Oldboy

올드보이 (2003)

Timing: 2:0 (120 min)

8.239/10
9718

8.053/10
334178

8.3/10
713000

All about film

Video 14

Photo 167

Actors and characters

Release date

2003-11-21

Country

Korea

Production

Show East, CJ Entertainment, Egg Film, Cineclick Asia

Genre

Drama, Thriller, Mystery, Action

Budget

$3 000 000

Revenue

$17 500 000

Website

Director

Park Chan-wook

Actors

Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Byeong-ok, Ji Dae-han, Oh Dal-su, Lee Seung-shin, Yoon Jin-seo, Oh Tae-kyung, Yoo Yeon-seok
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Syd Lim, Kim Dong-joo, Kim Jang-wook, Ji Young-jun

Operator

Jeong Jeong-hun

Composer

Choi Seung-hyun

Artist

Audition

Editing

Kim Sang-bum, Kim Jae-beom
All team (46)

• For his role in the film, Choi Min-sik rigorously trained in the gym for six weeks and lost 10 kg, after which he performed almost all of the stunts himself.
• The phrase “Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone,” which appears repeatedly in the film, is a quote from the poem “Solitude” by American poet Ella Wilcox.
• The fight scene in the prison corridor was filmed in one take, took three days to shoot, and used very little computer graphics – only the knife sticking out of Oh Dae-su’s back was digitally added.
• In the scene where Oh Dae-su dances with toy wings at the police station, actor Choi Min-sik asked the cinematographer to include his feet in the shot – he wanted to imitate Michael Jackson’s famous “moonwalk”.
• 300 actresses auditioned for the role of Mi-do, and in the end, Kang Hye-jung was unanimously chosen.
• For the role of Lee Woo-jin, the director wanted to find an actor who would appear as little like a villain as possible, and initially wanted to cast Han Suk-kyu, who had previously played the rival of Choi Min-sik's character in the film 'Shiri'.
• The chairman of the Cannes Film Festival jury, Quentin Tarantino, called the film an absolute masterpiece and voted for it to be awarded the Palme d'Or, but the film was one vote short of winning the prize.
• The final scene in the snowy forest was filmed in New Zealand.
• The scene of eating a live octopus was filmed in four takes.
• In Korea, they do indeed eat live octopuses, but they are usually cut into pieces beforehand. Having won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the director publicly thanked the octopus alongside the actors and the film crew.
• Actor Choi Min-sik is a Buddhist, and before eating the live octopus, he had to pray.
• Quentin Tarantino admitted that the film deeply touched him – he cried along with the antagonist and was surprised by his own reaction, because by that point he had already come to hate him.
• In one interview, Park Chan-wook said that he deliberately made the ending of the film ambiguous, so that viewers could decide for themselves whether Oh Dae-su had managed to bury his memories or not.
• For his role in the film, Choi Min-sik rigorously trained in the gym for six weeks and lost 10 kg, after which he performed almost all of the stunts himself.
• In the dance scene with Oh Dae-su and the toy wings at the police station, actor Choi Min-sik asked the cameraman to capture his legs – he wanted to imitate Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk".
• For the role of Lee Woo-jin, the director wanted to find an actor who seemed as little like a villain as possible and initially wanted to cast Han Suk-kyu, who had already played the rival of Choi Min-sik's character in the film "Shiri".
• During the scene where Oh Dae-su dances with toy wings in the police station, actor Choi Min-sik asked the cameraman to include his feet in the shot—he wanted to imitate Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk".
• For the role of Lee Woo-jin, the director wanted to find an actor who would appear as little like a villain as possible, and initially wanted to cast Han Suk-kyu, who had already played the rival of Choi Min-sik's character in the film 'Shiri'.