The Sympathizer
Summary
Park Chan - wook makes his victorious return to TV withThe Sympathizer . The South Korean film maker became a worldwide phenomenon with the liberation of2003’sOldboyadaptation , the 2d installment in his unofficialThe Vengeance Trilogythat set out withSympathy for Mr. Vengeanceand concluded with 2005’sLady Vengeance . He ’s since gone on to find plaudit with the 2009 horror movieThirst , producing Bong Joon - ho ’s breakout hitSnowpiercer , the psychological thrillersThe HandmaidenandStoker , the latter of which assist as his English - nomenclature directorial launching , andDecision to Leave .
Prior toThe Sympathizer , Chan - wook had also lent his talent to the small filmdom with the 2018 BBC miniseries adjustment of John le Carré’sThe Little Drummer Girl , which he executive bring on and aim all six episode of . He also executive produced theTNT adaptation ofSnowpiercer , while going on to helm three episode of the HBO Vietnam War thriller and executive producing it with author Viet Thanh Nguyen , co - creator Don McKellar and both Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr. via their Team Downey streamer .
The new A24 & HBO miniseries The Sympathizer begin months before the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War and introduce its mole protagonist .
Based on Nguyen ’s novel of the same name , the show center on a North Vietnamese spy known as the Captain whose charge as a South Vietnam army industrial plant continues beyond the end of the Vietnam War as he heads to the US with the latter ’s General in the hopes of undermine his mission . Hoa Xuande leadsthe ensembleSympathizercastas the Captain alongside Robert Downey Jr. in a four - character function , Sandra Oh , Fred Nguyen Khan , Duy Nguyễn , Phanxinê , Kieu Chinh , Vy Le , Ky Duyen , Toan Le VyVy Nguyen and Alan Trong .
out front of the show ’s premiere , Screen Rantparticipated in a roundtable interview with Park Chan - wook and his transcriber to discussThe Sympathizer , his genre - bending approaching to adapting Nguyen ’s novel , the efforts he made to stay bona fide to the show ’s Vietnamese theatrical performance , and filming Downey Jr. ’s four - character role .
Director Park & His Team “Went Out Of Our Way” To Hire “Dependable Consultants”
While the Vietnamese experience is atthe nub ofThe Sympathizer , Chan - wook is moderately of an outlier amid the show ’s creative team as a South Korean go the billing . The music director at last recognized his being " not fluent in Vietnamese " and from a different refinement , though assured that he and his team " went out of our way " to see to it the output had " dependable consultants " to stay true to the story and part :
Park Chan - wook : It is true that I ’m not silver-tongued in Vietnamese , and that is exactly why we go out of our style to bring honest consultants — not only one , but many of them . And we made sure to have them review , and we made sure they would civilise our actors . And even at the set , for every setup , before we incite on to the next one , I would evidently ensure and confirm with them to ensure that it was delivered aright .
The interesting thing about it is , even though I do n’t know the language , whenever there ’s a take , whether I was quenched with the execution or not , I would find out that they thought it just as the same as me . So , that is to say , in terms of the actors performing and deliver the genuine emotion that needs to be convey . It is not about the lyric , it comes from their privileged core .
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So , whenever I feel like it was estimable in terms of the emotion that I wanted to get , I would turn around and face at the consultant , then they would have their thumb up too . So , I recall it ’s about how it resonates and speaks emotionally , because we all sympathise that .
The SympathizerIsn’t A “Line-By-Line Verbatim” Adaptation (For A Good Reason)
With a 416 - page germ material to work off of , McKellar and Director Park had an interesting choice to make of where to set about with tackle adaptingThe Sympathizer . Rather than depend to do a " line - by - line direct " version of the book to the screen , the chemical group instead looked to treat the novel as " almost nonfictional prose rather than fiction " , find what the inciting incident of the source story was and then work to " preserve the Congress of Racial Equality , the psychological science and the theme " of the novel :
Park Chan - wook : I retrieve the thing is , when you ’re endeavor to adapt an original novel , such an approach should n’t be trying to translate this text seam - by - line verbatim , because it is impossible . It is not potential to translate text edition into a ocular medium . It is more about what you have drawn from , what you have ask away when you got to the last page of the book . And when you shut the book , what kind of impression that the original novel impressed upon you .
Something like you treat it as your own experience . Or you ’re trying to think of care for this as if this actual incident that had happened . You handle this as almost nonfiction rather than fable . I think that ’s the approach that you want to take . This mammoth clump of it , you sort of calculate out what sort of incident there was within , and what kind of characters we ’re blab about . And within that paradigm , you should be loose to explore in terms of your cinematic language , which think you do n’t need to strictly adhere to the rescript of the original novel .
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possibly you take them all aside , and you put them all together and make it into a very new thing . And really , that is the way you’re able to preserve the core , the psychological science and the idea of the original novel . I reckon , I daresay , that is actually the way to really maintain more what the original novel behave .
HBO Backing A Hollywood-Satirizing Project Was A “Critical Issue” For The Show
While seemingly the complete project for it , The Sympathizerhad an interesting vault to confront with its Hollywood - skewering irony by partnering with HBO and A24 to fetch the show to life . Director Park did observe that this was a " critical issue " for him and his squad on the show , and incur that it actually was a unique parallel to one of the biggest themes at the fondness of the story :
Park Chan - wook : When we went about make this story , I worked with Don McKellar , Caucasic - Canadian writer , and perhaps just like how the Captain ’s inner being is coexistence of East and West , perhaps like to that is us having work together as one individual .
And we blab endlessly as we worked about how we adapt this original novel , just like how the Captain carries within himself two different elements . I opine that is sort of the comparability in damage of the studio coming into 2020 and so forth . I sense like , especially American studio apartment , are move through a braggart change . And for HBO , this obviously require important investment in term of the financial investment . And yes , the show has a whole lot of subtitle , the consultation demand to catch up and learn , and also , it has a whole bunch of Asiatic form .
Not to cite , some of them are newcomers , and HBO coming on board and supporting the show , I think , is substantial in itself . And I should mention that sometimes , even more so than myself , they would actually push and ensure that how we portray Vietnamese and the country and the tarradiddle was historically accurate as potential . They were not diffident to indue , in terms of the metre and money , so they were really trying to be all ears , when , not only me , but Viet , and also our Vietnamese cast , had opinions to share . They were all ears about it , so I was very appreciative of their gesture and their backup .
Filming Robert Downey Jr.’s Multiple Roles Was An Interesting Process
In a career - first for the Oscar success , Downey Jr. takes on four unlike purpose inThe Sympathizeras a CIA agent , an Occidental alum student professor , a California Congressman , and an auteur filmmaker . for capture this burden , including one scene in which all four characters interact with one another , Director Park looked at it as both a " challenge " and a " delight " as Downey Jr. ’s dissimilar public presentation for each fibre was like " watching a circus deed " :
Park Chan - wook : In terms of the procedure , we had three dissimilar stand - ins , and they would be wearing indistinguishable costumes and makeups that Robert would be wear out . And whenever Robert was playing , say , Character A , then the tie-up - in would be performing Character B , C , D and so forth . And when Robert locomote on to the portray Character B , then evidently the outdoor stage - ins would be present A , C and D. And then afterwards , we had composited all these plates together through VFX . mayhap it ’s a showcase of act , I felt like I was view a circus act .
That is to say , rather than me really directing the scene , I was able to sit back and enjoy his performance , because he would offer dissimilar performances for every individual take . I was very excited and I would be anticipating what would be the next functioning he would number up with . So speak of editing , yes , it is challenging to select certain takes , only because all of them are very honest and entertaining . So , in other words , it ’s not a challenge , per se , but it ’s actually a delight to do so .
The thing is , even when you believe you ’re done with the editing , if you replace certain takes with another one , then the intact flavour , the entire rhythm can change , and it would leave in a chain reaction , so the only bad matter about that would be it would ensue in much more time that we would need
Director Park Looked To His Own Genre-Blending Past ForThe Sympathizer
While , on the surface , The Sympathizermay seem like a straightforward spy thriller , it actually offers a wide reach of genres throughout its rivulet . Whether it ’s a moving tale of the immigrant experience in America , a full - on war narrative or uproarious spin on Hollywood filmmaking , it keeps the story moving with a wide variety of tones and tempo , all of which Director Park pulled from not only in the novel , but also his own filmography :
Park Chan - wook : So , perhaps you’re able to say that in term of full spectrum of thrillers , those were the some of the movies that I have dealt with . But if you depend at it carefully , all of my deeds have been sort of a composite of different genres . Sometimes , yes , it is true that it was stronger on the horror aspect of it , sometimes , it might be stronger on the action side . Sometimes , it might be a little slant towards more of an erotic side .
But that is all to say , all of my piece of work I render to mix various musical style , and that is more of an approach that I ’m familiar with . And in reality , for me , it is much unvoiced , much more of a challenge to just grok in and really go about attacking one specific genre , because the thing is , our lives are a composite of many different constituent , just like genres .
For example , there ’s a romance to it , or action , perhaps disaster . We go through it , each of us go through many different things , and I think the composite of these different chemical element is what actually portrays , in aggregate , how each of us go through our lives . In increase , our original novel is a composite of different genres , too .
AboutThe Sympathizer
base on Viet Thanh Nguyen ’s Pulitzer Prize - winning novel of the same name , THE SYMPATHIZER is an espionage thriller and cross - culture satire about the struggles of a half - Gallic , half - Vietnamese communist undercover agent during the last twenty-four hour period of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles , where he pick up that his spying day are n’t over .
Check out our otherSympathizerinterviews with :
novel episodes of The Sympathizer line Sundays on HBO and Max .
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Based on the novel by Viet Thanh Nuyen , The Sympathizer search the last days of the Vietnam War through the eyes of a half - Vietnamese , half - Gallic spy serving for the communist regime . The television serial version is define - up as a miniskirt - serial and will in all likelihood still be frame as a confession from the champion as they make their way through the warfare . Photo is of the original novel covering .
