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An Exclusive Interview
with Director Ryu Seung-Wan
(Part II)
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Career & Influences
Cinespot: You also worked as an actor in some films, including your own film Die Bad.
What is it like being an actor and director at the same time? Which position do you enjoy more?
Ryu: There are sometimes I like to be an actor, sometimes as an director. When i have to
make a very tough decision as a director, I prefer to be an actor; When I have to
memorize a lot of dialogues as an actor, I want to be a director (laugh). There is this moment
when there is a very little dialogues scene, I am the director and I am also acting in it, I am happy
with that. I am in a movie called Oasis by Director Lee Chang-Dong, when the lines of
dialogues are over three sentences, I really wanted to be the director then.
Cinespot: A question from our readers, what is your favorite movie?
Ryu: There are too many movies I like, this is a very tough question. If forced to choose one,
it would be Jackie Chan's Project A. Personally, this film made my teenage year very
happy. Even now when I watch this movie again, I would want to fight like the character in
the film! (laugh)
Cinespot: What do you consider as your influence?
Ryu: During my teenage year, I always loved the martial arts movie from Hong Kong, I loved
films by Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, John Woo and King Hu. Later in the 80s I discovered Martin
Scorsese and Brian DePalma, and was really influenced by them. Sometimes later I saw Quentin
Tarantino's Reservoir Dog. I thought it was so cool and it was a major impact on me.
I also watched a lot of noir films including the films directed by Christopher Nolan (Director
of Memento), and anything from Buster Keaton's silent films to recent movies like
Insomnia. I was influenced by a great deal of movies. There is actually a saying by
Confucious that, if you find two people walking ahead of you, two of them are both your teachers.
Even if the people you think are inferior, you can learn from their mistakes and learn from why
you don't like what they do, in that sense, I was also influenced by the movies I don't like, and
you know, there is a Roger Corman's film, in that sense, I was very influenced by that. (laugh)
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Korean Film Market
Cinespot: Some of your films have strong Avant Garde elements. Do you think there is a
difference between art and commercial cinema?
Ryu: I want to ask a question to American audience, that in the US, whether there is
such a straight difference between commercial and art films?
Cinespot: Errrr.... (Laughing), I think there is.
Ryu: In Korea, so called art house films have been quite successful commercially, and
conversely, movies that everyone thought would be box office guarantee have miserably failed.
Even the blockbusters produced by primary directors are not necessarily successful, and
even the best producers in Korea sometimes produced flop. So the line between art and commercial cinema
is very blurred and I wonder if it's even distinguishable. There is one good thing about
Korean film scene is that in Korea, the movies are still made centered around the
directors, so the films generally reflect the colors and wills of the directors,
that's probably the reason, I guess, that Korean directors lack this kind of
self-consciousness about whether they are making commercial movies or art films. I
bascially make the movie I want to see, I don't very much have too much concern on
Avant Garde cinema, and I am not sure if my movie has any Avant Garde elements.
Cinespot: Just now you said in Korea, the movies are always made centered around the directors,
so is it hard to start a project (financially)?
Ryu: Since the production of Shiri, they moved the Hollywood system over to Korea.
Producers actually develop scenario from an idea and choose the right director for the
project. But still, there are directors like Park Chan-Wook (JSA) or Kim Ji-Wun
(Foul King) or myself who still choose producers based on our designs and ideas. Actually,
there are very little contacts between the directors who choose their own projects and the
directors who work for the producers. Therefore I really don't know how the other side, or how
that particular area actually works.
Cinespot: I think that's all we have, thank you very much.
Ryu: Thank you.
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Due to time constraint, we were forced to skip several minor questions. But still, the interview
was a success. Again, I would like to appreciate Director Ryu Seung-Wan for taking his valuable time
and sharing his insight with us. Please give a round applause to director Ryu!
Special thanks to the following people (in alphabetical order):
Lee Jong-Suk, the President of Kima, for arranging this interview.
Kim Kyu-Hyun, Assistant Professor of Japanese History, for being our interpreter.
Wilda Wong, my friend, for being our guest interviewer.
Staff of Kima, for their assistance.
Without the help of you guys, I am sure the interview would not be made possible, thank you!
compiled and written by K. Lui
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Click here to go back to Part I.
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h t t p : / / w w w . c i n e s p o t . c o m /
