Bong Joon-ho: "I Want to Be Remembered for My Films, Not Just the Academy Awards"

19th 'Parasite' Press Conference "The Secret to Global Popularity is the Contemporary Expression of Wealth Gap"
"Oscar Campaign, a Difficult but Thorough Process to Validate the Work's Density"

Director Bong Joon-ho is posing at the official press conference for the film Parasite held on the 19th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] "It will remain an incident in film history, but I want to be remembered more for the film itself." This is the wish of director Bong Joon-ho, who won four Academy Awards with the movie Parasite.

The cast and crew of Parasite attended an official press conference held on the morning of the 19th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Present were director Bong Joon-ho, actors Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, as well as producer Kwak Shin-ae, CEO of Barunson E&A, writer Han Jin-won, art director Lee Ha-joon, and editor Yang Jin-mo.

Parasite, a collaboration among them, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards held on the 9th (local time) in Los Angeles, USA. It overcame both the barrier of subtitles and conservative traditions in Hollywood, the center of the global film industry.

Director Bong said, "The vitality of Parasite seems to be quite long-lasting. I am happy and grateful that audiences around the world like it, and it feels strange." He cited contemporaneity (the characteristic of reflecting the unique nature or quality of current society) as the secret to Parasite's global popularity. "Unlike my previous films The Host or Snowpiercer, which dealt with wealth disparity, Parasite is contemporary. It is based on realities that could be seen around us," he said, adding, "I think that is what gives it explosive power."

At the 92nd Academy Awards, director Bong Joon-ho and the cast of the film "Parasite," which won four awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, are smiling brightly at the official press conference held on the 19th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Director Bong, along with Song Kang-ho, traveled around the world for the past six months promoting Parasite. Especially during the last three months, they stayed in the United States to participate in the so-called 'Oscar campaign.' They actively promoted the film through interviews with local media and meetings with audiences.

He recalled, "At the time of the campaign, Neon, the North American distributor, was a small company that had been established not long ago. Our situation felt like a 'guerrilla war'." He continued, "We had a much smaller budget than major studios or companies like Netflix, so we ran on passion. Kang-ho hyung and I bled a lot. We did over 600 interviews and more than 100 audience Q&A sessions."

Director Bong said, "Competing films had billboards in downtown Los Angeles and full-page ads in newspapers," adding, "We competed with ideas. The distributor CJ, Barunson, and the actors worked as a team to overcome the disadvantage in quantity and worked hard."

Director Bong Joon-ho is answering questions from the press at the official press conference for the film Parasite held on the 19th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

The exhausting schedule gave him a new perspective on the film. He said, "Not only me, but busy creators like Noah Baumbach, Todd Phillips, and Quentin Tarantino, I sometimes found it strange and unfamiliar why they would take time away from their frontline work to campaign, and why studios spend so much budget," but added, "I thought it could also be seen as a process of thoroughly verifying the works and checking how the films were made."

Director Bong attracted attention by referring to the Academy Awards ceremony as 'local' during the Oscar campaign. When asked if this was a planned response, he laughed and said, "I’m doing my first campaign, so why would I be provocative?" Regarding concerns that the recent wins might bring considerable pressure and burnout syndrome, he said, "I was already diagnosed with burnout after filming Okja, so I’m okay." He added, "I tend to work a lot and want to rest, but Martin Scorsese sent me a letter saying he’s waiting for my next work, so I probably won’t rest for long."