Lee Chang-dong
Seoul, 2011. Huppert's photo exhibition "La femme aux portraits" (Woman of Many Faces) had just been unveiled and her film "Copacabana" was released in theaters. The actress came to Korea for the occasion and had meetings with the film directors she had always wanted to meet—namely Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong, Bong Joon-ho, Im Sang-soo and of course, Hong. According to Hong, Huppert's casting happened when they were drinking makgeolli (a brewed Korean rice wine) at a restaurant in Seoul, a place that has often appeared in his films. Not expecting much, and in a casual tone that may have even sounded like a joke, he spoke to Huppert. "I’m about to start a new film. Nothing about it has been decided yet. Would you like to be in it?" Then came an astonishing reaction from her: "Yes!" Huppert replied without even a second of hesitation. "The film came to be what it is now when Isabelle decided to join it," says Hong. At the end of June, she came to Korea by herself to begin filming.