Park Chan-wook, our guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is one of the most admired filmmakers not only in his own country, South Korea, but all around the world, having made masterpieces including 2000’s Joint Security Area, 2003’s Oldboy, 2016’s The Handmaiden, 2022’s Decision to Leave and, most recently, 2025’s No Other Choice, a dramedy centering on a man who is laid off from his job and resorts to desperate measures to try to keep his life the way it was.
The Hollywood Reporter has described Park as “the virtual face of contemporary South Korean cinema.” Paste argued, “The vibrant South Korean cinema scene’s success with Western audiences over the past couple of decades owes much to” him. And the New York Times has described him as “an auteur beloved as much for his complex, often critical visions of his home country… as for scenes of stomach-churning horror,” “an internationally renowned master of bloodshed” and “the man who put Korean cinema on the map.”
Over the course of a conversation at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, the 62-year-old, aided by interpreter Jiwon Lee, discussed the cinematic and societal influences that shaped his fascination with violence; what he learned from the failure of his first two films that he was able to apply to his third, Joint Security Area, which became a cultural phenomenon and paved the way for his “Vengeance trilogy”; and what appeals to him about experimenting with different genres and technology.
He also described the 20-year journey that led to No Other Choice, on which he reteamed, after 25 years, with one of the stars of Joint Security Area, Lee Byung-hun. No Other Choice is South Korea’s entry for the best international feature Oscar race this awards season, and it already has made it onto the shortlist of 15 finalists, with a very real shot at becoming Park’s first film ever to receive an Oscar nomination.
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