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Park Chan-wook wants to make a James Bond movie, and we should let him

Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook has revealed his 007 love, and it's time we start the petition for him to direct the next James Bond movie ASAP

Park Chan-wook's movie Oldboy

Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook has revealed that out of all the popular movie franchises taking Hollywood by storm, the long-living James Bond IP has his heart. While promoting his newest thriller movie, Decision to Leave, the filmmaker revealed to Deadline that 007 played a massive role in influencing his work, and how he would be open to helming a James Bond movie in the future.

Best known for his work on the Korean movies Oldboy, and The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook is no stranger to heavy action scenes, or gripping stories. On paper, he sounds like the best candidate to take on Bond’s next adventure. However, he isn’t too sure about how his vision will be received if he did ever get the spy movie gig.

“Yes, that would be fun. But I’m not sure if the people watching it would have as much fun as I would making the film,” the director explained. “Those of you who’ve seen my latest film [Decision to Leave] might find this hard to believe, but I think it all started with a Bond movie.”

“I was in elementary school at the time,” he continued. “I think it was maybe Moonraker, but it was certainly a Roger Moore [one]. I got really into the film, and I had fun imagining different stories from it in my head when I was home by myself.”

Park Chan-wook went on to reaffirm why he should direct a James Bond movie, as he shared how, since he was a kid, he has been “storyboarding” James Bond adventures in his head for years.

“At that time, Korea was a military totalitarian society, so they didn’t allow everyone, or they only allowed particular people, to be able to travel outside the country. Which is, I think, why I particularly enjoyed imagining myself in an exotic place, interacting with different races of people and going on fun adventures.”

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“So those crazy traps and weapons made with special technology and effects and the ingenious ways in order to escape from them, I had very detailed, imaginative stories in my head of how that would happen. It went into so much detail that I also imagined the placement of the camera or the movement of the camera filming those situations. And I think that was my first storyboard in my head, even though I didn’t draw them out.”

Only time will tell if the director (and us) get his Bond wish. In the meantime, Decision to Leave is out in the US now, and is set to hit UK theatres on October 21, 2022. For more quality flicks, here is our guide to the best detective movies of all time.