Bong Joon-ho shares details of upcoming ‘Parasite’ series

Director Bong Joon-ho has high hopes for the Parasite series. 

At the Cannes Film Festival, Bong said that he is working with fellow director Adam McKay in adapting Parasite to a television series.“[It] will be something of great genius, I hope. I worked with Adam McKay and he’s figuring out the scenario. We’re going to do it in the United States,” he told IndiaWire. 

The director added that he’s involved with the adaptation. “It will be a black comedy. I’m working in close cooperation with screenwriter McKay. This time, I’m giving my input as a producer,” he said. 

Bong shared that the theme of Parasite, a genre-bending “upstairs-downstairs” thriller film about a poor family that literally infiltrates the lives of a richer family, resonated all over the world. “Many of [us] would like to be rich, but I think in all of us there is a fear of becoming poor,” he explained. 

Two years since the film was first released in May 2019, Bong said that he’s still in disbelief at the success of Parasite. “I had no idea that Parasite would be such a global hit. Its success was far beyond my expectations. Though I made it in exactly the same way as normal. And I remain unchanged by it,” he said.

In February 2020, Parasite made history as the first foreign language and South Korean film to win the Best Picture title in Oscars history. They also won Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, and Best Director. 

HBO announced in January 2020 that they are turning the award-winning film into a miniseries.

In April 2021, writer McKay shared more details about the project. “It’s an original series. It’s in the same universe as the feature, but it’s an original story that lives in that same world,” he told Collider. 

Other details including cast members and target date for the series have yet to be announced. – Rappler.com