WHO EXACTLY IS THE MONSTER?!
It’s August 2019 at Locarno fi lm festival when
we sit down to chat to actor Song Kang-ho
and director Bong Joon-ho about the longevity
of their working relationship. The pair fi rst
worked together in crime drama Memories
Of Murder in 2003, and since then have
collaborated on monster movie The Host
(2006), post-apocalyptic science-fi ction thriller
Snowpiercer (2013) and most recently the
historic multi-Oscar-winning Parasite.
The Swiss Alps can be seen in the distance
from the conservatory room at the fancy hotel
in which we meet, the sweltering heat cooking
us like bugs under a magnifying glass. Then
suddenly the weather changes, the heavens
open and torrential rain kicks in, making an
almighty racket atop
the intricately designed
glass structure. It’s a
bizarre coincidence that
we all chuckle about
considering that most
of their collaborations
together have been rain-
soaked or water-logged
ventures, with more than a tinge of black
comedy about them.
Since winning the treasured Palme D’or
award at Cannes Film Festival in 2019 for
Parasite, and the fi lm becoming a global
phenomenon, the pair have been travelling the
world to speak about its success. “Honestly
speaking, of course I’m very happy and
honoured to receive the award, but my way of
working and creating over the last 20 years,
that’s not going to change as a consequence,”
explains Joon-ho.
Today, they’re happy to take a break from
chatting about their most recent fi lm, and cast
their memories back to 2006 and the making
of their Korean box offi ce smash The Host. It’s
a fi lm that spawned from the imagination ofAS DIRECTOR BONG JOON-HO ATTAINS INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
GLORY, HE TALKS US THROUGH HIS 2006 MONSTER MOVIE THE
HOST, ALONGSIDE LEADING ACTOR SONG KANG-HO
WORDS KAT MCLAUGHLINFLASHBACK
THE HOST
THE HOST
FLASHBACK
Joon-ho while he was still at high-school and
at a time when, under some duress, he thought
that he saw a strange creature crawling out of
the river.
At the time of release, The Host broke
records and was the most watched Korean
fi lm of all time. It was also a massive deal in
Hollywood, with a Gore Verbinski-produced
remake immediately going into works (it
thankfully never happened) and Quentin
Tarantino listing it in his top fi lms of that
entire decade.
Over 20% of the South Korean population
took to cinemas to watch a fi lm that was
inspired by a very real and not-too-distant
scandal. In 2000, an American mortician,
Albert McFarland, who worked at the morgueat the US Military base in Seoul, ordered his
employees to dump formaldehyde down the
drains. It eventually ended up in the Han
River – which serves as a water source to
12 million Koreans.
“In the opening scene you see the dumping
of the chemicals,” explains Joon-ho. “It was
called the McFarland scandal. It was a huge
political scandal at the time but it also had a
genre feeling to it. I felt like that would be a
great opener for a monster fi lm.”
The morgue worker is unnamed in the fi lm,
and played by the late American actor Scott
Wilson, who Joon-ho cast after seeing and
liking his small performance in Patty Jenkins’
Monster. Though the fi lm pokes fun at the
American government, with political satire oftheir search for weapons of mass destruction,
as seen through news clips of the Iraq War,
Joon-ho states that: “The fi lm is not overtly
anti-American”.
Sure, it’s taking aim at the many layers of
corruption and ineptitude at a government
level and it’s specifi c to a certain event, but it
works as an examination of any government
on how their actions impact everyday
people. The Host directly comments on the
US military’s interference in Korean matters
that they know virtually nothing about but also
looks to the powers in charge as to how they
handle ‘virus’ breakouts. That is, by essentially
leaving those at ground level to fend for
themselves against a monster that is eating
them whole. The fallout from the way the
SARS virus was handled
in Asia was an issue
that the fi lm touched
upon and something still
relevant right now with
the coronavirus currently
holding China hostage.
The multi-layered fi lm
is also concerned with
injustice and class stratifi cation across the
board, as it pits those in power against the
‘losers’ of society.
The heroes of the fi lm are in fact a poverty-
stricken family who run a food stall on the
banks of the Han River. Kang-ho plays
a hapless father to his smart 13-year-old
daughter, Hyun-seo played by Ko Asung,
Doona Bae plays his sister, an Olympic
bronze medal winning archer, Hae-il Park
plays the attractive and arrogant unemployed
brother and Hee-Bong Byun appears as their
vulnerable, elderly father.
“The father I play in The Host is not really
a typical father fi gure,” explains Kang-ho.
He’s a lazy drunk and the entire family are
dysfunctional, but they share a deep love for092 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
“IT WAS CERTAINLY AN ENDEAVOUR
TO REVEAL ALL OF THE MONSTERAT THE BEGINNING [OF THE FILM]!”
BONG JOON-HOMemories
Of MurderOf MurderOf MurderSnowpiercerSnowpiercerSnowpiercer
historic multi-Oscar-winning Parasitesoaked or water-loggedcomedy about them.ParasiteParasiteParasite
phenomenon, the pair have been travelling theAS DIRECTOR BONG JOON-HO ATTAINS INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
GLORY, HE TALKS US THROUGH HIS 2006 MONSTER MOVIE TH E
HOST, ALONGSIDE LEADING ACTOR SONG KANG-HOGLORY, HE TALKS US THROUGH HIS 2006 MONSTER MOVIE TH E
HOST, ALONGSIDE LEADING ACTOR SONG KANG-HOGLORY, HE TALKS US THROUGH HIS 2006 MONSTER MOVIE TH E
WORDS KAT MCLAUGHLINFLASHBACK
THE HOST
THE HOST
FLASHBACK
brokeanti-American”.people. directly comments on the directly comments on the‘losers’ of society.vulnerable, elderly father.(^092) WWW.SCIFINOW.CO.UK
“IT WAS CERTAINLY AN ENDEAVOUR
TO REVEAL ALL OF THE MONSTER
AT THE BEGINNING [OF THE FILM]!”
BONG JOON-HO