Dae-min Park is a South-Korean director known for his features “Private Eye” (2009) and “Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River” (2016). Park started studying architecture, but never finished his studies, as he began taking his passion for movies more seriously and started turning it into a career. After several short features, he directed “Private Eye”, which was nominated for awards at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2009.
His latest work is the crime action feature “Special Delivery” (also known as “Special Cargo”) which stars actress So-dam Park, who international audiences know for her role in Joon-ho Park's “Parasite”. Ir premiered at South-Korean cinemas in January 2022, and became one of the first genre features released after the COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown.
On the occasion of “Special Delivery” being screened at Fantasia International Film Festival, the filmmaker talks about the genesis of the project, working with So-dam Park as well as shooting in the city of Busan.
“Special Delivery” is screening on Fantasia International Film Festival
Can you tell us something about the genesis and the inspiration for the project?
My initial idea was to create a story with a strong female character. The action genre provided the most fitting way to tell such a story with such a hero. The narrative thus could be fast-paced, just like I wanted.
After that, I started thinking about the character in more depth and came up with the thought she may be involved with the criminal underworld, perhaps as a transporter or get-away car driver. This decision would help to emphasize the pace of the story, like I mentioned before.
Another reason for that decision was the thought she could overcome her physical limits by being a skilled driver.
Do you think that South-Korean cinema, or in general genre cinema, needs more female protagonists?
Absolutely. There should be more action movies with female heroes in South Korea. Sadly, after the pandemic, producers and movies studios have become more conservative regarding female-led narratives. However, I am tired of male action cinema and all of its clichés and with my next project I also want to do an action movie with a female lead.
You presumably said your aim is to direct a Hollywood-like blockbuster at one point in your career. How close did you come to that goal with “Special Delivery”?
I am not sure I actually ever said that. (laughs)
But if Hollywood producers are interested in working with me, I am open for negotiations. In Korea, directors often have to work with a tight budget, so for an action flick like “Special Delivery”, you cannot expect to have the same kind of financial means like the directors behind the “Fast and Furious”-franchise. At the same time, this kind of tight budget makes you think creatively, which is something me and my team hopefully managed to accomplished. In the case of “Special Delivery” it made us think of creative and different approach so action-movie-concepts like the car chase in terms of space and speed.
For example, in a car chase, some of the vehicles are sometimes destroyed and cannot be used anymore. When it came to the planning of these scenes, we started thinking about the character of Eun-ha again and her skill as a driver, and whether we could make it look like she is so talented, she does not crash her car. We tried to come up with these kinds of unique solutions, which were made because of budgetary constraints, but at the same time should emphasize an aspect of the story or the characters.
How did So-dam Park get involved with the project and what was it like working with her?
When it was time to cast someone for the role of Eun-ha, So-dam was the only choice to me to play this part because her acting style is so cool and attractive. Perhaps her greatest skill is to make the audience believe the character exists in real life and is not just fictional. She can play a nun in one movie, and then she can be a woman haunted by spirits in “Priest”, and even though these characters are quite unusual in their behavior, through her performance So-dam can make the viewer believe, these are real people.
Additionally, I really like her voice.
The city of Busan and its surrounding area plays a big role in “Special Delivery”. What makes this place so attractive for a director and for an action-movie-narrative?
First of all, Busan is a very attractive city, and I wanted this quality to come across in “Special Delivery”. It is partly surrounded by the sea, has an old center as well as a very modern, urbanized area, where most of its inhabitants live.
One more thing I need to mention is that Busan is not necessarily the easiest city for drivers. Since most roads were planned after houses were built, this makes for a sometimes very confusing and complicated traffic structure, which further highlights Eun-ha's skills as a driver, considering she can safely maneuver her vehicle through this maze.
Thank you for the interesting conversation.
