Quotes from Park Chan-wook

I'd like to do a really masculine film.

Visual elements are, of course, the director's job.

The atmosphere of Catholicism in Korea is quite different to the way it is practised and perceived in Europe or the U.S.

I live in a rural residential area. It's a great place for a walk. I'm at my happiest when I'm listening to my iPod while walking around where my feet take me.

When it comes to remaking my own films in the English language, I can only imagine that it is a very boring process, I wouldn't ever dream of it.

When I say that I am going to do an American film, I didn't want to suddenly go off into a completely different world that which bears no relation to the style of filmmaking that I'm used to.

Whenever I visit a city, I like to see what classical music concerts are on offer.

I actually pay careful attention to that sort of thing - infusing humor into my films - because that's how important I think humor is.

I've read all of Sarah Waters's novels which have been translated into Korean.

When I grow older and less popular, there will come a time when I have to shoot films on low budgets.

I became a film director, but I wasn't successful with my first couple of films, so I had to turn to becoming a film critic to make a living.

I'd love to do a sci-fi movie, a western, or an espionage thriller. But I'm not going to limit myself. If a good script comes along, I'm not going to discount it because it doesn't fit into one of these genres.

When you consider the concept of vampirism, it is inherently part of a Western culture.

The point of revenge is not in the completion but in the process.

If you would ask me what my ideal process is, I would say, long pre-production, long production and long post-production.

I am sure I am one of 2,000 film directors in the world that Tarantino admires.

I guess I probably make violent films partly because I can't express my anger in my real life very well.

I don't really believe in the auteur theory.

I don't think I've ever tried to make something happen that I've absolutely had to force. You know how they say: if you can't avoid it, enjoy it. For me, it's the other way around: if I can't enjoy it, I avoid it.

Actors, I think, are all the same. Both Korean actors and American actors are all very sensitive people, and they are all curious to know what the director thinks of them and how they are evaluated, and they try to satisfy the director. And they like it if you listen carefully to their opinions and accept them.

The reason I want to show shocking things is that they always pose an ethical question.

People who really try to be conscious of what they have done, who take responsibility, to me these kinds of people are heroes.

If I want to relax and not do anything, I don't want to leave home.

As I grow older I spend more time with my wife, and gradually my interest in the woman's world is growing.