Bong Joon-ho’s success with Parasite in 2019, has ensured that the movie’s legacy will live on. The first notable project that has streamed out of it is a 6-hour long American TV series rendition of Parasite, courtesy of HBO.
Parasite made headlines when it became the first foreign language feature film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, along with Bong bagging the much deserved Best Director, another first.
Bong Joon-ho was also the first South Korean director to win the Palme d’Or for the movie.
It wouldn’t be long before an American remake would spring into action, as the Hollywood big brother is known to “borrow” hits from other nations.
This is not Bong’s first work to be remade by Hollywood, the other being his 2013 Snowpiercer. Another South Korean film in the midst of getting a Hollywood remake is Train to Busan directed by Yeon Sang-ho
While intentions and budget are sure there, the Hollywood counterparts don’t particularly seem to capture the essence of the originals they are based on. Fans of Parasite were a little more than afraid of this pattern repeating itself.
Rest assured, director Bong will be joining HBO’s Parastie’s creative team as the producer, working in close quarters with screenwriter Adam McKay.
McKay has dabbled with his own narration of social commentaries with his work in Succession, The Big Short and Vice. No director has been announced as of yet.
Details are few and far in between, but Bong has rectified his earlier sentiments which sought the series to explore many elements that Bong couldn’t fit into the movie.
Now, he confirms that the HBO series won’t exactly be a “remake” but rather an original series set in the same universe as the movie. This piece of clarification came earlier in April from McKay as well, during conversations in the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
As a few rumors may have it, Mark Ruffalo and Tilda Swinton are said to have been approached for major roles within the series. But nothing has yet been confirmed.
It still leaves us with a gaping doubt to fill – Will the “American” Parasite be a series well done?
Reported by Indie Wire, here’s what Bong Joon-ho has to say at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival:
‘Parasite’ is a film on wealthy and poor families, and that is a problem everywhere. We’re going to do it in the United States. The subject continues to have resonance in France and elsewhere. Many of [us] would like to be rich, but I think in all of us there is a fear of becoming poor. I’m involved in the HBO adaptation [of ‘Parasite’]. It will be a black comedy. I’m working in close cooperation with screenwriter McKay. This time I’m giving my input as a producer.
Bong Joon-ho
Bong Joon-ho did not create Parasite with the intention of taking the world by a storm. But like his other creations that touch on the eerily familiar aspects of humankind’s unkind sides, it has left a lasting impression that calls to be explored in other contexts.
Parasite spoke to us about the class conflict in South Korea, and now hopefully may shed an honest light on the USA.
Source: Indiewire
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