Guillermo del Toro and Yeon Sang-ho talk cinema vs streaming at Busan

Fantasy filmmaking masters Guillermo Del Toro and Yeon Sang-ho revealed how they approach projects for streaming platforms compared to theatrical releases during an on-stage conversation at Busan International Film Festival.

Speaking at the Creative Asia Forum, hosted by BIFF and Netflix, del Toro said: “I’m concerned about the size of the idea more than the size of the screen, first and foremost. If Netflix wants to make a movie that nobody else has supported, I’m extremely happy.”

The Mexican filmmaker’s latest feature, Frankenstein, is made with Netflix and screened at BIFF in the IMAX format, following its world premiere at Toronto.

Del Toro has worked extensively with Netflix over the past decade, writing, producing and directing multiple episodes in the Dreamworks franchise Tales Of Arcadia and feature Pinocchio as well as creating horror anthology series Cabinet Of Curiosities.

Netflix will give Frankenstein a restricted theatrical release before it reaches on the platform on November 7. Whether watched at home or in a theatre, Del Toro suggested there are very different things to be gained from each.

“It has to work in both sizes,” he said. ”Frankenstein has a very intimate tone in many of the scenes that works very well if you’re at home, and it has an epic scale that works very well if you’re in the cinema.”

Train To Busan director Yeon Sang-ho suggested it can be “a breath of fresh air” when novel formats as a streaming come to the fore, comparing the role streamers play now to the OVA (original video animation) format that revolutionised Japanese distribution in the 1980s and 90s.

“The minute you release the content, the entire world can watch it,” said the South Korean filmmaker. “That’s a tremendous strength.” But, he added, the “depth at which it really resonates with someone, that’s different,” suggesting that each approach comes with very different pros and cons.

Del Toro will next work with Netflix on a stop motion feature based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. Set in a fictional, post-Arthurian England, the story follows an elderly couple who keep losing their memory while on a quest to find their son.

“It’s not a kids movie,” said Del Toro. “It’s an adult movie with creatures and all that, but it doesn’t have a fucking musical or humour and jokes. That’s why I love Asian and European animation, because they understand that it’s an artform. In America, it’s partially an artform and partially just a business catering to families. “

Yeon, whose work for Netflix includes thriller Revelations, supernatural series Hellbound and miniseries Parasyte: The Grey, said he also hoped to return to animation too following early efforts such as The King of Pigs and The Fake. “I want to create a legendary animation,” said Yeon. “That’s my dream.”