11-08-2025
Park Chan-wook booted off Writer's Guild of America
11 Aug – South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook was revealed to have been expelled from the Writers' Guild of America, alongside his co-scribe Don McKellar.
Their wrongdoing? Writing on their HBO limited series, "The Sympathizer" during the 2023 writers' strike.
The "Oldboy" director was reported to have written the series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen despite writers being directed not to work during the 148-day strike, and was one among the few writers who had since been booted off the guild.
While other writers appealed the ruling, it was reported that neither Park nor McKellar have done the same.
The HBO Max series, which earned Robert Downey Jr. an Emmy nomination last year, follows a North Vietnamese double agent (played by Hoa Xuande) who continues passing along information after moving to Southern California before the fall of Saigon.
(Photo Source: Variety, LA Times)
