Oldboy (Korean movie)

Won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2004

Supposed to be re-made into an American film directed by Justin Lin and starring Nick Cage. It's already been re-made (without authorization) into a Bollywood production known as "Zinda". 

Based on Japanese Manga "Oldboy" by Minegishi Nobuaki and Tsuchiya Garon.

Four live octopi were eaten for the scene with Dae-su in the sushi bar, a scene which provoked some controversy abroad. Eating live octopus in Korea is commonplace although it is usually sliced first. When the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the director thanked the octopi along with the cast and crew.

Min-sik Choi trained for six weeks and lost twenty pounds to get in shape for the role of Dae-su, and did most of his own stunt work.

Chan Park Wook stated on his solo DVD commentary that there is an edited version of Oldboy for television broadcast. It omits some of the more extreme violence and the love scene between Oh Dae Su and Mido.

When talking about sleeping gas used by Russian special forces, Oh Dae-su refers to 2002 Moscow 'Nord-ost' theater hostage crisis.

The line on the painting of Dae Su's cell reads "Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." These are the first lines of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's famous poem, "Solitude".

Scenes at the police station with drunken and disorderly Dae-su Oh were the very last scenes the director scheduled to film. Min-sik Choi (Dae-su Oh) ad-libbed most of these "drunken" scenes, including the scene of him playing with toy wings that he bought for his daughter. He also ad-libbed many of his lines during the penthouse scene, including the anthem of his school.

Min-sik Choi is a Buddhist and had to pray after eating the octopi.

The recurring painting on the wall of Oh Dae-Su's confinement complex is "The Man of Sorrow" by Belgian painter James Ensor.

The restaurant that Mido works in is called "Mediterranean", which is the name of the restaurant in real life, but the director originally intended for it to be called "Akira" - not as a reference to the popular Manga and anime film, but to the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

During the scene in the cyber cafe, the extras in the background are playing the popular first person shooter “Half-Life: Counter-Strike” (2000). This is apparent when watching screens and when listening to background noise. You can faintly hear the famous AWP weapon being fired from time to time. You can also notice sounds from “StarCraft” (1998) in the background.