Veteran Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook returns to the Venice competition this evening with No Other Choice, his first feature to debut on the Lido in two decades.
This afternoon, during a press conference, the filmmaker said the long-gestation project took the same amount of time to complete due to a lack of funds.
“As the fate of a film always tends to be, it’s not that we didn’t have any budget, but I needed to take the time to make sure that we had a budget where I felt it was sufficient,” Chan-Wook said.
“I am back here at Venice with a film selected in competition. It’s been about 20 years since I was here last. And it also took 20 years to create this film. In that time, I was able to create this amazing group of cast that you see here. And thanks to them, I was able to get the funds and investments needed, and I was able to create the budget to where I would like it to be.”
No Other Choice follows Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun) in his desperate struggle to secure his wife, Miri (Son Ye-jin), their two children, and his hard-earned home. Once highly satisfied with his achievement-filled life, Man-su faces sudden dismissal from his job and begins preparing for his own war of survival.
No Other Choice is based on the horror novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake. Park directed from a script written with Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee. Producers include Park and Back Jisun of Moho Film, as well as Michèle Ray Gavras and Alexandre Gavras of KG Productions. Miky Lee exec-produced for CJ Group, with CJ ENM financing the project.
The film’s cast also includes Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, and Cha Seung-won.
In June, Mubi acquired all rights to No Other Choice for Latin America, the UK, Ireland, Benelux (in concert with Cinéart), Spain, Turkey, India, Australia, New Zealand, and SAARC, whose member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. That news was preceded the day before by word of Neon taking rights for the U.S. and Canada.
After Venice, No Other Choice will open the Busan Film Festival.
Venice runs until September 6.
The post Park Chan-Wook Says It Took Him 20 Years To Complete His Venice Title ‘No Other Choice’ Due To A Lack Of Funds appeared first on Deadline.
