Korean News in Brief: July 19 [Lady Vengeance, Cha Seung-Won, Kim Ki-Duk]

In a surprising move, at least for a country that never cared about protecting fellow viewers from spoilers, a group of 1,400 netizens wrote a petition to ask news reporters and film critics to avoid spoiling Park Chan-Wook's new film 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) ahead of its July 29 release. Even if Director Park said at the movie's premiere that "Lady" is not a movie that would suffer spoilers like Oldboy did (just about everybody in Korea knew what happened in the film's finale even before watching it. Thank you, Korean press!), the group went ahead and demanded the press to adapt to their conditions. The general response has been that to a certain extent some of the film's content has to be revealed, but they're considering special "spoiler-free" reviews and report. This can only be a step in the right direction, for one too many movies have been literally raped by the amount of spoilers all over the Korean speaking Internet.

Via Joy News

Coming back to the big screen with Jang Jin's 박수칠 때 떠나라 (The Big Scene), Cha Seung-Won had a chance to talk about his new film, his abandoning the comic roles that made him famous, and more.
"People think of me as someone who can do comedy well. That's my brand image. But it could represent a double edged-sword: I think the most difficult thing on Earth is comedy, it's something that leaves you no chance to repeat yourself. If you do the same thing over and over, people don't laugh, so you keep worrying about your acting style. So when I often hear that I'm good at comic roles, I think that's mostly undeserved praise. I think changing image is an actor's destiny, but also an essential thing to do. When I'm done with this, I'll try melodrama, I've already chosen the project (ed. This would be the South of The Border film we reported about recently).

"... I can definitely tell you I don't act for money alone. I can say it's one of the 10 most important things I consider when choosing a role. The first thing I look at is the script: If it's interesting, I accept the role. The director is also very important, as is profit and investment, budget and more. Just like those things, money is important, but not just because you need it to buy what you desire, but also because it's the standard in this society."
Talking about his son: "At the age he's at, sometimes I suspect he's already smoking with some of his classmates. I often ask him how's the life of a student, if he's got a girlfriend, things like that ... Since I didn't listen to my parents [and did what they wanted], I won't have any particular expectation for his future. (laughs)"
　　　
The Big Scene opens on August 12.

Via Good Morning Seoul

It looks like he had a reason for going to the Police Station, after all. Kim Ki-Duk's new film will be called 총 (Gun), and it wasn't the PR Department at Kim Ki-Duk Films to confirm it, but a policeman at the scene of last week's weird encounter between the officers and Director Kim. He finally had a chance to explain how things went, saying: "I went there to get permission to make prop guns, and all of a sudden I find myself entangled in this happening.
Since I just wore cheap clothes, they misunderstood me as a beggar. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before ... I filed the application for the funding, but if I didn't complete everything by August 15 I would have had to cancel the whole thing and wait another 3 years to file it again ... right now we're about to end research and we'll start pretty soon."
This film, which has been a longtime project for Kim (since 1999), changed midway because they didn't get the permit for prop guns: last June Kim was granted a fund of 400 Million Won (about US$ 400,000) to shoot 나는 살인을 위해 태어났다 (I Was Born For Murder). Kim continues: "We need to get permission at something like a gas gun factory. Because of conflicts with the law (explosive/fire arms and civil) we had to cancel shooting. I was thinking we could shoot in Russia or Japan instead.
At the moment Kim Ki-Duk is recording a commentary along with Han Yeo-reum for the upcoming (Late August/Early September) DVD release of 활 (The Bow), which he wasn't supposed to do, according to past statements, but as he says, he did it for the cast and crew.

Via Cine 21