Korean Directors Take on STAR WARS

Ryoo Seung-wan


Key Films: City of Violence, 2006; The Berlin File, 2013; Veteran, 2015

Episode VIII: He kinda ignores Rey and drafts an original story in which a guy (possibly played by Ryoo Seung-bum) who failed at becoming a Jedi and is now making do as a bouncer for an intergalactic dance club. Finn, rejected by Rey and the rebels, becomes a partner with this guy but struggles with his conscience about getting back to join the good fight. Ryoo hires veteran actors from Hong Kong/American/Japanese action cinema to play a bunch of colorful villains (Samo Hung as a Jabba the Hut-like alien, Beat Takeshi as a lethal robot, etc.). He also obsesses over how to portray the use of the Force on screen, barging in to George Lucas’s residence to directly counsel him about it. The lightsaber battle scenes are insanely complex. He later laments in the interviews, “I never really understood just what the heck the Force is supposed to be!”

Result: Fandom gets seriously divided on the merit of episode VIII, some hailing it a total masterpiece, others complaining “things happen in random ways!” and comparing its tone to Gangnam Style.

      

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