The jury announces its winners at the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow, and speculation abounds over who will walk away with the Palme d’Or this year. And one of the frontrunners to win the top prize is South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook for his romantic cop drama “Decision To Leave.” director is no stranger to Cannes. “Oldboy,” “Thirst,” and “The Handmaiden” were each in competition at the festival, and the first two of those took home the Grand Jury Prize.
But what’s next for Park Chan-wook? “The Sympathizer,” an A24-produced, HBO series based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel about Vietnamese-Americans in the 1970s, comes first. After that, there are a few options for Chan-wook’s next film. “All my potential projects are traveling around those who can give me the investment,” he told Deadline at Cannes this week, including a western, a sci-fi project, and “The Ax,” first announced back in 2009 (!)
A remake of Costa-Gavras 2005 film of the same name, “The Ax,” follows a man laid off from his job who resorts to murdering his job competitors to make ends meet. “It’s truly a heartbreaking story about a middle-aged man who lost a job,” Park Chan-wook said, “and now he needs to bring the bread to the table to feed his family. So, he struggles in the process of looking for a job in a specialized field, and he becomes a serial killer.” That sounds like something right in the director’s wheelhouse.
It’s not definite that “The Ax” will be Park Chan-wook’s next film, it still needs funding, of course, but it’s still on the filmmaker’s radar even 13 years after it was “announced.” There was also a six-year gap between “Decision To Leave” and “The Handmaiden,” so maybe expect a similar hiatus after “The Sympathizer,” too.
Find out if “Decision To Leave” wins the Palme d’Or tomorrow through The Playlist’s festival coverage (read our review of the film here). Expect a late 2022 U.S. theater release for the film, courtesy of MUBI.