David Cho (Cho Sung-kyu) first made his mark in the film industry in 2000 when he bought the Korean rights to Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love and set up a small import/distribution company. In the coming years his company Sponge opened multiple arthouse theaters in Seoul and established a reputation for distributing high-quality European and Asian films.
One of his biggest successes was the unexpectedly broad appeal of Japanese independent film Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003), which made a minor star out of director Inudo Isshin.
(Currently, among his various activities, David runs a small café in Seoul named “Josee.”) Like the main character in The Winter of the Year Was Warm, David began to produce films (his credits include Jang Hun’s Rough Cut and Lee Yoon-ki’s My Dear Enemy), and eventually, to direct them. His debut work Second Half (2010), starring Ryu Seung-soo, screened at the 15th Busan International Film Festival but drew small numbers of viewers upon its release.
In 2012 he released two features, including the music-themed The Heaven Is Only Open to the Single and the modest-sized hit The Winter of the Year Was Warm. We spoke to David in February 2013, while he was in pre-production on his fourth feature Santa Barbara, which will be partially shot in California.
How did you come up with the idea for this story? For a number of years, just like the main character, I used to travel to the city of Gangneung whenever I felt down, or wanted to escape from Seoul. And eventually I began to think about relocating there.
As it turns out, I have a niece the same age as me who grew up in Gangneung, went to school in Seoul, and then moved back to Gangneung to work as a nurse. Quite often on the weekends I’d travel out to Gangneung and call her up, only to discover that she was back in Seoul.
At the same time, I was often impressed by the number of people in regional cities who would travel all the way to Seoul to watch films at our theater. It showed a real dedication to culture. It was through thinking about them and my niece that I came up with the idea of two strangers whose paths crossed in similar ways, and who ended up sharing apartments.
How did you decide on the casting of Kim Taewoo and Yeh Ji-won? To be honest, my initial plan was to use younger actors. In Korea, the age range for actors used in romances or romantic comedies is very narrow: twenties, or at most early thirties. But I’ve always complained about that, and I thought it would be hypocritical of me to do the same thing in my own film. So instead, I cut the budget down as low as possible to minimize the commercial risk, and that made it possible to cast these great actors who are slightly older.
Incidentally, over a decade ago I wrote a different screenplay with Kim Tae-woo in mind, and I’ve always wanted to work with him. I finally got to meet him when I produced some films by Hong Sang-soo in which he appeared, and even in our first meeting it felt like we had known each other for years. After he agreed to shoot this film, Yeh Ji-won came to mind just because I thought they were perfectly suited for each other.
Many people have praised their acting in this film. Did you give them any special instructions during shooting? For Kim Tae-woo, I was a little bit concerned because people in the film industry saw the main character as being pretty much identical to me. So I told him not to think about any of that, and he said, “Of course I don’t think that! We look completely different anyway.” [Laughs] But he’s a very smart actor. Many professional actors would resist taking on the everyday image that he adopts in this film, but he embraced it and gave a very subtle and detailed performance.
As for Yeh Ji-won, I’ve known her for quite some time, and I know that despite her boisterous public image, there is another quieter, more solitary side to her that I wanted to capture in this film. So I told her she probably wouldn’t laugh even once throughout the course of the film. It was a bit tough for her in some ways, because her instinct was to lighten things up.
Of all the reactions to this film, I’ve been most pleased to hear what people say about the actors.
Many viewers have said that the film presents a side of Yeh Ji-won that they’ve never seen before. And as for Kim Tae-woo, he’s an extremely attractive person, but except for his very first films, the roles he’s played haven’t captured his charm. But in this film, he’s very attractive. Women who watch this film really fall for him.
What was the budget for this film? 200 million won [about $190,000].
Is there enough of an audience to support these kind of low-budget films in Korea? From the point of view of a distributor, I can say that it’s very tough. You have to cut costs as much as possible. I distributed films by both Kim Ki-duk and Hong Sang-soo, but even their films had a very limited audience: around 20,000-30,000 admissions for Kim Ki-duk, and 30,000-50,000 for Hong Sangsoo.
They can turn a profit, but for other directors, it’s very hard even to break 10,000. Some other low-budget filmmakers have tried spending more on marketing and opening on 80 or 90 screens, but despite all that, they have a hard time selling more than 20,000 tickets. My advice to them would be to spend nothing on marketing and open on less than 30 screens, because at least you can break even that way. As for my film, I sold about 12,000 tickets, which was about half of my goal, but I still consider it a success.
The situation is frustrating for me because the government and the Korean Film Council aren’t providing enough support for independent cinema.
Most of the directors who shoot $100,000 films see them as a stepping stone to making commercial features. There aren’t enough filmmakers who continue making $100,000 films over the long term, and I think that seriously hurts the diversity of Korean cinema.
Did you have any training in directing or screenwriting before making your first films? None at all. [Laughs] Actually, I didn’t have any special training in distributing films or running a theater before starting that either. I just felt it needed to be done. I don’t get too hung up on the idea of professionalism. For example, when I choose people to work with, I don’t pay much attention to what they studied in school or where they got their training. I’m more interested in their inner knowledge, or their cultural sense. When I opened this café Josee, I didn’t hire an interior designer, I asked an art director I knew to help me decorate it.
The producer of The Winter of the Year Was Warm, Choi Yong-rak, is a music director by profession.
When I asked him to produce my film, he was really surprised and said “Why are you asking me? I don’t know anything about producing.” But I could sense that he would do a good job, and he did.
The Korean title of this film can be translated as “If I Confess My Feelings…” Why did you decide on The Winter of the Year Was Warm as its English title? I decided on the Korean title early on, but couldn’t think of what to title it in English. The film was invited to the Busan International Film Festival in late September 2012, so suddenly I had to make up my mind and give them a title! At the time I was looking back through stills that had been taken the previous winter when we shot the film, and so many warm memories came flooding back to me. I realized that both for me and for the characters in the film, there was a warmth to that season. And I guess pretty much anyone can think back to a winter in their lives that gave them particularly warm memories. So it seemed an appropriate title. Later I realized that there is a 1980s film by Bae Chang-ho with the same title, but that is just a coincidence. I’m really happy with the English title, but Jason Chae, the head of [international sales company] Mirovision keeps begging me, “Please, choose shorter titles for your films!” So, up until now you’ve worked as an importer of films, a distributor, a theater owner, a producer, a screenwriter and a director. Do you have any urge to try acting? Oh, of course! Everyone keeps trying to dissuade me.
[Laughs] In my first two films I appear briefly in a few scenes, but in this film I think it’s just my voice. It’s not that I have any great ambition to be an actor. It’s just that I believe anyone can act, or anyone can direct if they want to. Everyone’s so conscious of being judged by other people, and they think to themselves, “Oh, if I’m not going to be very good at this, then I better not do it at all.” But I think it’s important to try the things that you want to do, and not worry about what other people think. This urge to be good at everything can stop you from doing anything.
Darcy Paquet