- There's a word in Korean,
in-yun,
it means providence
or fate.
- Do you believe in that?
- That's just something Koreans say
to seduce someone.
- Past lives is a movie that I
was inspired by this moment in my life that actually happened,
where I found myself sitting in this bar in East Village in New York City,
sitting between my childhood sweetheart who had come to visit me from Korea,
who is now a friend, and my husband that I live with in New York City.
And I actually, while sitting there translating between these two men,
I actually felt like beyond translating
between two languages and two cultures.
I also was translating between two parts of my own self.
And I think that there was something about it that felt both
totally contradictory and very strange and magical and all those things.
And I think that there was something about it where it inspired
me to think, “Oh. Maybe this is
a story that I can tell.
Maybe this is a thing that I can make a film about.
When it came to the characters, the principal characters,
to find Greta and to find Teo, I actually just did a pretty traditional
casting process where I received tapes and then I met them.
And because this was during COVID, I actually met them over Zoom
and they walked into the Zoom room and I think I spoke to them
somewhere between 2 to 3 hours, both of them.
And I think that at the end of each phone call, I knew that
this was the right person for the role.
So I think that really... and I don't know how to describe
the casting process except in the most ephemeral sense
where it is always a little bit of a falling in love,
where you have to fall in love with the idea of this actor playing this part.
And I think just like falling in love, there's no rhyme or reason.
It's just more like I could feel that Greta was a soul match
to the character, or Teo was a soul match to the character of Hae Sung.
So I think in those ways, that's really the way that I found the adults.
And when it came to the children,
I actually did a chemistry test
for children because their... the characters’
chemistry in childhood is such a fundamental part of the whole film.
Like it's the one that endures
through the 24 years that this movie spans, the childhood chemistry.
And so it was really important also
because the kids don't have that many lines to audition with.
So I actually found the girl first,
and then I actually had three boys who came in to do
call-backs and
they did a chemistry read with the little girl actress.
And in this, you know, chemistry read,
she asked the boys to
tell the actress,
you know, do a little piece of ad lib
where he is asking the little girl to
stay and stay in Korea and keep being friends with him.
And the boy that I ended up casting being...
And he did such a beautiful piece of ad lib and he was so emotionally connected
to the asking his friend to stay in Korea
that he made the little girl actress cry.
So the little girl actress she was crying
and after the boy left, she said, “Do I have to leave?
Do I have to leave Korea?
Does my character have to leave Korea?”
And I was like, “Yes, but you don't have to leave as a person, you know?”
So I think it's like... So it was really that kind of a thing, you’re...
And it's again, chemistry is always something
where you see it and you know it, you know.
And that boy-- The boy and the girl, they just, like, had it immediately.
And because of the work that we did in the chemistry read,
I knew that it would work when they're
without many words able to convey the chemistry.
And on top of that, the adults,
Teo and Greta who are
playing the adult counterparts to the children, they actually looked
at that chemistry read tape to explore their own chemistry
and really look for doors into the grown up characters
chemistry with each other.
I kept Teo and Greta
who play Hae Sung and Nora physically apart.
They were, of course, rehearsing with each other, but they actually did
not touch each other until we see that scene in Madison Square Park
where they see each other for the first time in person in 24 years.
And I think that part of the reason why I wanted to do that is because...
And I wanted to do that with them
and they wanted to do it as well, is because, you know,
it's about a really extraordinary connection
and this very, really extraordinary moment in our lives.
But I wasn't able to give them fireworks or VFX.
The best thing I could do is to point a camera
at their faces and the amazing
power of that moment, which is, of course-- I mean, I would talk about that scene
as a resurrection scene.
It's like feeling like
your friend is gone and no longer there and then to see them again
but this time,
as a grown up. Last time you saw
that person in person was as a boy.
And now you're going to see that person as a grown man.
And the magic of that, I think that it needed something.
I felt like it
might be worth doing something a little bit special
so that when they hug each other for the first time, it really is
the first time that these two grown man and woman are hugging each other,
you know. And I think that, of course, the first take of them
touching each other is not the take that's in the film, but
from that first take, they're able to build on that chemistry
or build on the extraordinary feeling they got in touching
another person for the first time.
The other thing that I did was I kept the two men in the film,
John Magaro, who plays Arthur and Teo
apart as, you know...
I kept them from meeting each other
until we shot the scene
where the two of them as characters meet each other for the first time.
And we were actually rolling
when Hae Sung and Arthur meet each other.
And that first take is actually in the movie.
Part of the reason why that was so helpful is because the two male actors,
they were able to start building expectation of what the other guy is like.
I actually told Greta
in her rehearsal with Teo to tell Teo
about what it's been like to rehearse with John and vice versa.
And of course, the men started to form some idea of what the other guy is like.
But also they were able to build a chemistry with Greta
that is completely separate from the other guy
and the way that the other guys are building a chemistry.
So when they actually faced each other in the film
and then they were starting to do scenes with each other,
there was an
amazing thing were these two worlds that they had built separately
with Greta were clashing,
which is what the movie is about.
- Who do you think they are to each other?
- Mmh... I don't know.
- Yeah, this is a hard one.
- I think the white guy and the Asian girl are a couple
and the Asian guy is her brother.
- Or the Asian girl and the Asian guy are a couple
and the white guy is their American friend.
- They’re not even talking to the white guy!
- Maybe they're tourists and the white guy is their tour guide.
- Drinking at 4 a.m.?
- Yeah, you're right. That makes no sense.
- Mmh. Maybe they're all just colleagues.
- I have no idea.
- I think the most difficult scene in some ways was the opening scene
because I think that Greta and I, in our working together
and also talking about that opening moment where
Nora actually
turns and looks at the camera and breaks the fourth wall
and really invites the audience into the film
and also implicates the audience into engaging with the film
from the point of view of almost a detective, right?
Because you're a bit of a detective for who these three people are to each other.
And it was just such an important and a very difficult thing
because there's no language to really
even describe what it had to be.
But we were talking about it a lot.
And, you know,
I think really finding the amazing
look that we found at the end
where, you know-- sorry, in the beginning of this film where
Greta is able to, as Nora,
turn to the camera and gaze at us and welcome us and implicate us.
I think the impossibility of it-- I mean, like there were words I used that
I am like, “I don't know how to describe what that look should be,
except that it's a cosmic joke.”
And I remember Greta being like, “I don't think that you-- I don't think
that I can act cosmic joke.” You know, and I think in that way--
And I was like, “You're absolutely right. How could you?”
But that's what this moment is.
And it's that uncertainty or it's the impossibility of that moment.
And I don't know,
I think it's really, to me
the opening scene is the hardest because it is trying
to accomplish the impossible, which is that
it has to be a million things at once and completely singular
and has to set the tone for the whole film
and also is
the fundamental part of the film.
It is at the heart of the film.
So I'm describing like ten impossible
things that all has to exist in one look.
And I think it just really speaks to how incredible Greta is
that she was able to do it,
you know, to express that uncertainty
and express that sense of humour and express everything.
Something that was very true is that at the time that I was writing the script,
it actually was,
you know, not possible to write in another language on Final Draft.
And Final Draft being the industry leading,
you know, script writing software.
And there is an amazing structural
barrier that you feel that
you maybe shouldn't write a script that's bilingual, which mine is.
And I think that in that way, I think initially it's really
to overcome the feeling that maybe nobody will care about the story.
Maybe this is just such a
story about this very specific person
and people won't understand that it is epic in scale, or
people aren't going to be interested in a story about just a girl
because that's all they'll see.
And they won't see that this story spans decades and continents, right?
So there is a lot of fear and
I think that fear is the first thing that you have to overcome.
That's the first dragon that gets slain, right?
And then after that, I think that when it comes to making the movie itself,
of course, the new dragon you're trying to slay is that
it's your own first movie.
So you know what you don't know and you know what you do know.
Right? And I think that
initially the things that you
don't know, the list is so much longer than the things that you do know.
But I think that over time,
the dragon that you're slaying in that situation is to accept that
yes, of course, there are things that I don't know
as a first time filmmaker who's not been on a film set.
But I also do know something that nobody else knows,
which is how this story should be told and who these characters are.
And that's actually, at the end of the day, what I could believe in.
And eventually the list of things that I don't know start to disappear,
start to shorten, and then eventually I actually know, I actually know all of it.
So I think, you know, that's the...
that's the second dragon you slay.
And then the final dragon, I think, really is the moment that I felt
backstage at Sundance
where this movie had a world premiere, where I was
standing backstage and waiting for the movie to be shown.
I was about to introduce it
and I was just, you know, waiting.
The Eccles Theatre was full and I was just standing there
waiting for the movie to come out, you know, to the world.
And I think that was the moment where I had so much fear and uncertainty
because I was like, “I don't know how the audience is going to
receive it, you know. Because I don't know what they're going to feel.
I don't know if they're going to come along on this journey.
I don't know if I did everything for this movie to make sure
that it is felt and understood.”
And then, of course...
I mean, that dragon is very difficult to slay,
but thankfully I was able to slay it because the audience met it
with complete warmth and such openness, which is I feel like all I can ask for,
you know, and so much care and they really let
it get under their skin and then they really feel connected to it,
they feel personally invested in it,
the story of these characters. And I think once that happened, I just knew that
the final dragon has been slain and I'm all right, you know.
I think the only thing that I can hope for
from the audience is for them to come meet the movie
from where they are.
And I mean that because I've found that no matter where
it's seen, no matter who sees it, it really is such an
intimate and personal thing for individual audience members.
Because how a 16 year old who's never been
in love watches the movie is going to be different
than the 60 year old who has been in love many times.
Right?
If you're single, you're recently single,
you know, you're recently in a relationship,
you've been in relationship for 30 years.
I think all of that, it's going to place you
in such a different place to meet the movie.
So it's a bit about timing.
Maybe the movie is going to mean something to you right now.
And then maybe two years later, after you had a break-up
and a change of job and
change of the city, maybe you're going to have a completely different
response to the film.
And maybe ten years after that, you're going to have a...
you know, maybe you are like--
now you have a family that you're taking care of
and now you're going to have a completely different reaction to it, too.
So I think what I hope for more than anything is for
the movie...
to let the movie be under your skin and to let the movie be
what it is for you specifically.
And there's no one thing that I expect anybody to feel.
But I do think that-- I hope that you are going
to feel something.