Park Chan-wook wants to film 'Human Acts' by Nobel laureate Han Kang if given the chance
Filmmaker Park Chan-wook would like to adapt 'Human Acts' by Nobel laureate Han Kang into a film if given the chance.
'Just reading the first chapter, I thought, 'Wow, this is just masterfully written.' It struck me as a masterpiece from the start,' he said.
The comment came during a session titled 'Park Chan-wook's Literary Anchors' with literary critic Shin Hyoung-cheol, held Friday at the Seoul International Book Fair at Coex. When asked whether there are any Korean novels he dreams of adapting, Park responded that the idea remains a distant hope -- 'just one of those thoughts that simply make you happy to imagine.'
Alongside 'Human Acts,' he mentioned Park Kyong-ni's 20-volume epic 'Toji (Land),' Lee Mun-ku's interconnected short story collection 'Gwanchon Essays,' Shin Kyung-sook's 'The Lone Room' and Kim Hoon's 'The Song of the Sword.'
Park is widely known as a voracious reader, and many of his films have their roots in literature. His breakout hit 'Joint Security Area' (2000) was based on a novel by Park Sang-yeon, while 'The Handmaiden' reimagined Sarah Waters' 'Fingersmith' in colonial-era Korea. His hardboiled classic 'Oldboy' drew inspiration from a Japanese manga of the same name.
Park likened working with literary source material to 'a trip planned with a detailed itinerary.'
'Having a source novel does give me a certain sense of security,' he said. 'But just like with travel, things rarely go exactly as planned. Even when you begin adapting a novel, you often end up somewhere completely different from where you first imagined.'
He recalled that 'Decision to Leave,' which earned him the best director award at Cannes, originally began as an attempt to adapt the final chapter of the last volume in the 10-part Swedish Martin Beck detective series -- but ultimately evolved into an entirely different story.
Park explained that what anchors a film in its source novel varies with each project. 'Sometimes it's a character that strikes me; other times it's the narrative itself. It's hard to capture in just one word.'
Or sometimes it's just a simple description. For instance, in Emile Zola's 'Therese Raquin,' the novel that inspired his film 'Thirst,' he underlined this sentence: The Arcade of the Pont Neuf is not a place for a stroll. You take it to make a short cut, to gain a few minutes.
Park is currently in post-production on his upcoming film 'No Other Choice' starring Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin. Set for release during the Chuseok holiday in October, the black comedy is also adapted from Donald E. Westlake's horror thriller novel 'The Ax.'
The five-day Seoul International Book Fair reportedly drew around 150,000 visitors, based on the same number of tickets offered as last year. The Korean Publishers Association, which organized the event, declined to disclose the exact number of tickets issued. All tickets were sold out in advance through online reservations.
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