Park Chang Wook’s latest film, “No Other Choice,” follows a middle-aged man who goes to a desperate length to get employment after being unexpectedly fired from a paper company he worked for for 25 years. This is roughly the same length as Park spent bringing in the story, and fits on the big screen from the 1997 mystery novel The Axe.
“We all have a deep fear of employment and security,” Park said through a translator at the official Venice Film Festival press conference. “No matter who you tell them over the course of 20 years, they always say, ‘It’s a very timely story,’ so I was able to work on this film for 20 years. It gave me the confidence to know that it is a film that will ultimately be made. ”
Park, a Korean film legend known for writing and directing “Old Boy”, “Thirst”, and “Handmaiden”, and the production of “The Snowman”, last competed in Venice with “Sympathy for Pity” in 2005. So, what took so long for the Park to return to Lido?
“There’s a very short answer. It’s actually a word,” Park said. “That’s money.”
He said, “It wasn’t that there was no budget because the fate of a film always tends to be like that, but I wanted to make sure it was a budget that I felt was enough. It took me 20 years to make this film.
“Squid Game” star Lee Byung-han plays the main character Man Soo, who is fired from his job. Meanwhile, the vast ensemble that most people attended Friday afternoon press conferences include Lee Sung-Min (“Handsome Man”), Yeom Hee-Ran (“The Glory”), Cha Seung-Won (“Beeligher 2”), Yoo Yeon-Sieok (“Hospital Playlist”), and “Parkelist” from “Playlist”. Lee called it a “dream” to work with Park Chang Wook, and described it as “there are no other options” as one of the director’s “most commercial films.”
“Korean actors will be happy to jump at the opportunity without thinking about it again,” he said. “No matter what movie it was, I would always say ‘Yes.’ ”
As “There’s no other option” follows the hero at a professional intersection, Park is asked what he would do careerly if something happened to the film industry.
“I don’t think the form of art as a film will be reduced,” he said. “Maybe the culture of going to the theatres to watch movies could end. But when the time comes when I can’t get the budget I want, I’m going to continue making movies on my smartphone. I’ve already done that.”
The topic didn’t appear at a press conference on Friday afternoon, but the director recently made headlines as he and his writing partner Don McKellar were kicked out of the American Writers Guild for violating union rules that barred the Union from working during the 2023 strike. Park denied claims he wrote for the HBO series “The Sommitizer,” based on a 2015 novel by Bet Than Ngguen while the industry was picketing.
“I have never violated the rules,” Park said in a statement. “I seriously thought it was attractive, but in the end I decided not to appeal because I wanted to focus on ‘no other options’.
In a guest column for Variety, McKeller called the verdict “deliberately undemocratic, intentionally cruel and excessive,” describing it as “a terrifying tactic that threatens membership, particularly the “hyphen” (showrunner director Whiter).
