Park Chan-Wook Says His Remake Of ‘The Ax’ Will Follow ‘Stoker’; Reveals He Was Up For ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

We still know relatively little about Park Chan-Wook’s Hollywood debut “Stoker,” considering that we’re expecting to see it in theatres before the year’s out. Starring Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, and written by Wentworth Miller (yes, of “Prison Break” fame), the film is one that is being batted around as a contender for Cannes and is one of the most anticipated films of the year, in any event. Park recently chatted with Korea Joongang Daily (via The Film Stage) about the plot:

“The story revolves around a father, mother and adolescent daughter who live in an isolated house in a suburb. But all is not well in the family and there is friction between the mother and daughter. One day, the father dies suddenly in a car accident, and the story starts when an estranged uncle shows up at the father’s funeral," he explained. "While staying with the family, the uncle becomes involved in a love triangle with both the mother and daughter. 'Stoker' attracted my attention because it only has three main characters and the whole story unfolds in a house, which is a very confined space. I like telling big stories through small, artificially created worlds.”

Park had initially planned to follow up 2009’s “Thirst” with “The Ax” (a remake of Costa-Gavras’ 2005 film “Le Couperet”) but that was pushed back so he could make “Stoker” and the director has now confirmed that it will (again) be his next project. The remake will follow a chemist who decides to eliminate his competition by any means necessary after losing his job, and as long as we’ve known about Park’s intention to film it we’ve been dying to see it. Park is starting to work on casting and securing investors and we’ll be eagerly waiting to hear any more details about the project.

During the interview the director also dropped a few other interesting tidbits. Notably that he was at one point up to direct “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” but decided against it because: “I wasn’t confident about my ability to adapt it without damaging the original and was concerned about how to satisfy both people who watched the original and those who didn’t.” He also mentioned how he’d love to work with Gary Oldman, and that he’d love to make a historical film at some point in his career. Maybe they can hook up for "Smiley's People"?