Drummer Girl actors hung off auteur’s every (Korean) word
DIRECTING television’s new John le Carré adaptation, The Little Drummer Girl, was always going to be a challenge as the BBC strives to repeat the success of The Night Manager.
But for Park Chan-wook, there was an added hurdle: directing the cast and crew without speaking any English.
The South Korean auteur relied on an interpreter to convey his vision for the six-part drama, which begins next Sunday on BBC One. Set in the Seventies, it stars Florence Pugh as an actress recruited by Mossad to infiltrate the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
The result, according to the cast, was a resounding success, with all agreeing that the language barrier was swiftly overcome.
“Park Chan-wook doesn’t speak English, although I think he understands more than he lets on,” said Charles Dance, who plays a British intelligence officer. “Having a director from a totally different culture is a great idea and the fact that he doesn’t speak English is not a hindrance at all. He has a wonderful eye.”
Daniel Litman, who plays a Mossad agent, said: “Director Park is an amazing person. He doesn’t speak English, he speaks Korean, and yet you listen to him even though you don’t understand what he’s saying.”
Park, who made his English language debut in 2013 with Stoker, starring Nicole Kidman, said being Korean gave him an understanding of Le Carre’s works, as Korea was “probably one of the last divided nations, the root of which is found in the Cold War”.
“Maybe I have an affinity with Cold War-set stories,” he said