The one genre Bong Joon-ho will never direct: “I have a personal problem”
At the time he was reaching the high point of his career, Bong Joon-ho made a biting comment about the type of film he will never direct, indirectly poking at a passionate debate that was already raging in the industry.
Joon-ho was already an acclaimed director before Parasite for the likes of Snowpiercer and Okja, but the reception to 2019 hit was on another level. The thriller follows a poor family in South Korea who manage to secure every job available in a wealthy family’s home, through less than honourable means. People might not have figured it out quite yet, but the film was destined to make history as the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for ‘Best Picture.’
I personally remember Parasite as the screening I attended in an absolutely packed theatre weeks before the world went into lockdown. Its legacy is still very alive, as it was recently named the best film of the 21st century in The New York Times’ poll. Joon-ho only released his follow-up directorial feature this year with Mickey 17, an excellent entry, but inevitably failing to match Parasite, and is now working on an animated feature about deep-sea creatures, reportedly titled The Valley.
Following his monumental win, everyone wanted to know what the filmmaker aspired to do next, and amid debates about how blockbusters deserved to be recognised by awarding bodies, Joon-ho, who had directed MCU’s Captain America Chris Evans in Snowpiercer, was naturally asked by Variety, “Would you direct a Marvel movie?”
“I have a personal problem,” he responded, explaining, “I respect the creativity that goes into superhero films, but in real life and in movies, I can’t stand people wearing tight-fitting clothes. I’ll never wear something like that, and just seeing someone in tight clothes is mentally difficult. I don’t know where to look, and I feel suffocated. Most superheroes wear tight suits, so I can never direct one. I don’t think anyone will offer the project to me either. If there is a superhero who has a very boxy costume, maybe I can try.”
In other words, Joon-ho didn’t see himself being able to buy into the inherent cheesiness of superheroes, at least as they are portrayed in the comics.
While some massively acclaimed directors have taken the lead on superhero films, they always seem like an intentional indicator that it will be more than a blockbuster, and rather something of serious artistic merit, which the MCU did achieve when Ryan Coogler helmed 2018’s Black Panther made it to a ‘Best Picture’ nomination.
However, once Avengers: Endgame‘s cinematic epic concluded the first phase, superhero fatigue has spread far and wide, and many would rather see an auteur work on some indie feature rather than trying to remake the mainstream superhero in their tastes.
While Joon-ho helming an MCU or DCU seems highly unlikely and largely unnecessary, maybe an Elseworlds property could be on the cards, which would allow him to explore any visual or thematic route he pleases, using a well-known hero as the anchor.
