‘Train to Busan’ director explores the ‘monsters among us’ anew in ‘Parasyte: The Grey’

MANILA, Philippines — From presenting the world with agile zombies in “Train To Busan” to unleashing otherworldly beings hunting down “sinners” in “Hellbound,” South Korean director Yeon Sang Ho takes on the monster genre again in Netflix’s “Parasyte: The Grey.”

The six-episode sci-fi thriller about parasites colonizing human bodies is Yeon’s attempt at expanding the universe of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s popular manga “Parasyte,” which has globally sold over 25 million copies, to date.

“My past works were all based on my own original scenarios, but this time ‘Parasyte: The Grey’ is based on — and an expansion of — an already existing original work and its universe. The manga has an intriguing, intense, and unique universe. It was a great honor, and something I’ve dreamed of since I was young, to be able to expand on it to create something new,” the director said in the press notes.

As a long-time fan of the manga, Yeon credited it as one of the major influences for his filmmography. He initially made a name for himself as an animation director, with his debut feature “King of Pigs” becoming the first Korean animated film to be selected for screening at Cannes. His career successfully ventured into live-action genre films starting with the megahit

“Train to Busan.”

For “Parasyte” to be reborn via a series set in Korea, it helped that the original Japanese creator was also a fan of Yeon’s work.

“Such imagination came to life when I discussed it with the production company, and brought it up with Kodansha, the publisher of the original work. Fortunately, KODANSHA and Hitoshi Iwaaki had enjoyed my film ‘Train to Busan,’ and that was how ‘Parasyte: The Grey’ was able to happen,”

he said.

The director on the set of the ‘Parasyte: The Grey,’ a six-episode show about parasites invading humans.

Besides the setting change, Yeon also introduces new characters. If the manga version featured a male and teenaged main character, Shinichi, who is partially infected by a parasite named Migi through his right arm, “The Grey” focuses on a female protagonist named Su In.

Played by Jeon So Nee, Su In is a 29-year-old loner, whose history of experiencing abuse in the hands of her loved ones makes it hard for her to trust people. After she almost died from attempted murder, she wakes up at a hospital with nary a bruise or wound. It turns out a parasite “heals” her before invading her body.

Su In is just one of the humans simultaneously infiltrated by parasite larva that mysteriously fell from the sky. They appear like regular folks — reporting for work, doing daily commute, going to church — but in their real form, they are killing machines with heads morphing into tentacles with different deadly abilities.

However, unlike other parasites taking over human bodies in good condition, the process by which Su In’s dying body becomes “parasitized” somehow prevents the parasitic entity from fully possessing her as a host. Instead, she becomes a mutant or hybrid, where both human and parasite assume consciousness alternately. The parasite is later named Heide, as they coexist similar to the split personalities of the famous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Su In finds herself being hunted down by both “parasitized” humans, who have since organized themselves under the disguise of a religious group; and the government task force Team Grey, led by Jun Kyung (Lee Jung Hyun) who is dedicated to eradicating parasites after losing her own husband to one. With the shared goal of surviving and staying alive, Su In and Heide will work on saving each other.

The series also stars Koo Kyo Hwan as Kang Woo, a small-time gangster who also becomes Su-in’s accidental ally after his own sisters fall victim to parasites; Kwon Hae Hyo, a senior police detective and father figure to Su In; and Kim In Kwon, a junior police detective who wants to be part of Team Grey for a hidden agenda.

While this is another stab at the creature genre for Yeon, the director also depicts, as in past works, the human response in the face of crisis and how a perceived threat can expose the real monsters amongst us.

‘Parasyte: The Grey’ revolves around Su In (played by Jeon So Nee), a 29-year-old loner, who survives an attempted murder after a parasite invades her body.

The STAR joined a recent roundtable with the director himself where he spoke more about the making of “Parasyte: The Grey.” Here are excerpts from the chat.

On directing fantastical content and making them relatable:

“I think this is probably the case for all sci-fi horror genre content. But I believe that it is an allegory of our daily lives as human beings. And I think I also use almost all these genres to express the things that I feel and think in my actual daily life.

“I believe that through these genres we are able to find answers, sometimes even more clear answers, from our reality.

“And I think that’s one of the reasons why so many people love the genre of sci-fi and horror.”

On what he was most excited to bring to life from the manga:

“I have long been a fan of the original manga from when I was very young. At the time, I would often imagine about the universe and how if things like this were to happen in Japan, what would it be like if this were to happen in Korea? And so after time passed, I was given the opportunity to create this into a live-action series. I was very happy working on ‘Parasyte: The Grey.’

“Obviously, we know of the very famous or the iconic duo of Shinichi and Migi in the original manga and the theme of coexistence. I wanted to create characters that were as impactful as the two. And therefore the result is the characters Su In and Heidi. ‘Parasyte: The Grey’ is a story about these two beings who are extremely different from one another and coming to terms with each other and understanding each other and learning to coexist.

“In the original manga, the setup is that Shinichi and Migi are able to actually converse with one another directly. But I thought it would be more dramatic or more challenging if Su In and Heidi were not able to do that, almost like Jekyll and Hyde where you’re just completely separated from one another. I thought it would bring more drama and more challenges to it. I’m personally very attached to these two characters.”

On how the cultural context of Korea influenced the adaptation process:

Director Yeon with the main cast members Lee Jung Hyun, Koo Kyo Hwan and Jeon So Nee at the global presscon for the series. Photos courtesy of Netflix

“Most throughout the series, the backdrop is this city. It’s a fictional city, actually. The setup that we came up with was that this was going to be a remote town quite far away from the capital Seoul. And within the series, you will see a lot of different organizations or different formats of organizations. There’s family, there’s a gang, the police officers, there’s a religious cult organization created by the parasites. There are also these created events held in the ceremonial space. And I thought that all of these different organizations really showed a lot of what you can see in Korea. Different organizations and what they do in Korea that are close to reality and daily life.

“Through these depictions of organizations, I wanted the audience to think about what is the relationship between the individual and an organization? And how should that relationship be? Or what is the right form of relationship between an individual and an organization?”

On his favorite scene from the drama:

“There’s a scene in Episode 4 where it is almost a warlike action scene between the parasites versus the Team Grey on top of a bridge. And that scene was the most challenging to shoot.

“Firstly, because we weren’t able to shoot it physically on top of a bridge, we had to build a huge open set, shoot it there and then add CGI afterwards. It has all the action elements you can think of. So there’s gunfight, cars colliding against one another… It was a very long scene to shoot.

“On top of that, I said, if we’re gonna go all the way, let’s do it at a magic hour. And so even the sky later had to be put in there with CGI. I would say that throughout the entire series, this scene probably would be the concentration or the culmination of almost all VFX and all technology used in the series.”

On the idea of “Parasyte: The Grey” crossing over to the worlds of his previous works:

“So, I thought about this, and I think it would be really intriguing if… there’s this drama called ‘The Cursed,’ and I wrote for the drama series, and I would love to see the two worlds collide. I thought it would be really intriguing and fun to have the two universes come together. I think it would be really fun to see the main characters of each project.

“So in this case, Su In and Heidi meeting the main character of ‘The Cursed’ by the name Baek Seo Jin. I thought that crossover would be quite fun to watch.”

“Parasyte: The Grey” is now streaming on Netflix.