Announced
last week to much excitement was the news of Korean director
Park Chan-Wook's very first western funded, English language feature that films in the Spring. Titled
Stoker, Wasikowska will play an eccentric teen whose enigmatic and estranged uncle returns to the family after the death of the girls father. The Scott brothers, Ridley and Tony, are to take lead on the Fox Searchlight production which previously had Jodie Foster and Carey Mulligan attached. The only actors name now associated with the project is currently
Mia Wasikowska, who will likely be keen to shake off her association with Tim Burtons worst ever film, Alice in Wonderland. If you are not aware of the work of Korean director
Park Chan-Wook then you really should be. For over ten years he has been responsible for some of the most intelligent, bewitching thrillers committed to celluloid. He artfully renders the most labyrinthine of plots with existentially ravaged characters and themes with an arresting, stylish and artful violence that made him something of a flag-bearer for the so-called Asian Extreme cinema that saw an upsurge in popularity in the early 21st century.
Chan-Wook however, is no mere craftsman of blood ridden imagery- he is fortunate enough to have a natural gift for orchestrating tensions in scenes both tender and terrifying and an almost unblemished record in getting the best out of his leading men. He can boast a back catalogue that includes Joint Security Area- a multi award winning film that broke domestic box office records in Korea- and the almost sensually violent Vengeance Trilogy including international breakthrough hit Oldboy. All of which are available on DVD and Blu Ray in the UK and USA, and all of which represent worthy investments. Park Chan-Wook is currently promoting iphone technology, and shot a fantasy short,
Nightfishing, which he displayed to a collection of Korean journalists on January 27th.