Overview

• Park’s dark comedy opened the 30th Busan International Film Festival, presenting a Korean adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax.
• Speaking at BIFF, the director framed the story as a portrait of job insecurity that resonates today.
• He said AI’s unknowable pace shapes the film’s final movement and confirmed adding an AI-automated factory scene late in postproduction.
• Lee Byung-hun and cast pressed for theatrical viewing to help revive Korea’s struggling cinemas, citing the film’s detail and scale.
• Following a Venice premiere and a TIFF International People’s Choice Award, the film opens in South Korea on Sept. 24.