CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 13: Jury Member, Hong Sang-soo during the Jury photocall at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2025 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images) © Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Interview with Hong Sangsoo, member of the Feature Films Jury
Having already presented four films In Competition and four films in Un Certain Regard — including Ha ha ha, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize in 2010 — the prolific Hong Sangsoo is a regular at Cannes. But until now, he has never been a member of the Feature Films Jury. The South Korean filmmaker, influenced by Rohmer, fully steps into this new role and, in this interview, gives us some insight into his method of working.
How do you prepare for shoots?
The first thing is casting. I don’t choose an actor based on how famous they are or because they were in such and such film. It’s based on my personal impression: when I meet them, an impression starts to form and something clicks. I believe in that very fine line taking shape when I start to read them.
What do you prioritize when choosing your actors?
I’m not very good at describing what goes on inside my head. It all stems from a feeling. Something in me doesn’t want to talk about actors because as soon as I say something, I feel a bit caged in, especially if I’m going to work with an actor and they’ve heard what I’ve said about them. Then they get caged in too. And then people go and see the film and are also influenced by it… just because I said it.
And what about the script?
It’s very detailed: I write it the night before, but it used to be on the morning of the shoot. I start writing at 3 or 4 a.m. I write for three to five hours, finish, go to the set and then the actors memorize their scene. It takes them around an hour. Sometimes it can be quite long, three or four pages. So they really work hard to memorize it. If I feel they’ve memorized 90% of the script, I start the rehearsal. I see how they interpret their lines. It’s super fun to watch how the words take shape in their mind. I try to minimize the number of rehearsals because if you rehearse too much, it’s not fresh. And if actors know their lines days in advance, they can’t help imagine things in reference to other films because they have nothing in front of them, no one to bounce ideas off of, no backdrop, no gauge. They want to be safe, so they try to predict and that confines them. I try to give them the minimum amount of time.
You shot in Cannes for Keul-le-eo-ui ka-me-la (Claire’s Camera) in 2017: can you tell us about your method?
I was planning to go to Cannes and I told myself that I wanted to use the opportunity to make a film. The idea came from that. I wanted to know if Isabelle Huppert would be in Cannes, if she would be available. I called her, she said she was coming and said “OK! Let’s do it!”. I was in Hamburg at that time. I called my assistant in South Korea and asked her to organize everything, to bring such and such person. I think I went back to South Korea, and then came back with the team, a small group: two actors and two or three members of the crew. I had two days to decide what I was going to film. When I arrived, I walked along the beach and found this kind of tunnel, with water coming from inland and flowing back to the sea — what you’d normally see at the beach. So, I chose this tunnel, and that was how it started.
And how did you do it?
I called Isabelle to talk about the costumes. I didn’t have much more to talk about with her because I hadn’t figured out anything else about the film. Kim Min-Hee was supposed to play a person working at the market, and then I approached the other South Korean actors. Isabelle came, she chose her clothes, I wrote the script for the first day of shooting and I think we shot for five or six days. I finished editing the film in Cannes: I had a sound file on my computer, so I put that music on the version of the film I had, and it was perfect. So I had just about finished the film before I went back.