Production
Production
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The corridor fight scene took seventeen takes in three days to perfect and was one continuous take; there was no editing of any sort except for the knife stabbed in Oh Dae-su's back, which was computer-generated imagery.
The script originally called for full male frontal nudity, but Yoo Ji-tae changed his mind after the scenes had been shot.[citation needed]
Other computer-generated imagery in the film includes the ant coming out of Dae-su's arm and the ants crawling over him afterwards. The octopus being eaten alive was not computer-generated; four were used during the filming of this scene. The eating of squirming octopuses (called san-nakji (산낙지) in Korean) as a delicacy exists in East Asia, although it is usually killed and cut, not eaten whole and alive; the squirming is a result of postmortem nerve activity in the octopus' tentacles. When asked in DVD commentary if he felt sorry for Choi, director Park Chan-wook stated he felt more sorry for the octopuses.
The final scene's snowy landscape was filmed in New Zealand. The ending is deliberately ambiguous, and the audience is left with several questions: specifically, how much time has passed, if Dae-su's meeting with the hypnotist really took place, whether he successfully lost the knowledge of Mi-do's identity, and whether he will continue his relationship with Mi-do. In an interview with Park (included with the European release of the film), he says that the ambiguous ending was deliberate and intended to generate discussion; it is completely up to each individual viewer to interpret what is not shown.
- ^ Rose, Cecilia (19 September 2022). "The Untold Truth Of Oldboy". Looper. Retrieved 22 November 2025.
- ^ Rosen, Daniel Edward (4 May 2010). "Korean restaurant's live Octopus dish has animal rights activists squirming". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ Han, Jane (14 May 2010). "Clash of culture? Sannakji angers US animal activists". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
- ^ Compton, Natalie B. (17 June 2016). "Eating a Live Octopus Wasn't Nearly as Difficult As It Sounds". VICE. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ Baillie, Russell (9 April 2005). "Oldboy". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.