Edited by Hong Hyun Jung
Translated by Kim Hoyeun
Parasite broke down the Academy’s conservative cultural barriers and made remarkable achievements, signaling a pleasant start to the 101st year of Korean cinema. Director Bong Joon Ho has focused the global film industry’s attention with his witty remarks during the Oscars, and actors who have done their parts are also drawing attention. All eyes are now turning to the actors next moves. Director Bong Joon Ho mentioned in various interviews that he is preparing two films with the settings in Seoul and London. I don’t know which of these films would come out first, but I can’t help but wonder if I’ll get to see any of the actors of Parasite. So what are the future plans of the actors who have now taken a step further through Parasite?
Song Kang Ho: An Emergency Declaration
Song Kang Ho, who has been working with director Bong for 17 years, has been actively participating in director Bong’s race for Oscar. When asked if he would also appear on director Bong’s next film in an interview arranged after the ceremony, he replied wittily, “I’m not so sure about the 5th appearance. To be honest, there were just too many stares and scenes with rain. But maybe if I get the role of Mr.Park, I’ll consider.”
Song Kang Ho’s next movie is director Han Jae Rim’s An Emergency Declaration. There is not much known about the film except that the story is about aviation-related disaster. The content may be inferred from the fact that the title of the movie is an aviation term of emergency, in which the captain decides that the aircraft cannot operate normally and declares an emergency landing. But still, since Song Kang Ho has confirmed his role as the main character, it seems like he will be in a better shape than Ki Taek of Parasite, even if he is most likely to face another desperate situation.
Jang Hye Jin: A Shout Of A Father (literal translation)
Jang Hye jin gained about 33 pounds to play the role of Chung Sook, a former hammer thrower. She surely made an impression to all who saw the movie by playing Chung Sook, the role she got by her realistic portrayal of a mother in The World Of Us. Gathering the momentum, the actor is working actively in both fields of film and drama.
In the second half of last year, an independent film, Family Affair, in which she played the lead role, was released. Then in Crash Landing On You, Park Myung Hwan and she played the roles of brother and sister. The actor can also be seen in the two-episodes drama Luwak Human (literal title), which aired at the end of last year. Her next film is A Shout Of A Father (literal title), where she will be playing a mother role of a daughter played by Krystal. The film depicts a journey of a pregnant college student to find her biological father ahead of her marriage.
Choi Woo Shik: Time To Hunt, The Policeman’s Lineage, Wonderland (working title)
Choi Woo Shik first worked with director Bong in Okja and was already offered a role in Parasite during the writing stage of the script. As Bong said earlier, “I thought he was an actor who harbored the image of a young man of our time,” Choi has a friendly and comfortable charm. The actor, who made two entirely different families to face each other, is now leading a busy life.
Soon, Time To Hunt with Lee Je Hoon, Ahn Jae Hong and Park Jung Min will be released and in a crime film, The Policeman’s Lineage, in which two police officers with different morals team up to solve a crime, Choi will be sharing the screen with Cho Jin Woong. Soon after, he is reported to appear in the new film of Kim Tae Yong, director of Late Autumn, called Wonderland, which is being prepared for the first time in eight years. Furthermore, he is now expanding his territory to Hollywood. A24 recently chose Choi Woo Shik to play a role in their new movie, Past Lives, which tells a story of a reunion of two young lovers.
Park So Dam: FUKUOKA, Special Delivery (literal translation), My Youth Diary (literal translation)
Park So Dam, whose eyes resemble Choi Woo Shik like real siblings, is a great actor as director Bong said, “She can express the details accurately and sharply with just her eyes and her voice.” She is also taking major steps in her career.
First of all, she plans on meeting the audience this coming March with a new movie, FUKUOKA, directed by Jang Ryul, who the actor has already worked with before in Ode to the Goose. FUKUOKA tells a story of a trip between a man and a woman who broke up 28 years ago because of another woman. Then the movie, Special Delivery, awaits. She will be playing the role of a deliverer with a taste for money who unexpectedly gets mixed up in an accident. She also plans on returning to a field of drama after a long time. Park Bo Gum has reported to join her in the drama, My Youth Diary, of growing pains of the youth.
Cho Yeo Jeong
Cho Yeo Jeong had the best day of her life when her birthday and the Academy Awards were coincidentally overlapped on the same day. “I thought that I received the best gift by just sitting at the ceremony with such a great movie like ‘Parasite,'” she said in an interview held after the ceremony. She continued, “I couldn’t believe everything that happened in the ceremony,” expressing her delight. After her return to the screen with Parasite in four years, opinions about the actor have changed markedly. During an interview, director Bong mentioned the actor’s prowess by saying, “I thought of her as an incredibly deep diamond mine, which nobody seemed to notice, so I decided to cast her with the thoughts that at least I could try to mine some of it out.” Now I guess everybody understands what he meant by that. Cho has always been a good actor, but through Parasite, she made her name as a great actor.
Cho was acclaimed for her talents during the second half of last year for her role in Woman of 9.9 Billion and won the 2019 KBS Acting Awards for the Best Actor. Although her next move has not been decided yet, I do look forward to hear a surprising news.
Lee Sun Kyun: King Maker
“I’m so excited. I thought we were the ones who crossed the line, but Oscar has crossed the line,” said Lee Sun Kyun, quoting his line from the movie in his witty acceptance speech. The actor, who played a gentle and kind Mr.Park different from the stereotypical upper class, is also living a busy schedule.
In the recently concluded drama, War Of Prosecutors, he played a confident and determined prosecutor who always has to say what’s on his mind. Then he also made a surprise appearance as the voice of a black goat in the movie, MR. ZOO: THE MISSING VIP. His next film is King Maker, a movie that drew attention even from the production stage. Byung Sung Hyun, a director of The Merciless, and Seol Kyung Gu have come together for the movie. King Maker depicts a fierce election war between Kim Woon Bum, a politician who dreams of becoming the president, and Seo Chang Dae, who conducts outstanding election strategies for him. Lee Sun Kyun plays the role of Seo Chang Dae, who subtly controls the election.
Jung Ji So: The Cursed
“I was so happy that I ended up crying as I watched the Academy Awards live at home,” Jung Ji So said in an interview. She played the role of Da Hye, a girl who is tutored by Ki Woo in Parasite. But she recently transformed from being a naive girl who was fooled by Ki Woo’s lies in the movie to a completely different character in a recent drama, The Cursed.
The Cursed is an occult drama written by Yeon Sang Ho, a director of TRAIN TO BUSAN. The drama is about a teenage girl with the ability to curse people to death and a righteous reporter teaming up to go up against the evil hidden behind an IT conglomerate. Jung has erased the images of her previous work and transformed herself into Baek So Jin, a girl with special abilities.
Jung Hyun Jun: Special Delivery (literal translation)
Jung Hyun Jun’s presence in Parasite was no less than those of adult actors. Da Song, who got fixated on Indian play since his trauma caused by accident, is a character who has instilled the tension in the movie without many lines. The child actor, who used to be a kid model, is expanding his acting career.
Jung appeared as a child role of Yoon Si Yoon in Nokdu Flower, Ong Seong Wu in At Eighteen, and as a nephew role Lee Seung Gi in Vagabond, solidifying his position as a child actor. His next work is Special Delivery, in which he will be working once again with Park So Dam. In the film, he will be playing the role of Seo Won, who never leaves Eun Ha’s side after being saved in the moment of crisis.
Lee Jung Eun: I Have Been There Once (literal translation), Heuksan Island Fish Thesaurus (literal translation), The Day I Died (literal translation)
The relationship between Lee Jeong Eun and Bong Joon Ho, who were the first to return home after the Academy Awards, began at Mother in 2009 and continued to Okja and Parasite. In Parasite, the actor held the key to transforming the flow of the story by playing the role of Moon Kwang, a housekeeper of Park’s house. After the success of the movie, her upward trajectory seems endless.
She appeared in Hell is Other People, where she showed two entirely different faces in a single character, and in When the Camellia Blooms, where she made all the viewers cry with her. Soon, her new weekend drama, I’m Divorced, will be aired. Her works doesn’t just end with dramas. Director Lee Joon Ik’s historical film, Heuksan Island Fish Thesaurus, and The Day I Died, which she collaborated with Kin Hye Soo and Kim Sun Young, are getting ready for their releases. There is no exaggeration to say that she golden age as an actor has come.
Park Myung Hoon: The Policeman’s Lineage, Vacation (literal translation), Deliver Us From Evil (literal translation), Voice (literal translation)
When Parasite was invited to the Cannes Film Festival, Park Myung Hoon did not stand on the red carpet, even after he headed to the country with his fellow actors, to avoid any possible spoilers. After having spent a long time of obscure acting career just like Geun Sae, a man from a basement, the actor is finally spreading his wings with Parasite. Only from the fact that he was standing on the stage with fellow actors during the Academy Awards, we can already see his changes.
Now, the actor has a list of movies that will be released shortly. Following Crash Landing On You, where he appeared as brother and sister with Jang Hye Jin, in The Policeman’s Lineage, starring another fellow actor Choi Woo Shik, Park transforms himself into a villain. He will also appear in Vacation, which tells the story of a mother and daughter who took a three-day vacation from heaven. His list doesn’t end here. He will also appear in Deliver Us From Evil, which already drew much attention with the appearances of Hwang Jung Min, Lee Jung Jae and Park Jung Min, and in Voice, a story about voice-phishing crimes. From now on, we will be able to meet different charms of the actor, who has been shouting “Respect!” as Geun Sae in Parasite.
Park Seo Joon: Itaewon Class, Dream (working title)
Park Seo Joon, who made a special appearance for his friendship with Choi Woo Shik, also cannot be missed when talking about Parasite. Technically speaking, Ki Woo’s friend Min Hyuk is the starting point of all the subsequent events. Even he wasn’t at the Academy Awards, we could still feel his connection with the movie. Notably, his eye-catching posts about his best friend, Choi Woo Shik, on Instagram grabs attention. Most recently, he posted a close-up video of Choi Woo Shik’s face during the Oscar along with a message, “I saw you secretly wiping your tears. ”
The actor is starring in webtoon original drama, Itawwon Class, topping its best rating every episode. He is also scheduled to star in director Lee Byung Hun’s new film Dream with IU.
