I met with Park Chan-wook on the roof of the Hard Rock Hotel to discuss his new movie Thirst, religion, vampires and the dilemma of violence in his movies. Via a translator, Park explained his penchant for putting normal people through extraordinary situations and the violent results - a theme common to his last trilogy and to Thirst.
The Oldboy director began by explaining his uses of vampires in the new film. He didn't set out to make a vampire movie, Chan-wook says, but rather wanted to explore the fall of a Catholic priest. Growing up a practicing Catholic himself, Chan-wook had a healthy respect for the piety of priests (South Korean Catholic Priests vary from the North American species, apparently) and found the device of a priest falling from grace a compelling one.
He didn't however, set out to make a vampire film. Following the character, Chan-wook found himself in vampire territory and didn't fight his creative urges. Slowly, the characters morphed into the fabled creature, and Chan-wook had the dramatic dilemma he sought for the film.
Thirst follows the story of Priest Sang-hyeon as he volunteers himself for medical research to fight disease. The experiment goes awry and from his selfless act, Sang-hyeon is transformed in a everything he never wanted to be.
Thirst opens on July 31 in North America. You should totally bring a date.
