2023-11-08 10:25:38
In It’s filming in Seoul!, an angry director tries to complete his great work. In Cannes, the great Kim Jee-woon gave us some keys to his film and talked about depression…
Is it an autobiographical film, are you neurotic like the director in search of perfection of Is it filming in Seoul?
(He laughs) No, it’s not me but there are a lot of similarities with everything that directors experience. All directors are very nervous, they work hard, they struggle to make their films and it practically makes them miserable. We are all like that! In my film, the director declares “ If I had two more days, I would have made a masterpiece. » When I see one of my finished films, I say to myself “ but why did I do this, I should have done differently. » Each time, I have many regrets. It’s absolute despair to see what’s on the screen…
If it’s so hard, why do you continue?
Because enjoyment is as strong as despair! Perhaps it is enjoyment that leads to despair, or vice versa, in any case the two are linked. To obtain enjoyment, I am perhaps obliged to go through the stage of despair.
I love this line from your film, “ If it’s impossible, you have to do it “. Is this your motto?
When I shoot very complicated scenes, real puzzles, we have to motivate ourselves, find the energy of the whole team, and I am very satisfied with that. And often, the scenes where everything goes smoothly, where everything is easy, I realize that there is always something lacking, that doesn’t satisfy me at all. And if I compromise, if I don’t follow through, I’m not satisfied.
Is your film a tribute to Kim Ki-young?
Kim Ki-young (director of The Serving or The Insect Woman, NDR) also made grotesque and bizarre films, but the difference with my director is that he was successful. The film within the film of course refers to Kim Ki-young, but also to Henri-Georges Clouzot, who was the only one to make genre films in France in the 1950s, in the Diabolicalà Hitchcock…
I didn’t know that you knew and loved Clouzot?
Korean movie fans know Clouzot, of course. Bong Joon-ho loves it The Wages of Fear.
The film is more in the vein The Quiet Family what I met the devil. Are you looking for lightness from now on?
It’s not conscious. As I turned it, I realized that it actually looked a lot like The Quiet Familywith this black comedy side.
During the Gérardmer festival, you declared that the darkness of I met the Devil was such that you were intoxicated by your own film, and you had to leave for the United States.
It was a film about absolute evil and thinking about nothing but that for months caused me to have a breakdown. I needed to go to a different country, to change my life, to do something lighter. Turn The last bastion with Arnold Schwarzenegger was of course lighter. But I had a new depression because of the stress of this big shoot, the language I didn’t know, this unknown country. So I went from one depression to another.
You could make a film as dark and desperate as I met the Devil ?
(He interrupts himself, searches for words) The film was about evil, about the abyss… I’m not against making a film like that again, but in a more mature way. But I don’t know if I would have enough energy. The world is very dark, very complicated, I want to bring a lighter, more positive note. And why not hope.
Is it important to be in Cannes?
It’s the biggest cinema festival in the world so I’m very happy to participate. This is perhaps more fundamental for a low-budget film, which needs the echo of Cannes. The most important thing is not the prices but to communicate, sometimes with people who live on the other side of the world, to share ideas, and to see that you are not alone. With the pandemic, I really understood that we were linked to each other.
Last question, after the filming of It’s filming in Seoul!have you had depression again?
Yes, I believe so (he bursts out laughing).
It’s filming in Seoul!
In theaters November 8
On the occasion of the release of It’s filming in Seoulyou will be able to (re)see, from the 15th A bittersweet Lifesublime thriller in restored director’s cut version, Foul King and still so creepy 2 sisters.
By Marc Godin
1699798738
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