Lee Byung-hun’s ideas were worked into No Other Choice: ‘What if this movie fails because of me?’

NEW YORK – Two of the biggest names in South Korean cinema, writer-director Park Chan-wook and actor Lee Byung-hun, have teamed up again for the film No Other Choice.

Opening in Singapore cinemas on Oct 23, the dark comedy thriller follows middle-aged husband and father Man-su (Lee), whose blissful existence is shattered when he is suddenly laid off.

And in his desperation to find another job and not lose the family home, his actions take a dark turn.

Speaking through a Korean interpreter at the New York Film Festival earlier in October, Park, 62, and Lee, 55, say they cannot quite believe it has been 25 years since the first time they worked together.

That was for Joint Security Area (2000), a mystery thriller that became South Korea’s highest-grossing film at the time and helped put Park, and the country’s vibrant movie industry, on the map.

“Only after counting the years did I realise it’s been that long, because we stayed close over those years,” says the film-maker. He is known for visually striking, psychologically complex films such as action thriller Oldboy (2003), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and historical drama The Handmaiden (2016).

“Time flies, guys, so you’ve got to meet your close friends and cousins.”

Lee played the mysterious Front Man in the hit Netflix survival drama Squid Game (2021 to 2025) and has appeared in international action films such as G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra (2009) and Terminator Genisys (2015). He says working with Park this time felt familiar.

“I don’t think he has changed over the years. He’s always had the same character, the same personality,” says the actor, who also starred in Cut, a short film Park directed for the horror anthology movie Three… Extremes (2004).

“But the difference is back when we were both younger, when I offered ideas, he didn’t take any of them even though they were great ideas,” he adds.

“For this film, I suggested ideas and he said, ‘Those are great ideas. We should take that in.’

“And I started to get scared because I thought to myself, ‘What if this movie fails because of me?’” says Lee, laughing.

No Other Choice – which co-stars Son Ye-jin and Park Hee-soon – received glowing reviews when it premiered at the Venice and Busan international film festivals earlier in 2025.

The story is based on The Ax, a 1997 American horror novel, but Park Chan-wook – who co-wrote the screenplay and began working on it in 2009 – decided only recently to set the story in South Korea instead of the United States.

That decision meant departing from the source material in several ways, including making Man-su obsessed with houses and real estate.

“I’m sure everybody would understand that obsession as well, but it’s especially strong in Korea,” says Park.

“Other changes are emphasising the traces of a patriarchal society – which I believe is especially strong in Korea as well – and the recent introduction of AI,” he adds.

But these weighty themes are leavened by a good dose of comedy, much of it physical, and Lee instinctively translated some of that into slapstick.

“When we were shooting, that just felt like the appropriate performance for the situations in the story.

“But when the film was released in Venice, a journalist discussed it and talked a lot about slapstick comedy, and that was the first time it occurred to me that that was what I had done,” he says.

Park’s intention is for the audience to both laugh at and feel sad for the character.

“The film is funny because Man-su’s choices are very foolish, and he’s also very clumsy in the execution of his choices.

“But at the same time, you feel very sad watching someone act so foolishly and clumsily, so tragedy and comedy live in the same moment.”