094 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
one another, and decide to take matters into
their own hands when the youngest of the clan
is snatched up by the beast. He adds: “It may
be funny for the audience to watch, but in fact
it’s his family’s reality, this is the society that
we live in.”
Joon-ho’s empathy for the disenfranchised
can be seen throughout his body of work, and
how he places his characters. It’s especially
apparent in The Host. “These are people
alienated from the system, people who despite
not being helped by anyone don’t curse at
the system, and embrace each other when
disaster hits them... When I went to university
there were people from all sorts of different
backgrounds, from the very rich to the
desperately poor,” he states. “We would be
drinking together and learning together every
day, so that was really my education which
I think was much better than the textbooks.
Of course, it was still limited from my own
perspective and my own point of view about
things, but I think that’s where I got a lot of
positive infl uence.”
For The Host, Joon-ho didn’t follow in the
footsteps of Stephen Spielberg’s water-bound
masterpiece Jaws by keeping the shark hidden
for the most part. Instead he broke all the
rules with the appearance of a slithering,
river monster terrorising Seoul at the start of
the fi lm. “Within the fi rst 13 minutes you see
the full monster dramatically appearing in full
sunlight for everyone to see,” he says. “I didn’t
think of it so much as a political symbol...
But at that young age, lacking in reverence,
I just very boldly in a manic way, decided to
go for it! Usually you have to wait an hour
in, monster fi lms to see a bit of the tail or the
monster’s foot. I thought that in the fi rst 13THE HOST
FLASHBACK
minutes I would show you everything! It was
certainly an endeavour to reveal all of the
monster at the beginning! But we still had a lot
left to say for the rest of the fi lm. With the Park
family, especially there was still a lot that we
wanted to show.”
The mutant creature is as big as a bus, and
chomps up humans with sharp incisors – a
terrifying sight to behold. Its gruesome actions
of swallowing victims whole, spitting out bones
and saving them for later in a gooey sewer
lai, (under the Wonhyo Bridge in Seoul) were
infl uenced by “watching National Geographic
and learning about the habits of pelicans and
Amazonian anacondas!” says Joon-ho.
The creature cost about 5.2 million dollars
to create, nearly half the entire budget.
Originally the job was supposed to go to
Weta Digital, in New Zealand. Joon-ho
discussed the computer graphics with them for
almost a year, but it was too pricey. Instead
US special effects company The Orphanage
took on the task.
“There’s a Korean designer called Jang
Hee-cheol who I worked with for over a year
and it was a very complicated process,”
explains Joon-ho. “In real life there was this
mutated fi sh that we would see as a result
of environmental pollution where the spine
looked distorted, so we took a lot from that.
We wanted the monster to take on
the appearance of something that looked
very unwell.”
Joon-ho and his crew shot on location at the
Han River, a mammoth task, that he describes
as “diffi cult”. He continues, saying: “The river’s
water level was a big issue and the sound
recording team had a horrible time with all
the noise. Controlling so many people on theWHO IS BONG
JOON-HO?
Asian cinema has a fantastic reputation
when it comes to smart genre, often inspiring
Hollywood to remake them in the English
language. So far none of Bong Joon-ho’s genre
titles have inspired this foolish behaviour and
it’s something that he commented on in his
speech when receiving his Golden Globe for
best foreign language fi lm for Parasite, stating:
“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier
of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many
more amazing fi lms. I think we use only one
language: the cinema.”
After the success of The Host, the director
made the move to creating movies in the
English language himself with Snowpiercer.
It was a runaway word-of-mouth cult hit that
was not shown in UK cinemas until 2020,
seven years after release. His follow up, Okja,
made its mark in Cannes by being one of the
fi rst Netfl ix productions to show at the festival.
Their title card was met with loud boos, but by
the end of the fi lm the cynical press audience
were graciously applauding its heart-warming,
hilarious and exhilarating take on major
themes such as corporate corruption and the
moral benefi ts of vegetarianism.The Host focuses on
the disenfranchised.
Bong Joon-ho wanted the
monster to look unwell.(^094) WWW.SCIFINOW.CO.UK
we live in.”
apparent in
positive infl uence.”
For
footsteps of Stephen Spielberg’s water-bound
masterpiece
THE HOST
FLASHBACK
of environmental pollution where the spine
very unwell.”
WHO IS BONG
JOON-HO?
Asian cinema has a fantastic reputation
when it comes to smart genre, often inspiring
Hollywood to remake them in the English
language. So far none of Bong Joon-ho’s genre
titles have inspired this foolish behaviour and
it’s something that he commented on in his
speech when receiving his Golden Globe for
best foreign language fi lm for ParasiteParasiteParasite, stating: , stating:
“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier
of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many
more amazing fi lms. I think we use only one
language: the cinema.”
After the success of The HostThe HostThe Host, the director , the director
made the move to creating movies in the
English language himself with Snowpiercer
It was a runaway word-of-mouth cult hit that
was not shown in UK cinemas until 2020,
seven years after release. His follow up,
made its mark in Cannes by being one of the
fi rst Netfl ix productions to show at the festival.
Their title card was met with loud boos, but by
the end of the fi lm the cynical press audience
were graciously applauding its heart-warming,
hilarious and exhilarating take on major
themes such as corporate corruption and the
moral benefi ts of vegetarianism.
WHO IS BONG
JOON-HO?
Asian cinema has
when it comes to smart genre, often inspiring
Hollywood to remake them in the English
language. So far none of Bong Joon-ho’s genre
titles have inspired this foolish behaviour and
it’s something that he commented on in his
speech when receiving his Golden Globe for
best foreign language fi lm for
“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier
of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many
more amazing fi lms. I think we use only one
language: the cinema.”
After the success of
made the move to creating movies in the
English language himself with
It was a runaway word-of-mouth cult hit that
was not shown in UK cinemas until 2020,
seven years after release. His follow up,
made its mark in Cannes by being one of the
fi rst Netfl ix productions to show at the festival.
Their title card was met with loud boos, but by
the end of the fi lm the cynical press audience
were graciously applauding its heart-warming,
hilarious and exhilarating take on major
themes such as corporate corruption and the
moral benefi ts of vegetarianism.
WHO IS BONG
a fantastic reputation
when it comes to smart genre, often inspiring
Hollywood to remake them in the English
language. So far none of Bong Joon-ho’s genre
titles have inspired this foolish behaviour and
it’s something that he commented on in his
speech when receiving his Golden Globe for
, stating:
“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier
of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many
more amazing fi lms. I think we use only one
, the director
Snowpiercer
It was a runaway word-of-mouth cult hit that
was not shown in UK cinemas until 2020,
Okja
made its mark in Cannes by being one of the
fi rst Netfl ix productions to show at the festival.
Their title card was met with loud boos, but by
the end of the fi lm the cynical press audience
were graciously applauding its heart-warming,
themes such as corporate corruption and the
the disenfranchised.