- Title: FRANCE: "Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook brings new-look vampire movie to Cannes
- Date: 16th May 2009
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 15, 2009) (REUTERS) WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE DIRECTOR PARK CHAN-WOOK PODIUM CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) ACTRESS KIM OK-VIN SAYING: "I didn't really find it difficult to film. There were a lot of cruel and gruesome scenes, but during the shoot I saw so much blood that that after the film, if I saw blood, or saw blood in other films, I was delighted to see blood again." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) DIRECTOR PARK CHAN-WOOK SAYING: "Is the sexual position that awkward? It's true that they are not used to having sex, it is as if it is their first time, so they are not used to sleeping with other people, so I wanted them to have the most usual position possible. But perhaps you are referring to the time they are kissing each others feet or toes. This is because the toes of the woman represent her passion and her solitude, and so in order to overcome her passion and her solitude, she runs around at night and her feet are very sore. And when the priest kisses her feet it refers to the Christian tradition where Christ washes peoples' feet."
- Embargoed: 31st May 2009 13:00
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- Location: France
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVABZJ77PIPPVOM893BGTV8M8WOM
- Story Text: Park Chan-wook sees his movie "Thirst", about a Catholic priest turned vampire and which will be in competition at Cannes when it opens this week, as a morality tale.
Known for films that question human nature through scenes of shocking violence and dark humour, Park presents a blood-drenched thriller in "Thirst", which opened in South Korea this month to critical acclaim and strong box office receipts.
The movie, called "Bakjwi" in Korean, stars veteran actor Song Kang-ho as the priest who becomes a vampire during a medical experiment and who is then seduced by a bored housewife bent on murder, played by rising star Kim Ok-vin, who showed she was neither squeamish on nor off screen.
"I didn't really find it difficult to film. There were a lot of cruel and gruesome scenes, but during the shoot I saw so much blood that that after the film, if I saw blood, or saw blood in other films, I was delighted to see blood again," the young actress said.
Park said he thought he could add some changes to the old vampire genre by approaching the subject without the usual mystery or romanticism but from a realistic perspective where being a vampire is sort of a disease, highly sensory rather than just sexual.
"It's true that they are not used to having sex, it is as if it is their first time, so they are not used to sleeping with other people, so I wanted them to have the most usual position possible. But perhaps you are referring to the time they are kissing each others feet or toes. This is because the toes of the woman represent her passion and her solitude, and so in order to overcome her passion and her solitude, she runs around at night and her feet are very sore. And when the priest kisses her feet it refers to the Christian tradition where Christ washes peoples' feet."
The movie will be the first Park has entered in competition at Cannes since "Oldboy" in 2004. He will be up against movies including World War Two drama "Inglourious Basterds" from director Quentin Tarantino, who championed Park five years ago.
"Thirst" was the first Korean film to receive production funding and a distribution deal from Hollywood studios with Universal Pictures and Focus Features investing in the project in a vote of confidence for Park, U.S. entertainment trade publication Variety reported. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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