Director Park Chan-wook revealed that it was his idea to have Robert Downey Jr. play four roles while directing the American drama 'The Sympathizer'.
Director Park Chan-wook, who attended the 'Sympathy' press conference held at COEX Megabox in Seoul on the afternoon of the 18th, was asked about Robert Downey Jr., and said, “Robert Downey Jr. also knew that he was called 'Rodaju' in Korea. He took the first step. “You were saying that?” he began.
Director Park Chan-wook said about the setting of Roda-ju's four roles, “It was an idea that came to me from the beginning after reading the original novel.” He added, “It is a scene that appears in the novel and also in the drama, and there is a scene of cutting meat at a steak house. 'How should I express this?' I thought about it and felt that the successful white people who appear in this scene, such as the professor, the CIA, and the congressman, are ultimately just four faces that represent the American system, American capitalism, and the American institution. “I wanted to make that clear,” he said.
He continued, “I wanted the viewers to know that right away, so I thought about it and wondered if it would be better to have one actor play the role rather than cleverly writing the lines. But I was also worried that if I told this story, my co-workers would think I was crazy. Fortunately, I got a good response. “It seems that this idea worked well for the production company A24 and HBO when they were working on it.”
It was revealed that the entire production team was unanimous in thinking of Robert Downey Jr. as the actor to play four roles. Director Park Chan-wook said, “Then I wondered who would be a middle-aged white actor who could play this role. Although each role was small, when put together, these roles were no different from leading roles. Fortunately, everyone thought the same. Even if there were so many actors, This is because there aren't many actors who can express various roles in a unique way. However, since Robert Downey Jr. is a superstar who has never done a TV series, I didn't have high expectations, but he announced his intention to do it right away, so I was able to get started. “He said.
'Sympathizer' is a work about the struggle of a mixed-race Vietnamese youth who defected to the United States between two civilizations and two ideologies in the 1970s after the fall of free Vietnam. Robert Downey Jr. impressed us by portraying four characters in different colors in this work.
The first episode of this work was released on Coupang Play on the 15th, and the remaining five episodes will be aired sequentially every Sunday night.
(SBS Entertainment News Reporter Kim Ji-hye)
