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And then he turned into a film director, now with his 7th film. Two Rooms, Two Nights depicts a romance between one man and two women. In-seong (KIM Jae-wook), a film director, goes out with Yoon-ju (CHAE Jung-ahn) who is a script writer, but his feelings become ambiguous as he meets Mi-na (PARK Gyu-ri), his ex-girlfriend. The film depicts the comic mishaps that he runs into as he meets both women in Gangneung.

What inspired you to make Two Rooms, Two Nights?

I visited an old village in Gangneung a few years ago. Seeing the houses built in Korean, Japanese and Chinese style put together in one place in harmony, I started to wonder about the people who used to live there. I thought I wanted to shoot a film one day there. Then one thread of thoughts led to another, until I came up with a love story of a man who perfectly speaks two languages, just like the different styled houses co-exist.

In your films including this one, the characters are based on your experience in the film industry. For example, In-seong is a film director, Yoon-ju is a script writer and Mi-na is a magazine reporter.

My films are like the record of my everyday life. So I borrow characters and episodes a lot from my quotidian life. These days I am fascinated by writers. These three people all have different professions but they are all writers at the same time. Those with the writing profession are good at expressing their sentiments and thoughts. In addition, I made In-seong speak Korean and Japanese fluently. When you speak a different language, you become a different person. Besides, I don’t think romance is possible unless you can communicate verbally.

At first glance it looks like a love story of a man, but if you look closely, you understand that it is a film about two women. Towards the end, the bonding between the two women is further emphasized. 

I personally believe in the superiority of women, genetically and in many other ways, if other conditions are equal. When I recruit my staffs, I go for women mostly. I know women work better than men. So I thought I had a deep understanding of women. But these days I have realized that I might be still wrong. Women object to the ways in which I describe women in the film. So I got really close to In-seong’s character this time and revealed the pettiest possible feelings of him, while keeping distance from the two women. I didn’t want to pretend to know what I really don’t. 

The casting must have been very hard since the male and female leads both speak two languages.

KIM Jae-wook was the only one who could play In-seong, speaking both Korean and Japanese fluently. His acting in Japanese is so perfect that even Japanese people found it amazing. I was introduced to PARK Gyu-ri by a friend of mine and right away I knew she was the one. Although she began her career as an idol singer, she has great quality to be a thoughtful actress. CHAE Jung-ahn is already a firmly established actress in TV dramas so I was not sure if she would say yes, but she came to my office the very next day that I gave her the scenario. Turns out, she is a great fan of cinema.

You have been working in the import and distribution sector for a long time. What made you step up into directing? 

I was not exactly aiming at this or anything, but I guess all this happened kind of naturally, since I’ve been around in the film industry for a long time. The number of the films that I have imported or produced so far is more than 400 now. I’ve been through enough in the film import, distribution and production sector, and now I thought I’d direct a film. So far I have been quite free, not being pressured too much. 

The film industry has changed a lot since Sponge made a Japanese film craze with films like Josee, the Tiger and the Fish and La Maison de Himiko. 

For one thing, the boundary between the art film and commercial film has been blurred. Today even art films are often imported to make profit. You even have a new term called “art-buster.” OK, you of course make films to make money. However, in the past, the way it was done was different. La Maison de Himiko had 100,000 admissions but the number of screens was no more than 10 all throughout. Having 100,000 admissions that way and having 100,000 admissions in several hundred screens are quite different, I should say.

It is your 7th film since you had your film debut with Second Half in 2010.

I used to joke around that I wanted to be the first director to make 100 films since IM Kwon-taek but it was funny that no one took it as a joke. You see, whatever I do, I do a lot of it. I am not the type of guy who thinks a lot and finally picks one. I make decisions easily. In terms of food, there is the kind of food that has better to be waited and fermented for the best taste. However, some ingredients taste the best when are served raw or lightly cooked. The films that I make are like a plate that is treated very lightly and seasoned in the minimum way, rather than the kind of food worked hard on by a famous chef. I have recently done with shooting my 8th film and it is in the middle of post-production now. It is about a woman who raises a cat, who has the soul of a man.