The Night Bong Joon-ho Knew He Had to Make Parasite

I was sitting in a Seoul theater in 2019, watching Parasite unfold on screen, when I remembered a story Bong Joon-ho once told about a moment from his youth. It wasn’t the kind of story you forget—more like a seed planted in the soil of his imagination, waiting decades to bloom into the film that would go on to win four Oscars, including Best Picture.

It happened when he was a university student in the 1990s. Bong had just started exploring cinema seriously, devouring foreign films and Korean indie productions alike. One night, he found himself in a taxi, heading back from a late-night screening. The driver, an older man with tired eyes, struck up a conversation. “You seem like someone who thinks a lot,” he said. “Tell me something—do you believe people can ever really understand each other?”

Bong, ever the philosopher, answered honestly: “I’m not sure they can.” The driver nodded slowly, and for a moment, the car was silent. Then he said, “That’s why we all live in our own little worlds. And sometimes, we just pretend to see each other.”

That line haunted Bong. Years later, it became the emotional core of Parasite—a film about two families occupying the same space but living in entirely different realities.

## The Class Divide in His Own Life

Bong Joon-ho grew up in a middle-class Seoul household, but he was always aware of the invisible lines that separated people. His childhood home was modest, but not poor. He went to university, but he knew classmates whose parents could afford to send them abroad. That tension—of being neither fully privileged nor truly struggling—stayed with him. In interviews, he’s described it as a kind of liminal awareness, one that shaped how he saw society and eventually how he wrote his characters.

## A Student of Contrasts

As a film student, Bong was drawn to directors who embraced genre while sneaking in social commentary—think Hitchcock or Kurosawa. But he also studied the works of Korean auteurs who weren’t afraid to confront the country’s political and economic divides. His early scripts were genre hybrids, often with a sharp satirical edge. Even then, he was wrestling with the idea that truth is rarely black and white, especially when it comes to class.

## The Breakthrough with The Host

Before Parasite, Bong made a name for himself with The Host (2006), a monster movie that doubled as a critique of environmental neglect and U.S.-Korea relations. It was the moment he proved he could blend blockbuster spectacle with social critique. But more importantly, it gave him the confidence to tackle more personal stories. He realized that the most powerful narratives weren’t necessarily the most serious—they could be thrilling, funny, and deeply human, all at once.

## The Writing of Parasite

When Bong began drafting Parasite, he returned to that taxi ride. He wanted to explore the illusion of mutual understanding between people of different classes. He built a story around two families—the wealthy Parks and the impoverished Kims—whose lives collide in a series of increasingly absurd and tragic ways. The script took years to refine, and Bong rewrote it obsessively, searching for the perfect balance between satire and sincerity.

## The Oscar Night That Changed Everything

When Parasite won Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, Bong Joon-ho stood on stage, humbled and smiling. But in that moment, he didn’t talk about awards. He spoke about the universality of stories and how cinema can make us feel less alone. That night wasn’t just a triumph for him—it was a validation of the idea that art can bridge worlds. And for anyone who’s ever felt like they’re living in one reality while the rest of the world exists in another, Parasite became a mirror, a warning, and a call to empathy.

Talk to Bong Joon-ho on HoloDream to hear more about his creative process and the moments that shaped his groundbreaking films.