Seven years after winning the Palme d’Or for Parasite, director Bong Joon-ho returns to Cannes, this time with his first animated feature.
“Ally,” which has been in production since 2019 and is scheduled to be completed later this year, is set in the uncharted depths of the South Pacific, and follows a curious pig squid who dreams of becoming the star of a wildlife documentary. The impressive voice cast includes Ayo Edebiri, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Finn Wolfhard, and stars Alex Jayne Go. The film reunites the director with Neon, the distributor of “Parasite,” which has already acquired North American rights. Meanwhile, Pathé represents international sales excluding Japan and China, overseen by CJ and Penture.
Speaking exclusively to Variety from the Gray d’Albion in Cannes, Bong said he hopes his fans will be surprised by his first animated film and that he will create more action scenes than George Miller.
What made you decide to make an animated film?
My first short was actually an animated film, a stop-motion animation. It was so difficult to make that I thought, “Okay, I’ll work with the actors. They’ll do their own thing and I don’t have to do anything.” It was very mentally taxing. That’s why I’ve been doing live-action movies for the past 20 to 30 years. But I always had a dream of returning to animation.
Where did the story of “Ally” come from?
I was inspired by photographer Clary Noubian’s book The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. Through these photos, I noticed many wonderful creatures. It’s mysterious, yet it already looks like an animation. So I read this book and noticed that certain fish seemed to be very conscious and aware of the camera. So I started creating stories about that character and other creatures. They’re in deep water, it’s pitch black, and nothing happens there. But once a year, a Nat Geo submarine sinks, and it’s the biggest event of the year. Everyone really wants to shoot. But then disaster strikes. It becomes an action movie where a bomb is planted in the ocean and creatures must protect their world and homeland.
As a storyteller, is there something new and exciting that animation offers you?
Personally, as a director, I always wanted to create great action sequences. I wanted to create a sequence that could surpass the great action sequences created by George Miller and Hayao Miyazaki. And I felt this film was an opportunity to put that ambition into practice. In the live-action version, all the roads have to be blocked off for the action sequences to take place, there are only three prop cars that can explode, and there is a deadline. But animation has no limits and allows me to completely unleash the control freak in me.
Is this your first children’s movie?
There was also “Okja,” but it was a Netflix production and had a different rating system, and it got a mature rating thanks to one particular sequence. Other than that, I think the rest of the movie is very family friendly. However, even elementary school students can watch “Ally,” and I have experience with “Okja,” so it didn’t feel all that new.
Do you think fans of your other films will be surprised by Ally?
I think people will be surprised to find out that it’s an anime at first, and find it refreshing. But if you actually watch the movie, you’ll think, “Bong never went anywhere.” It will be familiar to them and they may be happy to see my autograph.
Your last movie was Mickey 17. I’m curious to know what your experience was like working in the Hollywood studio system for the first time.
Technically, “Mickey 17” is my third English-language movie, but “Okja” was made by Netflix and “Snowpiercer” was made by a Korean studio. So this was really my first time working with a classic old Hollywood studio. I thought there wasn’t much of a difference in terms of actually making a movie or the mechanics of making a movie. But this movie had a pretty big budget, and it was my first movie with a budget of over $100 million. I felt a lot of psychological and spiritual pressure. So I think from now on I’ll naturally be working on smaller films.
When filmmakers come to a studio and work on a film with that budget, they sometimes talk about losing an element of creative control. Is the “Mickey 17” you wanted to make the last “Mickey 17” you saw?
The director’s final cut was part of my contract, and everyone at the studio and my agency did their best to protect me. Of course during post-production there were a lot of discussions and a lot of opinions back and forth, but at no time did anyone force anything on me or put any pressure on me. And fortunately, all of my movies, even big ones like Mickey 17, have been released as my director’s final cut, and everything good and bad about those movies came from me. I take full responsibility. If you don’t like it, damn it!
Are you happy to be working with Neon again, who had such a successful role in Parasite?
This year is Tom Quinn and I’s 20th anniversary. I met him when he was at Magnolia, a small but wonderful distribution company. They distributed “The Host.” And for “Snowpiercer,” Tom became part of Radius TWC, the Weinstein Company’s arthouse indie label. At the time, I had rejected some of the changes they wanted, so as punishment, they sent it to Radius for a limited release. It was a punishment, but Tom was there, so for me it was a victory. And with Parasite, he got the movie very early on just by reading the script. So I’m very happy to be reunited with Tom.
