Wilson Yip and action choreographer Sammo Hung over the next few days…

We catch up with Chan-wook at the UK premiere of his latest film Thirst, and meet the man in person…

Curzon Soho cinema, in London’s West End, and Park Chan-wook is here to unveil his latest film Thirst just over a week before it’s UK cinematic release. Hard to believe, but it was barely over three and a half years ago that Park was in this very cinema to introducing Lady Vengeance.

Since then there’s been I’m A Cyborg, But It’s Okay, his visually stunning, though tepidly received romantic comedy, and two screenplays for other directors – A Boy Who Went to Heaven and Crush and Blush – but Park beams as he introduces the film, glowing from the praise heaped on his latest work from critics and audiences alike, including a shared Jury Prize at this years Cannes Film Festival. And tonight’s crowd is no less appreciative.

‘The film is a horror, but it’s also a comedy, and I know how well UK audiences appreciate my sense of humour,’ Park announces to the audience with the help of a translator. For a film so publicly trailed as a horror it sounds a little odd, but Park’s streak of black humour, present throughout his work but more obvious in I’m A Cyborg is equally near the surface in Thirst. His tale of a Roman Catholic priest Sang-hyun – played with aplomb by Kong Sang-ho – turned into a vampire finds the unpleasant, shocking and comical in his condition.

Later in conversation during the Q&A following the film, he reveals that has a lot to do with his personality. In real life he can’t stand long periods of awkward silence, preferring to break that with humour. His favourite kind of humour is one mixed with other, mainly negative, emotions, like fear, sorrow or even pain.

For Park there’s humour to be found in the dilemma his Catholic priest faces by not only wanting to keep hold of his religious faith and morality, but also create a new life for himself as a vampire.

The initial idea for Thirst had been a long time in gestation. One night some 10 years ago he’d written two short sequences from a story. The first was how a priest became a vampire, and the second was how the priest turned a woman into a vampire. But at that point he had no idea how they would meet, or who the woman would be.

These rough sketches were put into a draw for several years, until by chance he read Emile Zola’s novel Thérèse Raquin, and suddenly he realised the plot of the novel could fit with his earlier idea, and the project began in earnest. (Indeed, when he spoke here all those years ago, he mentioned that his next film would probably ‘explore religion, God and the devil’, suggesting that the themes of this movie where something he wanted to bring to the screen – if he’d not already begun thinking about the film itself.)

Brought up as a Catholic, he told of how priest visited his family and told them he would make a great priest. Park’s immediate reaction was to stop going to church – he was so afraid of what he would have to give up, unable to marry and having to live so much of your life alone. But after that moment he became curious about the notion of a priest, and it gave him an idea of what kind of private life they would have, and the sort of temptation and desire they’d have to avoid.

He distinctly remembers how when he was very young be became afraid during mass, as the ceremony of transubstantiation the bread that represents the flesh of Christ and the wine representing the blood of Christ reminded him of more of cannibalism and vampirism respectively. So the notion that priest would not only be drinking a symbol of Christ’s blood for the redemption of humanity, but as merely food for himself, became a natural progression of that idea, and captured his imagination.

But, as one member of the audience asks, was he trying to make judgements about those without faith? The behaviour of Tae-joo, the priest Sang-hyun’s lover who is turned into a vampire, seems in comparison to be presented as immoral. For Park it’s more a question of exploring the consequences of their actions. In reality, Sang-hyun is quite a pitiful character, still hanging onto his faith while consumed by blood lust, yet Tae-joo grasps hold of her new existence to enjoy far more freedom, even enjoying murder.

In that sense the priest’s character far more closely reflects his own. He can be seen as pathetic, he laughs, or you can see how difficult is for him to make the choice because he cannot give up both sides. Despite this Park is more sympathetic towards him, as he finds this dilemma more human.

Park seems bemused by the numerous Vampire films and TV programmes in popular culture right now. He grumbles that at US Press Conferences, for instance, they kept mentioning True Blood. In fact, at the time he was far too busy actually making Thirst to notice the genre’s popularity, he hadn’t even seen Let The Right On In? And Twilight? Park makes an extremely long ‘er’ sound, before replying democratically that his daughter loves it.

But had he any influences in making the film? Park prefers not to call it an influence, but one film he had in mind was Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession, an intensely bizarre and surreal horror from the 1980s. Initially the lead actress who plays Tae-joo, Kim Ok-vin, looked for direction on how she should play her role, and Park pointed her in the direction of the film and they both loved the lead actress Isabella Adjani’s performance. As homage, Tae-joo wore Adjani’s blue dress in the final scene.

Asked why nearly all his films seem to involve a relative innocent who is driven to do horrendous things, Park reveals he find the transformation fascinating. For him it’s about the symbolic death of a character, perhaps their daughter is kidnapped, as in Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, or maybe they are imprisoned for 15 years, following what happens next is a big part of the experience.

Does it bother him that some of the cultural nuances and references of his films don’t translate? For instance, Mi-do’s last words in Oldboy were deliberately intended to keep his Korean audiences on the edge of their seats: the first syllable oh the word she utters could be Father, or a respectful term for a middle-aged man– which will she say? Park doesn’t seem too worried if some of his subtleties are lost in translation, though. He realises how difficult they can be to translate in the first place. And he’s found some scenes have been made funnier, or given deeper meaning in their interpretation – so the film becomes another experience altogether.

Perhaps it was that early yearning to be a film critic, but Like some of the finest directors of his generation, such as Pedro Almodóvar and Guillermo del Toro, Park is hardly a director you could accuse of having little to say – such is his desire to engage with his audience.

Two days later it’s my chance for a one-on-one with Park at the Korean Cultural Centre, a slightly daunting prospect even considering all the directors I’ve spoken to in the past, since none of them has quite such a well-known profile in the West. Just what should I ask him?

For Park Chan-wook it’s been an exhausting few days on the promotional treadmill. Screenings, interviews, Q & As, all the things you need to do when promoting a cinematic release in the UK. When I first enter the room Park is dutifully signing some 50 DVD covers of his previous films as a competition prize. Ah, the glamour of it all…

Having answered so many questions about the film, I ask him, is there anything he wished someone had asked him? (Yes, I know! It comes in handy having a trained journalist as a wife sometimes!)

Park notes few people have asked about Mrs Ra, who was an important part of why he combined Emile Zola’s novel Thérèse Raquin with his original vampire story. In his original story the priest priest Sang-hyun turns the woman into a vampire in the bathroom, and as he kills her he eyes wander towards the bathroom mirror and he sees his own reflection and realises what he’s become. But this device felt far to clichéd for Park to use, so instead replaced that mirror with Mrs Ra.

Even though she becomes a paraplegic, we see her all the way through the film, reflecting the true monster that priest Sang-hyun has become. And ultimately, when Sang-hyun lies himself and Tae-joo in front of her in the final scene, this is the most he can do for forgiveness from her.

Ultimately Ra is like a ray from the sunrise, part of your daily life, but something that can be brutal to vampires like Sang-hyun and Tae-joo. Even the mere act of her gazing can itself be cruel and brutal. At the same time she could also be the eyes of the audience.

Her name was adapted from the original Mother Raquin character, but the funny thing is that in the end it’s also like Sun Ra – Park’s favourite Jazz musician.

Another important part of the movie people don’t tend to ask about is his use of music. He made a point of using songs by 50s Korean pop stars Nam In Soo and Lee Nan Young. That music sounds very strange now, especially to the younger generation, which is why Tae-joo has become so sick of it. Yet despite the possibly negative context with which he’s has used it in the film, Park believes these are great musicians and hope his use will bring them contemporary recognition, even including three complete songs on the soundtrack album (which he recommends, plug plug).

(I seem to uncovered a goldmine, but before I get a chance to feel too smug about my success of my rather open ended opener I get a tap on the shoulder and a request to make the next question my last. Yikes!)

To my mind the film seems like quite a departure from his previous work, both visually and in terms of narrative. In effect, it’s much more about the story itself. I ask him if that true?

He explains that his previous film, I’m A Cyborg, But It’s Okay, was the closest he’d ever been to completing a film as he’d original intended it. The only problem was that because he had complete creative control he ended up feeling more like a designer than a director, he says with more than a touch of regret.

This time around he wanted the approach to be very simple and stripped back, avoiding any fantasy elements – due to the subject matter – and not playing about with the timeframe as he’s been known too – so there are no ‘revealing’ flashbacks.

He makes this clear from the opening scene, starting with a white wall and door with only a shadow from a tree. The lead character literally walks onto the screen, and right from the start you can tell his vocation from his clothes. This is Park’s declaration of intent to his audience, that the film will follow a minimalist narrative.

So a chance for one last cheeky question? Something I’ve always wondered about the segment he wrote and directed for Three… Extremes called ‘Cut’. In it he cast his old friend (and co-star of JSA) Lee Byung-hun as a director whose biggest crime seems to be he’s just too nice. Is that, ahem, based on anyone?

Park keen to make sure the translator passes on that it’s not based on him right away. It would be silly to create a movie about a director and have it be anything like him. That character soon reveals that he has a dark side, which is nothing like Park. However, on the surface he appears very nice, and he guesses that is like himself.

(I’m not entirely convinced…)

One thing that is true is that it’s well-known in Korea that Park’s sets are very pleasurable and enjoyable. ‘Fact!’, the translator tells me, earnestly.

And so I depart with a promise that my (many) remaining questions will be answered via email in time for the DVD release in the New Year. Here’s hoping, fingers crossed…

To be continued…

Thirst is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16 October, with a DVD and Blu-ray release early in the new year from Palisades Tartan.

Thanks to Richard and Paul from The Associates, Hugh from Palisades Tartan, and of course Park Chan-wook for his time.

We chat to Gianna Jun, who plays the lead Saya in the new version of Blood: The Last Vampire, released this Friday…

In Blood: The Last Vampire did you perform your own stunts? What sort of training did you do to get in shape for the role?

I had various training programs from a distance race to kicking practice and muscle-strengthening exercises in China and U.S. I also learned intensive skills such as wire action. The action director Corey Yuen helped me a lot.

What attracted you to the role of Saya in the first place?

When I first saw her, she looked very mysterious – unfriendly and gloomy. It was kind of shocking, but very attractive.

Had you seen the original short but impressive Animation version of Blood: The Last Vampire before accepting the role? How do you think the new film differs from the original Animation?

I saw the animation after receiving the role offer from the producer Bill Kong and was impressed by the character Saya. The film focused on visual attraction rather than the story flow, while the animation describes Saya’s character and relations in more detail.

As this is your first English language film, are you hoping it leads to more roles in the West? Perhaps even a career in Hollywood?

Of course. I’m willing to do my best whenever I can have a chance.

The production itself was truly international, with talent from France, China, UK, Hong Kong, Argentina, Japan, US and of course Korea. What was the atmosphere like on set?

We barely had mutual information one another, so at first, it sometimes made the work hard. But people were so nice and friendly that we all hit it off together.

What was the best part about making this movie?

I liked to travel several countries such as China, US and Argentina. It helped me feel refreshed.

In South Korea you are best known for appearing in romantic comedies and dramas, including Il Mare, the original version of The Lake House. What was it like appearing in an all-out action movie for a change? Did you enjoy it?

It was really hard, actually. I had a three-month hard training for this action project and it made me extremely hard. But it was nothing compared to the shooting. Have you ever hung on a wire in the rain for the whole month? I’m certainly sure it’d make you feel crazy. (laughs) I was able to get in the project because I had no idea how hard it would be before. However, it also has so many attractions that I’m willing to do it again if there are any good chances.

Have you ever seen American version of The Lake House? What did you think?

It looks new and very different from the original film. But, I’m so happy that Korean films are acknowledged and remade by Hollywood.

What are plans now?

I’m planning to do one of several Korean films, but nothing is decided yet.

Blood: The Last Vampire is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 2 November by Pathé. You can win the DVD here…

We also spoke to Blood director Chris Nahon, click here to read our interview.

Thanks to Gianna Jun, Pathé and Charlotte Mach from Substance for setting up the interview.

We talk exclusively to Chris Nahon, director of Kiss Of The Dragon and the new live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire, released Friday…

How did you become involved with making the live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire?

I met the producer but at the time Ronny Yu had just been confirmed as director. I was surprised when the producer asked one year after if I wanted to direct Blood. I was a fan since the beginning and I accepted with no hesitations.

Had you seen the original Blood: The Last Vampire anime?

I’d had the DVD for year. It always been a reference for me.

What changes did you need to make to the original in order to recreate it as a full-length live-action movie?

Adding another dimension in order to develop more the character of Saya. We open a door on her past.

What was it like working with action director Corey Yuen again?

Working with an old friend reminded me of so much emotion from the making of Kiss of the Dragon. Him and his team are incredible – they are ready to jump from the window for you anytime!

Did you encounter any problems during the shooting of the film?

Directing is managing problems to drive your movie back on your track. If we can avoid accidents it’s the best that I can ask for because we took a lot of risks.

What was the best part about making this movie?

Having Gianna and Koyuki together. Doing action with women. I loved it!

Kiss Of The Dragon has been easily one of the best Jet Li vehicles made in the West (in my opinion at least!). How do you think you got it so right, and why do others get it so wrong?

It comes from the good communication between the production and the director. I have never been so free since that one.

You obviously enjoy making action movies, but do you plan to move into any other genres?

I have a lot of plans. I would like to work develop more and more emotions on my next projects. The studio or the production still have a lot to understand in term of action movies. Most of the time they separate the genres when one can help the other.

What are you working on next?

I have many projects… but I never talk about them until they are done. I am too much superstitious for that…! Cheers.

Blood: The Last Vampire is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 2 November by Pathé. You can win the DVD here…

Thanks to Chris Nahon, Pathé and Charlotte Mach from Substance for setting up the interview.

We talk to Yuri Lowenthal, star of Jinno in Afro Samurai and Afro Samurai: Resurrection, about life as an Anime voice actor…

What attracted you to the role of Jinno in the Afro Samurai films?

The fact that they asked me to play him. Not to be flip, but we rarely, as actors get to choose what roles we’d like to play. Unless of course, we’re Sam Jackson… But what thrilled me about getting to play him was his amazing arc as a character. He starts off as one guy and ends up in a very different, very very dark place. Plus I got to kick Sam Jackson’s ass. And they keep bringing him back from the dead for me to play again. And he’s a twin-sword-wielding insane cyborg death machine with a giant teddy bear head. What’s not to like?

How did you become involved in voice acting for Anime films (and video games) in the first place?

I started as an on-camera and theatre actor. I had always been in love with the many products of voice acting (mostly in the form of cartoons and video games) but never really thought of it as a possible career path until I moved out to LA where that work was a bit more available. I took a class to learn more about it, and my teacher ended up getting a job directing the dub of an anime series. I auditioned for him, was cast, and I started meeting people in that circle. That job led to others, which led to others. The more I worked, the … more I worked.

Are there any roles you’ve particularly enjoyed over the years?

It’s almost impossible to pick one character as a favorite. Some of my favorites include Superman from Legion of Superheroes, Ben Tennyson from Ben 10 Alien Force, The Prince from the Prince of Persia VG series, Kamal from ilovebees, Sasuke from Naruto, Yosuke from Persona 4, Suzaku from Code Geass, Simon from Gurren Lagann, Haseo from the .//Hack G.U. games, and of course Jinno/Kuma from Afro Samurai. Do you see how this is a hard question?

How was it working with far better known calibre of co-stars on Afro Samurai, like Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman for a change?

“Working with” is an interesting term in voice acting. I actually didn’t even meet Sam until a couple of months ago at the release party for the Afro Samurai video game, despite the fact that I had been working opposite him for years. I do love getting to work on projects “with” them, though. Being a huge nerd, I’ve loved these guys for years and it’s an honor to even be associated with projects they’re involved in.

Have you been surprised by the popularity of the Afro Samurai character?

Only in that characters like this don’t usually get introduced to the masses as forcefully as Afro has. Certainly not because he’s not deserving of it. And it’s really a take-no-prisoners kind of franchise, not for the faint of heart, so I’m surprised, but happily so. It’s definitely my kind of show/movie/game.

Do you like the anonymity of voice work, or would you prefer to be ‘seen’ in more movies (and perhaps recognised in the street more often)?

Some days I feel one way, and some days I’m happy that I can go about my life and not be bothered. It all depends on the day. It’s a very odd type of fame. I don’t yet make enough money to buy a walled castle in the Hollywood Hills, so I think I’ll have to be okay with anonymous for the time being… In any case, I’m glad I was recognized enough to talk to you guys today. Thanks.

Afro Samuari: Resurrection, The Director’s Cut is released by Manga Entertainment on DVD on 27 April. The DVD will include: Afro Samurai Game; Enter the RZA; Afro in Depth; Afro Samurai: Meets the West Part 1; Afro Samurai: Meets the West Part 2; Afro Samurai at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 and Part A Video Commentary.

Thanks to Yuri Lowenthal for his time, and Farhana Shaikh of The Associates for forwarding the questions to him.

The director of A Bittersweet Life and A Tale Of Two Sisters talks about his latest movie, a homage to Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly…

It’s an exceptionally mild November day, though you wouldn’t know it to look at Kim Jee-woon. In London to attend a premiere of his latest film The Good, The Bad, The Weird at the London Korean Film Festival, Kim initially appears rugged up in hat and scarf behind a pair of sunglasses.

Due for theatrical release in the UK on 6 February, audiences around the world are lapping up this enjoyable yarn about a thief, a merciless assassin and a bounty hunter (not to mention bandits and the Japanese army) racing across 1930s Manchuria to find a supposed treasure. His most ambitious film to date, its as much a celebration of filmmaking craft as a homage to Spaghetti Western auteur Sergio Leone, the old-fashioned thrill of real stunts and epic landscapes that came before an over reliance on CGI. (Rather the way the last Indiana Jones film should have been…!)

Kim Jee-woon’s debut feature in 1998, The Quiet Family, was one of the first to get South Korea truly noticed in the international film scene, joining the likes of Lee Chang-dong’s Green Fish, Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere To Hide and Kang Je-gyu’s Shiri. An offbeat comedy about a family’s disastrous attempt to run a lodge in a remote area, particularly as their clientele keep dying, you might know it better as Takeshi Miike’s (very) loose remake The Happiness of the Katakuris, though it also inspired a Hong Kong version.

(Ironically Miike’s Spaghetti – or as the Japanese would have it, Macaroni – Western inspired film Sukiyaki Western Django is released on DVD the same week as Kim’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird opens at cinemas.)

And as if launching his own career and helping put Korean filmmakers on the map wasn’t enough, perhaps his shrewdest move must have been casting future Korean superstars Song Kang-ho (The Host, Memories Of Murder, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance) and Choi Min-sik (Old Boy, Chihwaseon, Failan).

Since then Kim may not have been as prolific as some of his peers, producing just three feature-length movies (and two shorts) in the interim, but has brought an intelligence and excellence to all that he has produced. Far more than write his own scripts, Kim involves himself heavily at every level, from set to props to wardrobe. It accounts for why each project takes a significant amount of time to make it to the big screen. (Or it could just be he’s a control freak?)

I look again at Kim, remembering what Lee Byung-hun told me about how he’s all about the details, and notice how meticulously picked out his clothes seem. From the slapstick wrestling comedy The Foul King, which also starred Song Kang-ho, to the horror-driven A Tale Of Two Sisters (also to be remade, this time by Hollywood as The Uninvited) his films show that keen attention to detail. Indeed the set design helps turn the house the sisters live in – covered in beautiful but deliberately overpowering flock wallpaper designs – into a character in its own right. His last movie A Bittersweet Life, starring Lee Byung-hun as a mob enforcer who makes the mistake of betraying his boss, also contained a high level of set design, including a stunningly designed bar called ‘La Dolce Vita’ (‘The Sweet Life’ being a more literal translation of the original Korean title).

The Good, The Bad, The Weird reunites Kim with Lee and Kong Sang-ho. Its had a mixed reception back in Korea, perhaps because it superficially seems less complex than much of his work, its unashamedly popcorn fodder. So why did he decide on the more traditional narrative approach of a Western in the first place?

As Kim points out, the Western may be a familiar genre for a Western audience, but not for Koreans. He was concerned that his core Korean audience should feel comfortable with it, so gave it a more traditional narrative despite the twist in location and characters. But he was also concerned about making what for many is an outdated genre, so he considered how he could make it more entertaining and appeal to modern audiences. He wanted to put in much more action than a normal Western film, he saw it as more of a spectacle, with grand action sequences, and between those he placed more humour – he wanted to create a balance with the pace and order of the film, a rhythm.

So did that make it an ‘Oriental Western’? He first coined the phrase after becoming frustrated trying to explain what his next film would be. He’d say it was a Manchurian action film and no one would understand, so instead he started calling it an ‘Oriental Western’, and that worked. He also thinks it reflects the dynamic aspects of the film, and that in turn reflects the Korean people.

Once he heard Korea described to the South America of East Asia, people are so passionate and emotional, and in that way they are lively too.

It’s strange to hear him get caught up discussing a genre. From the ‘gore comedy’ of The Quiet Family to the psychological horror of A Tale Of Two Sisters, and now a Western, Kim has managed to defying getting stuck on any genre during his career. A rare luxury for any director – imagine a young Martin Scorsese without gangsters or Hitchcock without a falsely accused man. And it’s true even in Korea, where even creative directors like Park Chan-wook can find it easy to get caught up in a series vengeance films. Indeed, perhaps only Kim Ki-duk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, The Isle, 3-Iron) has experienced the same freedom.

Kim modestly replies it’s because he didn’t know what he was best at. Also working with such a wide, uninhibited range of genres gives him a cinematic energy and often inspires him. So far he hasn’t a thriller, spy or a sci-fi film, so those are genres he’s considering next. Having said that, this year he was knocked out by two American films, the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men and David Finch’s Zodiac – so now he’s thinking about how he could revisit a genre in a more, as he puts it, macho way.

Does he think there’s any recurring theme in these movies? ‘I don’t know!’ he replies in English. He admits that all his lead characters tend to be naïve or simplistic. The other recurring aspect? The wind. It often plays a part in his films, though not directly referenced it’s very important to him. But if you ask him why, he doesn’t know.

So what about the films obvious homage to Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly? He had always liked American Westerns, the classics like High Noon, Rio Bravo, Gunfight At OK Coral, but found they always included too many American values and ideology. It didn’t relate to a young Korean growing up in Asia. Then along came Sergio Leone and turned the Western on its head. He was amazed by how unconventional it was. He found it quite shocking, and that feeling was something he wanted to translate to this film.

At that time one of the strangest things was that no one is actually the good guy, they’re all a muddy grey, at best, even the main character. He believes it’s why people say that after him things became so much more realistic.

His spin on The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is to have the Ugly (or in Kim’s case Weird) lead the story rather then the good, which he thought would make the film more interesting.

One important influence Kim is keen to point out is a little known Korean Western he discovered while filming, a 1971 film by Lee Man-hui called Break The Chain. Some of his other influences come from surprising references. The chase scenes recall Mad Max (also known as The Road Warrior) and even Ben Hur. For the multicultural, multinational settlements in Manchuria he looked to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

In fact when he was preparing the film, he showed the cast and crew Mad Max, telling them they were going to make a faster, better, more exciting film. Unsurprisingly they began to ask, what kind of film are we making?

And just how difficult was the film to shoot? The worst thing was the heat. They filmed in August, when the temperature got as high as 40 degrees Celsius, so subsequently they all got sick. The extended chase scene at the end with all the horses and trucks also caused some problems, in the end they ended up having to actually build a new road of 30 km for the horse riding! It didn’t help that the budget was raised during filming, but that only made him happier with how the film came out in the end, so he’s very pleased with it.

As a parting shot I ask him about the Hollywood remake of A Tale Of Two Sisters, The Uninvited, having had so much involvement in the original was he asked for any input into the new film? Not at all, and he feels it’s probably better that they exist as two completely separate films. He even heard they actually made a good job of it (hard to believe!) but some of it he feels would have been hard to translate, not just in cultural references but in a sensibility that fear can’t explain. He wanted to show how following ones desire can change people, and how that desire can lead to craziness.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is released on UK DVD and Blu-ray by Icon Home Entertainment on 1 June 2009.

Thanks to Chris Lawrence of Icon Film Distribution and Paul Smith of The Associates for setting up the interview, and of course Kim Jee-woon for his time.