'Oldboy' Gets Its First Official Publication: 'Park Chan-wook Screenplay Collection' Released

Dissecting the skeleton of the screen in print: the master's mise-en-scène comes back to life as text

"You know you're a good guy. So you understand why I'm going to kill you, right?" ('Vengeance Is Mine')

"You take care of yourself." ('Lady Vengeance')

"You're the one who came to ruin my life—my savior." ('The Handmaiden')

Even with just three lines of dialogue, the chilly air of the screen and its overwhelming sense of color unfold before your eyes. Now, beyond Korean cinema, the cinematic universe of the master 'Park Chan-wook'—the filmmaker who changed the map of world film history—has finally been perfectly transplanted onto paper. With 'Park Chan-wook Screenplay Collection' released as a proper, official publication, film and publishing circles are drawing attention at the same time to the exactness of the language behind the filmmaker's unmistakable visual mise-en-scène.

The nine-volume selection plan this time goes beyond a simple script anthology. It is closer to source material that traces an artist's evolution in chronological order. Beginning with 'Joint Security Area (JSA)'(2000), which opened the door to a Korean film renaissance, the collection includes 'Vengeance Is Mine'(2002) and 'Oldboy'(2003), which established a new era for revenge films, as well as 'Lady Vengeance'(2005), the pinnacle of an enthralling narrative. It then spans the master's 25-year filmography up through the highly anticipated work 'Can't Do Anything Else'(2025), scheduled for release, passing through 'I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK'(2006), 'Thirst'(2009), 'The Handmaiden'(2016), and 'Decision to Leave'(2022), which generated countless fandoms.

In particular, what deserves attention is this: the scripts for three early works—assessed as monuments of Korean film history ('Joint Security Area (JSA)', 'Vengeance Is Mine', 'Oldboy')—have, for the first time, taken on the form of a standalone book and are finally seeing the light of day. This means the master's early texts, once scattered and circulating in fragments, have at last gained the status of authoritative editions.

This vast collection provides the perfect scalpel for dissecting 'Park Chan-wook's distinctive narrative structure, which shifts and evolves with the flow of time. In each different work, how do the consistent themes of revenge and salvation get transformed and expanded? How did the synergy with various screenwriters refine the texture of the texts? The collection allows readers to trace those changes with precision, line by line in print.

The heavy, tangible material totals 1,364 pages. In itself, it is an art object. 'Eulyoo Munhwasa,' the publisher, said it is confident the release will be the most intellectual and special experience—one that tempts readers to indulge in the director's meticulously engineered brain structure. This collection will also be a meaningful gift for cinephiles and a valuable archive: it lets them decode even a single subtle fingerprint they may not have caught on screen, and even the intentions hidden between the lines of dialogue.