Park Chan-wook gets out of comfort zone

Park Chan-wook poses prior to an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Watcha

Filmmaker talks about UK drama debut

By Park Jin-hai

Award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-wook, one of the most celebrated Korean directors who has put Korean cinema on the global map through a series of works including “Old Boy”(2003), “Thirst” (2009) and “The Handmaiden” (2016), has made his first small screen debut in the U.K.

The British miniseries “The Little Drummer Girl,” an adaptation of John le Carre's 1983 best-selling novel of the same name, set in the late 1970s, is a spy thriller revolving around a young, idealistic actress Charlie, played by Florence Pugh.

She is recruited by the mysterious Gadi Becker, an Israeli intelligence officer, whom she is drawn to, and takes on a dangerous mission devised by spy mastermind Kurtz as a double agent who infiltrates a Palestinian terrorist group. Charlie is caught in a love triangle as she falls in love with both Becker and Kurtz.

Director Park said he first contacted the novel's author Le Carre and his sons and chief producers of “The Ink Factory” Stephen and Simon Cornwell, because he liked the complexity of the story.

“The good thing about the British TV series is that the world of espionage and Israeli-Palestine conflict is meticulously intertwined with romance. Charlie's mission is inseparable from her romance. Becker recruited Charlie, but as he falls in love with Charlie, he faces inner conflict on driving his lover into danger,” Park said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seoul, Monday.

“This drama has a series of complex, interconnected theories. Brain games and complexity of emotions come together in a compelling story. I like the complexity of this story. It is just hard to categorize, to say Charlie is innocent or Kurtz is cruel.”

Park said his decision to go for the small screen was inevitable, because he really wanted to put the long original story onto the screen without compromising any of the original work.

“If I were to make it into a film, the whole story would have to be squeezed into a 130-minute movie, which I thought was not possible without compromising its originality,” he said.

“Compared with my previous works, people say that this story gives more weight to romance. But, I don't think I've given special attention to romance in this film alone, in fact throughout all my works, romance has been an important part,” Park said.

The process of making his debut drama was not easy, the director said. In his 2013 film “Stoker,” Park's first project with Hollywood actors, he had six months to edit the film to his liking. With the drama's release date set, Park said he did not have enough time and had been rushed.

But he said he liked his new challenge. “If I had filmed it in Korea with local staff, it could have been more easy and comfortable for me. But if I did, I couldn't have worked with new languages and new subjects for the story. Working in the unfamiliar setting gave me tense moments and it was physically challenging as well, but at the same time I feel that to keep moving forward, I can't settle down where I am,” he said.

“If I have another great long story to tell, I think it can be a good option for me to make it a TV series or in OTT format,” he added.

“The Little Drummer Girl,” following its world premiere in October last year on BBC, will be aired on Fridays through Channel A from March 29. The director's cut version for the entire series will be unveiled through local streaming service Watchaplay the same day.