Oldboy director Park Chan-wook reveals his next project

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

OLDBOY, tough as it may be to watch, is pretty much a classic of modern cinema. And if you’ve seen anything else at all by writer/director Park Chan-wook, you’re well aware that OLDBOY was not just a one-off piece of brilliant craftsmanship.

So while details have been awfully scarce, I remaind as excited as can be for his English language debut STOKER starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and Mia Wasikowska.  In an interview with Korea Joongang Daily, Chan-wook stirred the pot of anticipation further by stating that the film recently wrapped and that STOKER attracted his attention because it “involves a love triangle and is set entirely in a single house with only three main characters… I like telling big stories through small, artificially created worlds.”

STOKER is expected to have a showing at Cannes Film Festival, so hopefully we’ll be hearing a whole lot more about it very soon.

As for what Chan-wook will do next? “I was planning to make another film, ‘The Axe,’ before I started shooting ‘Stoker.'”  THE AXE would be a remake of the Belgian/French/Spanish film LE COUPERET, the story of “a chemist, who loses his job to outsourcing. Two years later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition.” 

Chan-wook then elaborated on why he hasn’t done THE AXE yet, saying “while I was still seeking investors for that film, I received the screenplay for ‘Stoker.’  So ‘The Axe’ will be my next work, though I need to do some more work on the casting and attracting investors. I’m also thinking about making a historical film, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do that… I’d like to continue working in both Hollywood and Korea. Actually, it doesn’t matter to me where a film is made. If the story is good, I’ll follow it.”

The rest of the interview really is fantastic, and a great insight into Chan-wook’s working style, his preference between working in Korea or in the States, and what’s really important to him.  You can read all about it right here.