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Choi Woo-shik describesParasitelike one would riding roller coaster.
ButBong Joon-hohas put together an intricate character study that mangles and mutates any expectations.
Scenes are both hilarious and tragic, as Choi recounts, pathetic and gratifying.
When he was growing up in Vancouver, Choi says he wanted to become a theater director.
It would be better for you.
When you know how to act, it would help you be a better director.
So I was like,Oh, maybe, okay, maybe Ill try.
I flew back to Korea to do an audition, and somehow I became an actor in one day.
In passing, I ask his favorite Hollywood actors, whose careers hed like to emulate.
Timothee Chalamet, oh my gosh, so good, he says.
I was like, What, stay in shape?
But he actually said stayskinny.
So I was like,Oh, okay.
Does he have work for me later on?But he didnt call me after that.
He said, Your fathers going to be Kang-ho Song and I cant tell you much more of it.
At first I didnt really know whats going on, and I couldnt even read the script.
I didnt know my name or the role.
I had no idea what Id be playing.
He gave me a script after that and it was amazing.
Did you stay skinny, as hed asked?Actually, I became skinnier than I shouldve!
I dont usually stay on diets, but I was a bit nervous about this role.
So I think I became skinny naturally; I was just losing weight.
Does he do good in school?
He failed the university entrance exam four times.
He knows that heneedsvigor when taking a test.
When hes tutoring Da-hye, he stresses that vigor is really important, but he lacks it.
I dont know the specific word for it in English, but Ki-woo is very smart.
The most important stuff about Ki-woo was the close bond he had with his father.
I had to break that.
I always called him father, like papa, in Korean.
People are kind of surprised that I kept calling him papa after the movie.
I still call him papa.
We dont actually have to make time for bonding together because we always just eat together.
We stayed in the same hotel for like two months.
So it just happened naturally.
Papa, this scenes kind of … and Id get advice from him.
I still get advice from him.
Which do you prefer?
Just staying there doing nothing?
I think I prefer being in the same room with everyone.
Did director Bong show you any of the storyboards forParasite?
He draws really well, and he would draw our characters emotions [in the storyboards] too.
I think that helped us a lot, too.
That looked almost impossible to pull off.It was really awkward and funny for us to be under there.
But when they were acting on a sofa, we werent there to watch them.
They had really a minimum crew [for that sex scene] on that set without us.
At the time, though, we were holding laughs.
We were being very drunk!
We didnt know what to do!
They measured up the table so four adults can fit under it.
I thought it was a designer table, but they actually made it for the movie.
I think it was half the size of this [hotel] room.
And the house wasnt real, right?Yes, every location on this film is a set.
Its all built up.
Even the semibasement apartment where the Kim family lives, its a set, too.
There was a lot of conversations about that stone after the movie.
He just told me to take care of it.
So it was sort of up to you to decide what you wanted it to mean?
To decide what Ki-woo wanted it to mean?Yeah.
It was his idea to go work for the Park family, right?
So it was a really heavy responsibility for him to carry his familys future.
Sort of like a shortcut?Yeah, shortcut.
I will try as hard as I can to ensure that I get the money to purchase that house.
What did you think that the stone was?
I did think it meant responsibility, but I also saw it as him leaving behind his naivete.
But he was like, No, maybe it was a gift.
Maybe he wanted to say sorry.
That made sense to me.
Ki-woo isnt a person who would kill someone.
He would just go down there like, This was a gift from my friend.
Im really sorry about whats happened here.
Here is my apology gift.
Maybe it was a gift!
[The stone] means a lot.
It has a lot of meanings, I think.
I love that reading of the scene, actually.
He needed money, and our family needed a job.
I think they were just a method of getting money.
I dont think he actually thought about it more than, you know, getting paid.
I dont think the Kims are really ashamed of their poverty.
We, as a family, are all so positive and we share a lot of thoughts together.
Were a really happy family; were just without money.
Would you ever read your girlfriends diary?I dont know, maybe.
!I kind of understand why he read it!
He said he wanted to know her better, to know her deeper.
So, yeah, maybe, if I dont know what shes thinking.
Can you tell me what you think ofthe ending?
Do you think Ki-woo could earn enough money to buy that house?It was really touching.
Really sad, terrible.
I felt so sad for Ki-woo.
Do you know about that song that plays after the ending scroll?
No, tell me.I sing a song.
Theres a song that plays during the credits, and director Bong actually wrote the lyrics.
The song is about how Ki-woo spent his days trying to earn money to purchase that house.
It would take 564 years for Ki-woo to actually save up the money to buy that house.
Its almost impossible for him to buy the house.
