As you might have heard, Park Chan-wook has been festival-hopping over the past few weeks, traveling from Venice to Toronto to New York to promote his latest film, “No Other Choice.”
Park is having a moment, moving further into the mainstream with cinephiles thanks to the acclaim he’s received for his last three films (“The Handmaiden,” “Decision to Leave,” and “No Other Choice”), not to mention the well-reviewed HBO series “The Sympathizer,” starring Robert Downey Jr.
As for what comes next, in a new interview, Park tells MBC Radio that he has several projects in mind but emphasized that nothing is confirmed. However, he did specifically point to “an old Western script” written by S. Craig Zahler, titled “Brigands of Rattlecreek,” which he says he really wants to make.
If ‘Rattlecreek’ —stuck in development for ten years—remains in limbo, Park is also considering “Genocidal Organ,” based on a Japanese novel by Project Itoh about the surveillance state built up by world powers after a nuclear bomb’s destruction of Sarajevo.
Still, it’s Park’s potential team-up with Zahler (“Bone Tomahawk”) on a new “ultraviolent Western” that most piques our curiosity. A few years ago, Amazon acquired the rights to the film and seemed set on having Matthew McConaughey star. Since then? Radio silence.
Given Park’s surge in popularity these last few years, not to mention the consistent acclaim, it’d be foolish for Amazon to not greenlight ‘Rattelcreek.’ Park has been trying to get the film made since 2015. It would be only his second English-language film, following “Stoker.”
The plot centers on “a small frontier town attempting to fend off a crew of murderous criminals using the cover of a thunderstorm to take them for all they’ve got.” McConaughey was expected to play the heroic town doctor, who teams up with the sheriff to fight the outlaws—no doubt in gory fashion.
Despite the remarkable run Park has enjoyed over the 10 years, he has yet to surpass the seismic impact of “Oldboy.” Released in 2003, the revenge thriller detonated like a cinematic bomb, and he has yet to have matched the raw, almost dangerous energy that continues to overshadow of that modern-day classic.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.