[HanCinema's News] Director Bong Joon-ho's Modest Expectations Exceeded by "Parasite" Wins at the Oscars
By William Schwartz | Published on
While "Parasite" has been the beneficiary of massive international hype ever since its Palme d'Or win at Cannes last year, director Bong Joon-ho has long had low expectations about the movie's success.
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He considered "Parasite" a long-shot for the Palme d'Or and right up until the eve of "Parasite"s four Oscar wins, director Bong Joon-ho thought that merely winning two of the six nominations was the best he could reasonably hope for.
Bong Joon-ho's comments were awared on an MBC "Parasite" special that aired on February 10th (Korean time) ahead of the Oscar ceremony. Bong Joon-ho also discussed at length the main reason for his skepticism, which was primarily centered around his belief that people outside of South Korea would have difficulty understanding the peculiar cultural references of "Parasite" even with subtitles.
This skepticism has persisted even as "Parasite" has been widely lauded overseas critically, with record-breaking admissions numbers for a Korean film in international markets. The extremely offbeat and difficult to explain pitch of "Parasite" was also a difficulty for Bong Joon-ho in gaining a production budget for the film even domestically, with one of the more persuasive points being how Bong Joon-ho had been able to gain an acting commitment from perennial box office draw Song Kang-ho.
Written by William Schwartz
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"Parasite" is directed by Bong Joon-ho, and features Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Wooshik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/30.
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Portland metropolitan area. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net, and is open to requests for content in future articles.