On Sunday, February 26, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was invited to participate in a master class exercise at Grand Rex. Organized by The Jokers Films, the event gathered many fans for the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s Parasite.

First, the director greeted the audience with a 4K remastered version of The Host. The film will be released in theaters on March 8. Bong Joon-ho, as a rock star, broke the crowd into rapturous applause.

Cannes Film Festival President Thierry Fremaux takes the director on stage. “Rewatching The Host feels like it was last year”he notes. “Yes ?”A good-looking Bong Joon-ho answers, prompting cheers from the room.

“I watched the last 20 minutes in the room, the quality is so clear, as if the movie was not so long ago”says the filmmaker, praising The Host’s restoration work.

Bong Joon-ho, who is very critical of his work, specifies that he prefers not to revise his films because he always sees points for improvement. He also wanted to retouch the host, but Thierry Fremaux immediately stopped him: “The movie is perfect for me, for you too?”he asks the crowd chanting Didi “Yes!”.

When it was released in 2006, The Host was a very big budget for Korean cinema. “However, compared to the big American monster movie, we had a very limited budget, especially for special effects.”Bong Joon-ho recalls.

Then the artist recalls that the film required 115 shots of the monster in computer-generated images, which was very expensive. “We were counting the number of plans to try to keep the budget down. We thought a lot and used our creativity to be able to cut costs. We were under tremendous pressure.”

We thought a lot and used our creativity to be able to reduce costs.

Thierry Frémaux then notes that the host combines many themes: “Is it a genre film, a mainstream film, an auteur film, a monster film, a family film, a sociological film, a political film, was it from the beginning?”

At first, my idea was just to make a monster movie.

“In the beginning, my idea was just to make a monster movie. Finally, thinking about the characters, I told myself that they could be scientists, soldiers, but we’ve already seen that a lot in other movies of the genre.”Bong Joon-ho explains.

Family and monsters

So the director decides to take the opposite view of it “By bringing in a slightly goofy dad and a slightly goofy family. I thought it would be pretty fun, and I focused on that family.”

“Finally, it was from this family that I started to develop a story with a monster, family and political satire. Government, society, institutions do not help these families because they are small people, weak and weak people. For those who are not helped by the system, it even puts them in the wheels”The director analyzes.

Korean society is moving very fast, there is a lot going on in this country; I’d say more happens in Korea in one week than Iceland does in 10 years.jokes the filmmaker.

The government, society, institutions do not help these families, because they are small people, weak people and whom the system does not help, even puts spokes in the wheels.

Thierry Fremaux then returns to Bong Joon-ho’s portrayal of Americans in the film and asks if he was right to fear at the time that the film would be seen as anti-American.

“As the host opens, we see an American scientist ordering a Korean man to pour chemicals down the sink, despite the risk of contamination. This is a true story that happened in 2000 Korea.”Bong Joon-ho explains.

“At the time, it caused a lot of controversy, the media and non-governmental organizations were hijacked. This is something that piqued my curiosity. I find it funny to use an actual fact that was both political and social. This might be a good starting point for that. Genre movie. It’s also kind of a convention you see in genre movies, explaining where the monster comes from. I find it interesting.”

A satire of the United States

The director explains that this satire of the USA came quite naturally. “At that time, the United States was at war with Iraq, they were talking about weapons of mass destruction. In the end, the government apologized, admitting that it was false information. It was inspired by the end of the movie where the authorities recognize them. error about virus”says Bong Joon-ho.

“But I wasn’t really afraid, I knew that doing this satire of the US would not be handicapped. There were also Americans on my team, especially on special effects. There are also films by Americans who condemn this system. It was not a problem.”

Our human reference was actor Steve Buscemi in Fargo.

Bong Joon-ho then makes a startling revelation about the design of this hideous creature in the film, prompting laughter from the audience.

Steve Buscemi inspired the host monster

“Our reference as a person was the actor Steve Buscemi In Fargo. At one point, a bullet hits his cheek and he suffers a lot. It pisses him off, he’s on edge, and I wanted that for the creature. I wish he had that character.”The director reveals.

Thierry Frémaux then talks about the filmmaker’s and Netflix collaboration Okja, which was selected in competition at Cannes 2017, sparking a controversy that caused a lot of ink to flow.

NETFLIX AND (NOT) CHILL?

“I told you earlier that in the host we had 115 shots of this creature, which required a significant budget. When I shot Okja’s script, I tried to minimize the shots with the beautiful monster as much as possible. But we had a total of 350 shots of this super pig, and it required a really big budget, which Korean Cinema could not make it.The director reveals.

Naturally, that’s why Bong Joon-ho turned to the United States and Europe to find funding for Okja. “Every time my script was rejected. ‘Are you really going to show Slaughterhouse?’, they said to me for example. They gave me 1000 excuses to refuse the film. In the end, Netflix was the only company that agreed to produce the film.”emphasizes the South Korean.

“I know there was a lot of anger about the movies that were shown in theaters; despite everything, I am very grateful to Netflix because it was thanks to them that I was able to make this movie.”he says.

Netflix was the only company that agreed to produce Okja.

Thierry Frémaux recalls that it is important to watch movies in the cinema, off-Netflix or off-Netflix. “And okja, you should see it on the big screen too”chants he, who is applauded by the Grand Rex community.

“If we’re talking about Okja’s story on Netflix, we’re here at night”jokes Bong Joon-ho. “But there’s one thing I can’t deny: the movie should be seen on the big screen in theaters”The artist hammers, followed by a thunderous clap.

However, since Okja, Netflix has become much more flexible. We had examples. Rome, Irish or vice. The platform sometimes allows films to be released in theaters prior to landing on the platform.” The filmmaker then jokes about Quentin Tarantino saving the 35mm Okja to show at a Los Angeles theater.

The triumph of the parasite

At the end of the masterclass, Bong Joon-ho reflected on the success of Parasite, the Cannes Palme d’Or and the Best Picture Oscar. “You know, I never feel confident in myself, I’m always afraid of doing the wrong thing, and I make up for it by working even harder. By immersing himself in work, he can mask this fear and this instability. I feel”The director explains.

“When I finished ‘Parasite’, I felt that I had given 100% of myself. But I wasn’t sure that the public would like the film. But I was sure that I had given everything and anything that I wanted to do. I was able to make it into a feature film.”

ạᲮῃᲚẦ ᲞῦᲝᲦᲥᲢᲢ

The filmmaker completed the masterclass and confirmed that he was working on his next film, Mickey 17, with Robert Pattinson in the role of an individual sent to colonize a frozen planet.

Each time he dies, his memories are implanted into a new body and his mission is renewed. After dying six times, Mickey 17 begins to understand the true purpose of his mission. The film will hit theaters on March 27, 2024.