Park Chan-wook: who is he, what are his films, what's the latest, and does he speak English?

Who is Park Chan-wook?

Park Chan-wook is a South Korean film director. He made his feature debut in 1992 with The Moon Is… the Sun's Dream, but his first two films met a cold reception or failed at the box office; Joint Security Area (2000) became a major hit in Korea. The Kyunghyang Shinmun marks the success of Oldboy (2003) as the point at which Park and Korean cinema began to be noticed worldwide. His best-known works include the "Vengeance Trilogy" — Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance — as well as The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave and No Other Choice. In February 2026 the Cannes Film Festival named him president of the competition jury for its 79th edition. He is the first Korean to hold the post and the first Asian filmmaker to lead the jury since Wong Kar-wai in 2006.

Major awards: Cannes, Berlin, Venice, BAFTA

• Cannes. He won the Grand Prix for Oldboy in 2004, the Jury Prize for Thirst in 2009 and Best Director for Decision to Leave in 2022. In 2026 he chaired the competition jury, which announced its awards on May 23.^1,2
• Berlin. He won the Alfred Bauer Prize for I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK in 2007.³
• Venice. After Lady Vengeance in 2005, No Other Choice was selected for the main competition in 2025 — the first Korean feature in the Venice competition in 13 years.⁵
• BAFTA (the British Academy Film Awards). The Handmaiden won Best Film Not in the English Language in 2018.⁴
• Toronto. In 2025 No Other Choice won the festival's newly created International People's Choice Award, voted by audiences for the most popular feature made outside North America.⁶

The latest film, No Other Choice, and where to watch it

• The film. It is based on The Ax, a novel by American writer Donald E. Westlake. It follows Man-soo (Lee Byung-hun), a middle-aged man fired from a paper company who sets about eliminating his rivals to get a new job. The cast also includes Son Ye-jin, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, Yoo Yeon-seok and Park Hee-soon.^5,6
• Release. It was selected for competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in 2025 and opened the 30th Busan International Film Festival. Released in Korean theaters in September 2025, it drew 2.94 million viewers.^5,6,8
• Watching in Korea. Distributor CJ ENM released a 157-minute extended cut — 19 minutes longer than the 138-minute theatrical version — on IPTV, digital cable and online VOD from July 16, 2026. The extended cut had its first TV broadcast on tvN on the night of September 24, 2026.^8,9
• Watching in the U.S. It appeared on Hulu's list of new titles for April 2026. Availability in other countries was not checked for this page.¹⁰
• October 2026. At the 35th Buil Film Awards on October 7, 2026, No Other Choice led all films with nine nominations, including Best Film and Best Director, and Yeom Hye-ran won Best Supporting Actress. Best Director went to Na Hong-jin for Hope.^14,15

Next: the western The Brigands of Rattlecreek

In April 2026 it was reported that Park will direct an English-language western, The Brigands of Rattlecreek. The screenplay is by S. Craig Zahler, revised by Park. It is a revenge story in which a sheriff and a doctor hunt a gang of bandits who raid a small town under cover of a torrential storm. Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Tang Wei star, and in August 2026 Adèle Exarchopoulos joined as the wife of Butler's character. At the Cannes film market in May 2026, Clockwork, a specialty label of Warner Bros., took North American rights; international sales are handled by Legendary's 193. Park is also producing through his company, Moho Film. Shooting is set to begin in early 2027, and no release date has been announced.

Working in English, and does he speak it?

• Stoker. This was Park's Hollywood debut. According to The Korea Herald, co-producer Jeong Won-jo served as his interpreter, relaying Park's directions to the crew and acting as his official voice in the English-speaking world, from press meetings to production discussions. Jeong said Park always maintained that people who can act should not have much trouble with the language barrier.¹⁶
• HBO's The Sympathizer. The series adapts Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel; Park served as chief showrunner and executive producer and directed the first three episodes. It premiered on HBO in the U.S. on April 14, 2024, and on Coupang Play, a Korean streaming service, on April 15.¹⁷
• Does he speak English? In the public sources checked for this page, Park used an interpreter on English-language sets and with the press. On The Daily Show in January 2026 he also answered through his translator. No source found states how well he communicates in English himself.^16,18

How to read this page

Feature years follow the Kyunghyang Shinmun. For I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK and Stoker, release years could not be confirmed from the sources used here, so only the award year and the reporting date are given. Shorts and anthology contributions are left out of the table. Audience figures and streaming availability are as of each report's date and may change. Cast and schedule for The Brigands of Rattlecreek come from pre-production reports; this page will be updated when new announcements are made. Park's full career is covered in the Hallyu Wiki article on Park Chan-wook.