Early career in game industry, comic, and transition to film screenwriting Near the end of his military service, he won a game scenario contest organized by the Venture Association, which led to his recruitment by a gaming firm. When that company shifted its business model, he co-founded a game development venture with colleagues, though the enterprise was short-lived.
Breakthrough as a film screenwriter His professional breakthrough occurred in 2010 when he wrote the screenplays for
Kim Jee-woon's film
I Saw the Devil (2010) and
Ryoo Seung-wan's film
The Unjust (2010). The critical and commercial success of these films established him as a prominent figure in
Chungmuro. Notably,
I Saw the Devil was the first time Kim Jee-woon directed a film written by another screenwriter. Actor Choi Min-sik, who was seeking a new project following changes to the South Korean
screen quota system, introduced Kim to the script. After its South Korean premiere on August 12, 2010, the film garnered international acclaim at several major festivals, including the
2011 Sundance Film Festival, the
Fantasporto Film Festival,
Toronto International Film Festival,
Sitges Film Festival,
San Sebastian Film Festival and the London Korean Film Festival. The film also received favorable review from international movie critics. It received numerous accolades, including Best Director and Best Film at
Fantasporto, Special Jury Prize, Audience Award, Critics Award at the
Gerardmer Film Festival, Best Lighting at the
Grand Bell Awards, Best Foreign Language film from the
Austin Film Critics Association and Best Editing from the 2011
Asian Film Awards. Similarly,
The Unjust was the first film directed by Ryoo Seung-wan based on a screenplay he did not write himself. A dark critique of corruption within the Korean justice system, the film reunited lead actors
Hwang Jung-min and
Ryoo Seung-bum, who had previously worked together in
Bloody Tie (2006).
The Unjust enjoyed a prolific festival run, screening at the
Panorama section of the
61st Berlin International Film Festival, the
Hong Kong International Film Festival, the
Shanghai International Film Festival, the
New York Asian Film Festival, the
Fantasia Festival, the
Hawaii International Film Festival, the
Vladivostok International Film Festival - Pacific Meridian, the
Sitges Film Festival, the London Korean Film Festival, and the
Far East Film Festival. The film was both a critical and commercial success, recording 2.7 million admissions and earning Park multiple awards for his screenplay.
Directorial debut and following breakthrough projects Park made his directorial debut in 2011 with
The Showdown. He had originally written the script in 2006 and offered it to various production companies, but found that prospective directors and studios sought to alter the narrative significantly. Feeling these changes compromised his vision, Park decided to helm the project himself. Produced on a modest budget of approximately 1.99 billion won, the film ultimately failed to find commercial success. Following the failure of his debut, Park faced significant hurdles in securing backing for his next project, the neo-noir
New World. Potential investors requested either a change in director or a genre shift, arguing that noir was not a commercially viable investment. Despite the initial challenges,
New World became a major success, attracting 4.68 million viewers and receiving praise for pioneering a modern iteration of Korean-style noir. the film follows an undercover officer Lee Ja-sung (
Lee Jung-jae), struggling to maintain his dual identity within a massive crime syndicate.
The New York Times lauded the film as "both less bloody and more thoughtful than most of its genre, the shifting-alliances plot becoming more engrossing as it progresses." In 2013, Park was honored with the Jury Award at the 5th Beaune International Thriller Film Festival for his work on the film. In 2015, Park reunited with
Choi Min-sik for the historical drama
The Tiger. Set in 1925 during the Japanese colonial period, the film depicts the parallel fates of a legendary hunter and the last tiger of Joseon. Park had sold the screenplay in 2009 while still an unknown writer and initially had no intention of directing it. However, five years later, the distributor,
NEW and star
Choi Min-sik urged him to lead the production, arguing that his intimate knowledge of the script made him the ideal director.
The Tiger was a massive technical undertaking, costing 14 billion won. The production team faced the challenge of creating a realistic CGI tiger with only a fraction of the digital effects budget used for similar Hollywood projects like
Life of Pi. While the film’s box office performance did not meet expectations, it received critical acclaim for its high production values and its vivid animation of the Joseon tiger. Park received several nominations for his direction and screenplay, while the film's technical team was recognized with multiple awards for their visual effects work. Following the company's inception, Park collaborated with
Warner Bros. to produce the 2017 crime thriller
V.I.P.. The film featured an ensemble cast including
Jang Dong-gun,
Kim Myung-min,
Park Hee-soon and
Lee Jong-suk, centering on a multi-national manhunt for a suspected serial killer involving
South Korea,
North Korea, and
Interpol officials. Despite its high-profile cast and international distribution, the film underperformed at the box office. Furthermore, it became a subject of significant controversy and was heavily criticized for its graphic and excessive portrayal of violence against women. In 2018, Park reunited with
Park Hee-soon for their third collaboration in the science fiction action-horror film
The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion. Starring veteran actress
Jo Min-soo and actor
Choi Woo-shik, the film follows Ja-yoon (played by
Kim Da-mi), a high school student with amnesia who escaped from a mysterious facility as a child. Kim, a rookie actress at the time, was selected for the lead role after an audition process with 1,500-to-1 odds, a breakout performance that launched her career. Although Park had written the screenplay prior to
The Tiger (2015), he delayed the project due to industry skepticism. Major Korean distributors were initially hesitant to back a female-led action film featuring a newcomer with a 6 billion won budget. However, Warner Bros. Korea proved more amenable to the casting of a rookie lead and the film's high-budget requirements. The studio's headquarters responded favorably to the project, expressing interest in developing it into a multi-film franchise. Despite the success of the first installment, which drew 3.18 million viewers, the future of the series became uncertain in September 2020 when Warner Bros. Korea withdrew from the domestic film market following several underperforming productions. This exit stalled development on the anticipated sequel,
The Witch: Part 2. The Other One, leaving the status of the burgeoning franchise in doubt.
Collaboration with NEW In 2020, Park collaborated with
Next Entertainment World (NEW) to write and direct the crime drama
Night in Paradise. The film stars
Uhm Tae-goo as a gang member who flees to Jeju Island after carrying out a retaliatory strike against a rival syndicate. While in hiding, he forms a bond with a terminally ill woman (
Jeon Yeo-been) while being hunted by a relentless rival executive (
Cha Seung-won) and facing betrayal from his own boss (
Park Ho-san). Principal photography took place primarily on
Jeju Island over the course of three months.
Night in Paradise premiered on September 3, 2020, at the
77th Venice International Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Out of Competition" category. Although a theatrical release was originally intended, NEW opted for a direct-to-streaming debut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released globally on Netflix on April 9, 2021, and subsequently reached the number one position on the platform's "Top 10" most popular content. Following this collaboration, Park solidified his partnership with the distributor. In November 2020, his production company, Geumwol, signed an equity investment contract with Studio&NEW, a content production affiliate of the NEW media group. The production of
The Witch: Part 2. The Other One was complicated by the withdrawal of Warner Bros. Korea from the domestic market. Park's production company and NEW eventually secured the franchise rights after direct negotiations with Warner Bros. headquarters. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting budget constraints, the project was reformulated from what was originally intended as a third installment; Park later acknowledged that these structural shifts might affect audience expectations. Released on 15 June 2022, the sequel introduced a new protagonist, "the girl" (
Shin Shi-ah), the sole survivor of a destroyed secret laboratory. The narrative follows her pursuit by various factions while revealing her connection to the first film's protagonist, Ja-yoon. Much like her predecessor, Shin was a rookie actress cast through an audition process with odds of 1,408 to 1, a role that launched her professional career. Park wrote and directed the action-noir film
The Childe, starring
Kim Seon-ho,
Kim Kang-woo, and
Go Ara. Following his tradition of casting newcomers, Park selected rookie actor
Kang Tae-joo for the role of Marco after an audition process with odds of 1,980 to 1. The narrative follows Marco, a Kopino boxer traveling to South Korea to search for his father, while being relentlessly pursued by a mysterious assassin known as the "Nobleman" (Kim Seon-ho). Filmed on location in Jeju Island and Thailand,
The Childe was released theatrically in South Korea on June 21, 2023. The film saw staggered international releases throughout 2023. While the film did not reach its domestic break-even point, it achieved significant success in international markets. It was sold to numerous global distributors, including Well Go USA for North America and various firms across Southeast Asia and India. The production of
The Tyrant, which underwent principal photography from January to April 2023, premiered on
Disney+ on August 14, 2024, marking Park's debut in the streaming series format. Although originally developed as a feature film, the project was reformatted into a four-part series. The series reunited Park with actors
Cha Seung-won,
Kim Seon-ho,
Kim Kang-woo, while introducing rookie actress
Jo Yoon-su in the leading role. The storyline follows a clandestine unit within South Korea's National Intelligence Service managing the "Tyrant Program," a secret initiative that triggers a high-stakes conflict with U.S. intelligence agents seeking to intercept and terminate the project. == Filmmaking ==