Oldboy (2003) Oldeuboi (original title)

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Garon Tsuchiya (story)
Nobuaki Minegishi (comic) ...
(more)

Release Date:

21 November 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

15 years of imprisonment, five days of vengeance

Plot:

After being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in 5 days.

Plot Keywords:

Money | Imprisonment | Revenge | Police Station | Friend

Awards:

17 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Min-sik Choi	...	Dae-su Oh
Ji-tae Yu	...	Woo-jin Lee
Hye-jeong Kang	...	Mi-do
Dae-han Ji	...	No Joo-hwan
Dal-su Oh	...	Park Cheol-woong
Byeong-ok Kim	...	Mr. Han
Seung-Shin Lee	...	Yoo Hyung-ja
Jin-seo Yun	...	Lee Soo-ah
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Beggar
Kwang-rok Oh	...	Suicidal Man
Tae-kyung Oh	...	Young Dae-su
Yeon-suk Ahn	...	Young Woo-jin
Il-han Oo	...	Young Joo-hwan
Su-hyeon Kim
Seung-jin Lee
Su-kyeong Yun
Myeong-shin Park
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dae-han Chi
Yi Yong	...	Delivery Boy
Joe Cappelletti	...	Young Dae-su (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Mari Devon	...	Beautician (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Crispin Freeman	...	Woo-jin Lee (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Steve Kramer	...	Newscaster / Cop 1 (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Sherry Lynn	...	Mi-do (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Michael McConnohie	...	Dae-su Oh (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Stephanie Sheh	...	Lee Soo-ah (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Kirk Thornton	...	Park Cheol-woong (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Kari Wahlgren	...	Hypnotist (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Chan-wook Park

Writing credits
Garon Tsuchiya		(story)
Nobuaki Minegishi		(comic)
Jo-yun Hwang		screenplay
Chun-hyeong Lim		screenplay
Joon-hyung Lim		writer
Chan-wook Park		screenplay

Produced by
Dong-Joo Kim	....	producer
Dong-ju Kim	....	executive producer
Seung-yong Lim	....	producer

Original Music by
Hyun-jung Shim

Cinematography by
Chung-hoon Chung

Film Editing by
Sang-beom Kim

Production Design by
Seong-hie Ryu

Costume Design by
Sang-gyeong Jo

Sound Department
Alex Gordon	....	adr engineer
Seung-cheol Lee	....	sound

Visual Effects by
C. Jin Im	....	main titles supervisor
Jeon-hyeong Lee	....	visual effects
Ju-won Lee	....	digital compositor
Il Hwan Na	....	digital compositor

Music Department
Seung-hyun Choi	....	composer: theme music
Yeong-wook Jo	....	director of music
Ji-soo Lee	....	composer: theme music

Other crew
Damien Saccani	....	development executive

Production Companies

• Egg Films
• Show East

Distributors

• 3L Filmverleih (2004) (Austria) (theatrical)
• 3L Filmverleih (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• ArtCam (2005) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Bac Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Bazuca Films (2006) (Chile) (theatrical)
• Bright Angel Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Distribution Company (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2004) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Filmhouse (2005) (Mexico) (theatrical)
• Lucky Red (2004) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Show East (2003) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Tartan Films (2004) (UK) (theatrical)
• Tartan (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Toshiba Entertainment (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2004) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Europa Filmes (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Fundamental Films (2009) (China) (TV)
• Future Film (2004) (Finland) (all media)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (2010) (Finland) (TV)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2003) (USA) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Rialto Distribution (2005) (Australia) (all media)
• Rialto Distribution (2005) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Rialto Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Starmax (2004) (South Korea) (DVD)
• Tartan Video USA (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• HFR  dailies

Also Known As:

"Oldeuboi" - South Korea (original title)
"Old Boy" - International (English title) (DVD title)
"Old Boy" - Japan (English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive language

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (British Columbia/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Argentina:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Portugal:M/18 | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (tv rating) | Brazil:18 | Italy:T | Norway:18 (unrated) | Norway:15 (DVD) | Belgium:16 | Israel:18 | Chile:18 | Belgium:KNT | Argentina:16 (DVD rating) | Mexico:C | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Poland:15 | Denmark:15 | Czech Republic:18 | Peru:18 | Canada:R (Manitoba)

Filming Locations:

Busan, South Korea

Company:

Egg Films

Trivia:

Chan-wook Park wanted a documentary feel during the police station scene by using jump cutting. As a result, most of Min-sik Choi's ad libbed lines were trimmed. The full ad libbed scenes are found on the UK Tartan DVD.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Woo-jin Lee is searching through the Internet for the word "Evergreen", you can see that the high school website already has been visited on that computer because the link is highlighted in purple colors.

Quotes:

Woo-jin Lee:What I am isn't important. WHY is important.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Waltz

Freaked me out

I haven't written a comment on IMDb for about 3 years but was inspired to with this film. It is not very often that I come across a film by accident (World Movies on cable) and the spend the next day scouring the internet to find out information about it and can't get it out of my head! Anyway, yep there are plot holes, but Old boy borrows a lot from surrealism and you are meant to suspend your disbelief! I don't buy comments when people say "it is so unrealistic because he should've done this ..." because it is a surrealist film and meant to be unrealistic! For me the sign of a good film is if it sticks on your head! THis one surely does (althought I did have to look away a few times ... ) Loved it!!!! Work of cruel genius!!! (HOLLYWOOD - Please don't ruin it by remaking it!!!)