Bong Joon Ho Reveals How He Almost Met the Real ‘Memories of Murder’ Killer

Academy Award-winning writer and director Bong Joon Ho is busy with development for his first-ever animated feature, Ally, set to make a big splash worldwide next year. However, after taking some time to celebrate his exhibit at the Academy Museum, where Bong got to pick David Fincher‘s brain, he spoke with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about what’s on the agenda for the rest of the year and beyond.

First up, Ally is an animated ocean adventure co-written by Bong and Jason Yu, about a curious young piglet squid who lives in the uncharted depths of the South Pacific Ocean. A deep-sea creature, Ally has dreams of one day swimming to the surface and being the star of a wildlife documentary, but when a mysterious aircraft sinks to her neck of the woods, Ally’s life is turned upside down.

Don’t miss the full conversation below, where Bong shares his plans for Ally, as well as what this animated feature shares in common with his films like Parasite and Snowpiercer. He also struggles to pick his favorite films from fellow filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, explains why his Q&A with Fincher was so meaningful, and gives an exciting update on his next live-action film.

Bong Joon Ho Reveals the Real Reason He Became a Filmmaker

From his favorite films to grilling David Fincher, in the end, this Oscar-winner is a massive fan.

Image via Warner Bros.

COLLIDER: Recently, I’ve been asking actors and directors their favorite films by certain people, and I’m going to do that with you. Do you have a favorite film by Martin Scorsese?

BONG JOON HO: So top three? Top five? Top one?

Yeah.

BONG: That’s very difficult.

[Laughs] That is the right answer.

BONG: It’s so fucking difficult. Mean Streets and Raging Bull, but Raging Bull.

Do you have a favorite Chris Nolan?

BONG: Batman Begins. I love it.

And [Guillermo] del Toro?

BONG: Very difficult. The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, the second one.

You’re being very decisive with one. This one will be tough for you. What’s your favorite David Fincher?

BONG: We had a similar conversation last night.

I was here last night watching you talk.

BONG: The Social Network.

And the last one. Do you have a favorite Stanley Kubrick?

BONG: The Shining.

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Moving on to the next thing. I love Studio Ghibli. You’re now making an animated movie, so I have to ask: What’s your favorite Studio Ghibli film?

BONG: Spirited Away. And [My Neighbor] Totoro.

The proper answer for some of these — I’m making a joke — is all of them. Like Stanley Kubrick? All of them. Studio Ghibli? All of them. I know that you love comic books. Do you have a favorite comic or a favorite character, one that you repeatedly go back to because you just love them?

BONG: It’s also been released in the States. It’s a Japanese animation called Sunny about an orphan girl by Taiyō Matsumoto, a very beautiful graphic artist in Japan. He also made a great comic book called Ping Pong. He was recommended by Josh Safdie… “Oh, there is a graphic novel called Ping Pong, which is amazing, and I recommend that.” But I don’t know, I haven’t read it to the end.

One of the films that you selected that you wanted here at the Academy was The Thing by John Carpenter, a film all of us, especially at Collider, just love. One of the reasons it’s so amazing is because of that ambiguous ending. So, MacReady or Childs, do you have an opinion on which one is the creature and which one is human?

BONG: It’s the ultimate question you don’t want to be revealed. When I met the director, it was the question that I didn’t want to face, actually. Ultimately, we don’t even know what John thinks about it, whether it’s a monster or not. There are a lot of theories that could overwrite what we think is the human or the monster, about the ending.

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“Why don’t we just wait here for a little while, see what happens?”

I want to talk about last night. I was in the audience, and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever seen you happier than you were last night asking your questions. You looked even happier than when you won all the Oscars. What was it like for you? Because you’re clearly a super fan of [David] Fincher to be able to pepper him with questions. What was the evening like for you?

BONG: Simply put, I was so happy because before I was Director Bong, I was able to hang out with my favorite director as a film geek, or movie buff, or nerd. So being able to have the opportunity to hang out with him was really happy for me.

There’s a phrase in Korean called seong-deok. Seong stands for successful, and deok stands for taku, which comes from otaku, like you’re a geek in a certain genre. So it’s like you’ve succeeded as a geek. It means that becoming a director or becoming a filmmaker is just a simple device or medium to be able to meet Fincher himself. It’s just an excuse to get to know him. That might be the same case for Quentin [Tarantino], for example, to meet his favorite director, like Howard Hawks. Becoming a director is a way to get to meet your favorites.

Or you could be a reporter interviewing people.

BONG: [Laughs] Yeah. That’s true. He could have taken that. But between the two of being a critic or a reporter, he took the side of the director. It’s not easy to become a critic. My writing is not so good, and it’s not easy.

I know what you’re saying, but you landed on your feet. Sometime during the Q&A, I like that you asked about the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel. He said, and I don’t know if you caught it, “Are you around next week?” because he wants to show it to you. Did you catch that?

BONG: Yeah, I caught that.

Are you planning on taking him up on that offer?

BONG: I understood it as him just offering it, just saying it. Empty talk, like lip service.

No! I’ll bet you he’d show it to you, for sure.

BONG: Really?

Yeah. I know a lot of directors like showing other directors their work early, so that way they can get honest feedback. Fincher is not going to change anything because he’s Fincher, but I’m sure he would want to hear what you thought.

BONG: We have to email him.

That was not an empty offer. He will definitely show it to you.

BONG: Oh, really? Wow. At that moment, I just thought, “Wow, that’s great. If it’s just an empty word, I truly appreciate it,” but I never took it seriously.

You should definitely follow up. I don’t know if the movie’s done yet, because he might still be editing and adding VFX and songs, but he’d probably show you what he has.

BONG: If it happens, I’m really privileged. That’s so exciting. I’ll call you after I see it. [Laughs]

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Bong Joon Ho Almost Visited the Real Killer Behind ‘Memories of Murder’

“I was so deep into it that I felt that eventually I might be able to crack who did it.”

I love the ending of Memories of Murder and that final shot. So many people online talk about it and how Song [Kang-ho] is looking at the camera and he’s essentially looking at the killer, which is what you were trying to do. I believe in 2019, it came out that the actual killer had seen the movie in prison and stated that he didn’t have any emotional reaction to it. What was it like for you finding out that the killer had seen the movie? What was it like for you?

BONG: Actually, when I was watching Zodiac last night, I was so into the movie, and I watched the movie so many times, but again, I was so emotionally into it because Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, even though he’s not an actual cop or detective, he’s so desperate to solve this murder crime, and that was how I felt when I was writing the script for Memories of Murder. When I was writing the script of Memories of Murder, I did a huge amount of research, and I met many people who related to the case, many of the old people, and I was so deeply into it. I was so deep into it that I felt that eventually I might be able to crack who did it.

To think of it now, it’s kind of funny. But at that time, I was so serious and deep into it. Yesterday, watching Zodiac, I really resonated with Jake’s character. There’s a line that the character’s wife says, like, “Why are you so invested in this?” And then Jake says, “I need to know. I need to see the criminal with my two eyes.” So, I really resonated with how the character felt and was portrayed. Actually, at the time, I kept the list of questions very small on very small paper, with the 10 most urgent questions I had to ask the serial killer if I met him in my pocket.

Did you ever talk to him?

BONG: He was caught in 2019. He was in a facility in prison, and I actually thought of visiting with the criminal. There were a lot of questions that I wanted to ask, but there were a lot of legal formalities that made it difficult. So, I never really got to ask or talk to him.

What’s the status of the Parasite TV show?

BONG: It goes quite well. It’s been taking a while, but it’s been developing quite nicely.

So we could hear news about it soon?

BONG: Yeah.

You know I’m a huge fan of your work, and I read that you were developing two scripts, one in Korean and one in English. Do you know what your next live-action movie might be?

BONG: Right now, I’m fully invested in trying to finish up the animation work. Probably towards the fall of this year, I might be able to answer that question about future scripts. I have six or seven more ideas on my iPad, but it’s just an idea. It’s not a script. There is no contract or script, but many ideas in my iPad keep developing in my head.

So you really don’t know what the next live-action movie will be?

BONG: Not yet.

Bong Joon Ho Shares New Details About His First Animated Movie

“I want to show off the cute creatures that I’ve discovered.”

I’m beyond excited for your animated movie. I saw the first image. What kind of animation is it? Is it CG? Is it more Studio Ghibli hand-drawn? What can you tell people about it?

BONG: Definitely the CG. Computer graphics animation, 3D.

It’s coming out next year.

BONG: Yeah.

Are you aiming at a festival like Cannes? Are you aiming for something with the movie, or is it still too early?

BONG: Too early, but just naturally, I hope the film festivals will be interested. They make up the rules. They invite us.

I am confident that the festival you choose will say yes. The reason I ask about Cannes is because you have a lot of success there. That’s why I was wondering if that was where you might aim to show it or premiere it.

BONG: Right now, we’re just scheduled to finish up by this year. Then afterwards, actually, we’ll talk about distributions and festivals.

Does it have a distribution yet? Is it coming out through a company in America, or you don’t know yet?

BONG: We will report it very soon.

What do you want to tell people about the movie? What is it about? What was it about this story that compelled you to make it an animation?

BONG: I want us to think about what we’ve been doing to our oceans and seas, all of the life that is inside of the oceans and seas. We have to coexist on this earth. So once you do see my animation film, you will be able to feel what I’m thinking. We have a lot of cute creatures inside the ocean, so that will be shown throughout the film. I want to show off the cute creatures that I’ve discovered or found while I’ve been making this animation.

Years ago, we sat across from each other at Sundance. I think you were writing Snowpiercer.

BONG: Sundance?

Yeah, we were sitting at a coffee shop that’s now closed, and you were working on a script, and I was writing

BONG: 2011.

Yes, and you showed me the script for Snowpiercer, and it was in Korean. You’re like, “I’ll be working on this for two years.” You had a whole thing, and you explained to me how you write in coffee shops in Korea. I’m curious, with your success, have you lost your anonymity in Korea, or can you still write in coffee shops?

BONG: I’m still writing in cafés. It’s a quiet café where I can sit in the corner staring at the wall. Nobody cares.

Ally is expected to be released in 2027. Check back with Collider for more updates! And for even more on Director Bong’s filmmaking inspirations, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is also currently doing a full season-long series of films that have inspired him, titled A Lifetime of Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho. The series runs through May 29.

Producers

David Lipman, Seo Woo-sik

Cast

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