Behind the Scenes of Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-Winning ‘Parasite’ PR Campaign

Publicist Mara Buxbaum is still in a good mood two days after the Oscars and staying up all night in Koreatown as Bong Joon Ho and the team behind “Parasite” celebrated their historic four-Oscar win. Did Director Bong drink as promised? “We all did, we all drank all night,” said Buxbaum on the phone Tuesday. “We had so much fun, drinking Soju and beer. We ate and laughed and gave speeches. It was very moving.”

You can’t blame Buxbaum for being emotional. She’s the first to recognize that success has many fathers, and that when it came to pushing Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” to Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International Feature Film, “it takes a village.”

But Buxbaum did jump on board the “Parasite” train early. I ran into her back in Cannes in May, envious that she was hanging out with the Competition jury as the guest of Yorgos Lanthimos, watching all 22 films without a care in the world. It was her reward for a job well done on “The Favourite,” which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Director, and won Best Actress for Olivia Colman.

Bong Joon Ho and Mara Buxbaum.

Anthony Breznican

The president of Hollywood PR agency ID-PR, Buxbaum had been to Cannes many times, accompanying other clients including Sean Penn, Jake Gyllenhaal (who worked on Bong’s “Okja”), and Winona Ryder. But when she first watched “Parasite,” she she was left “speechless.” As the jury left the Palais after the late screening, they ran into Bong’s entourage. The jurors couldn’t say anything, but Buxbaum locked eyes with him and bowed: “Oh my God! Amazing!”

She saw what could happen. As she said, “I chased Bong.” In the next days she reached out to Bong’s agent and manager, his producing partner, and his Korean distributor, CJ Entertainment. (She later connected with its North American distributor, Neon’s Tom Quinn, who acquired the film at the script stage.)

“You felt you were in the hands of a great auteur filmmaker,” she said. “He had a clear vision with that perfect screenplay. The actors were working together at the highest level. The crafts were at the highest level. It was so disciplined, so entertaining. I forgot I was reading subtitles, I was so taken away by his storytelling and filmmaking prowess. The movie felt original, fresh, relevant, and universal. I couldn’t believe that an arthouse foreign-language movie could be so accessible and commercial. It felt like something I hadn’t seen before.”

“Parasite”

Neon

A few months after Cannes, when the film won the Palme d’Or, Buxbaum got on a Skype call with Bong in Korea to finalize the deal to represent him and his movie, starting in Telluride.

She told him: “I see a Best Director, Picture, Screenplay campaign. I believe you deserve to be on that path. I passionately want to help ensure that.” Buxbaum was going with her gut, that what she experienced other people would share. And at Telluride, that faith was borne out. “I’ve been on tons of campaigns and projects where that is not always the case, and you wind up feeling alone because people don’t always love it the way you do.”

She politely refused to listen to the conventional wisdom that a foreign-language film couldn’t win Best Picture because no movie ever had, not even “Roma.” “The rules don’t say you can’t do it this way,” she said. “You can, if you love it that much, if you think it’s deserving. All you can do is get the movie seen, get people thinking beyond Best International Feature Film.”

By Telluride, Neon had a promotional schedule for Bong around the film’s October 11 opening in North America. Of course, it all came down to Bong’s willingness to work hard, beyond the Toronto, New York, and London festivals; he and his family moved into a Los Angeles apartment. “He worked tirelessly not just for North America,” said Buxbaum, “but throughout the world to bring this movie everywhere.”

Director Bong Joon Ho, center, and the cast of “Parasite.”

David Fisher/Shutterstock

Neon pursued the beats of the campaign step by step, which included hiring Oscar consultants Perception PR and launching the awards campaign with the Hollywood Film Awards. The campaign evolved as the opening weekend delivered strong box office, with lines around the block.

“This movie had a grassroots feel to it,” said Buxbaum. “It was special, equally because as we believed it, others believed it too. The love for movie kept building like a snowball that got bigger.”

Early press champions out of the festivals, from Vanity Fair to IndieWire, clued the rest of the media to check out the film. “People came on board,” said Buxbaum. “There was an underdog quality of this movie. Others felt they could champion it and be part of this history, too.”

The SAG Ensemble nomination was the gamechanger for Buxbaum, who was in London with Bong and broke down crying when she heard the news. “This is real,” she told him. At the show, the audience stood and cheered when “Parasite” was first introduced with a clip. When “Parasite” won, the room erupted.

Taika Waititi and Bong Joon-Ho at Entertainment Weekly’s ‘The Must List’ party, Toronto

Christopher Polk/Shutterstock

That meant the movie had support from the actors, but “Parasite” did not win the DGA or PGA. It did win Original Screenplay at the WGA and BAFTA. Bong himself was the special sauce.

“You have to make the journey easier so that people want to wrap their arms around you,” said Buxbaum. “Bong is that person. People kept falling in love with him and his voice throughout his process.”

Even his rivals adored him, from old fan Quentin Tarantino and new friends Todd Phillips, Taika Waititi, and Martin Scorsese, who Bong movingly tributed on Oscar night. “They all loved him, but they also had such a good time,” said Buxbaum. “He wants to talk movies with them.”

During the long campaign, Bong relied on his adept translator, filmmaker Sharon Choi, who’s writing a book about her unexpected journey from Cannes through the Oscars. One night when she got sick and couldn’t show up for the Academy’s International Feature Film panel, Bong used a different translator — and spoke more English than he had all season.

The director always wrote his own speeches, delivered with a genuine smile, throughout. “He was tired,” said Buxbaum. “But he showed up 100%. He doesn’t look to anyone, doesn’t fabricate any of it. He’s a man wholly authentic and himself.”

That’s the magic of what happened with “Parasite.” In the end, everyone just wanted to ride that train.

South Korean film wins Oscar for best picture

HOLLYWOOD — The South Korean psychological thriller “Parasite” is a permanent part of Oscar history after winning four Academy Awards and becoming the first non-English-language film to ever be named best picture.

The film dominated the 92nd Oscars Feb. 9, first winning the original screenplay prize for Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won, then taking home the best international film prize and a best-director honor for Bong.

Although the World War I epic “1917” went into the night as a favorite in the best-picture category, “Parasite’s” momentum clearly mounted as the Dolby Theatre ceremony progressed.

“We never imagined this to ever happen, we are so happy,” the film’s producer, Kwak Sin Ae, said while accepting the best picture prize. “I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now. I express my deepest gratitude and respect to all the members of the Academy for making this decision.”

The win for “Parasite” provided a dramatic ending for a night that otherwise went largely as expected, with Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger winning Oscars for their leading roles in “Joker” and “Judy,” respectively, and Brad Pitt and Laura Dern collecting statuettes for their supporting work in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Marriage Story.” The actors had swept all the major pre-Oscar awards, leaving little doubt they would emerge victorious on Oscar night.

But the success of “Parasite” was the story of the evening, increasingly overwhelming director/co-writer Bong, who repeatedly returned to the stage to collect prizes.

After winning the Oscar for best international feature film — a category previously known as best foreign-language film — Bong told the crowd he was ready to go have a drink. But his night was far from over. He returned to the stage when he was named best director — besting “1917” director Sam Mendes, who won the top honor from the Directors Guild of America, which normally leads to an Oscar win.

“After winning best international feature, I thought I was done for the day and was ready to relax,” he said through an interpreter as he accepted the directing prize.

But he paid homage to his fellow nominees, most notably Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”).

“When I was young and studying cinema, there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is: ‘The most personal is the most creative.’ That quote was from our great Martin Scorsese,” he said, prompting the crowd to give Scorsese a standing ovation.

“When I was in school, I studied Martin Scorsese’s films. Just to be nominated was a huge honor. I never thought I would win.”

The support for “Parasite” was clear inside the Dolby Theatre. While accepting the international feature Oscar, Bong urged the crowd to recognize the cast and crew of the film sitting in the audience — and everyone rose to their feet in thunderous applause.

Mendes’ “1917” did win three Oscars on the night, but only in the technical categories of cinematography for Roger Deakins, sound mixing for Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson and visual effects for Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy.

Phoenix, 45, won the best-actor Oscar for his weight-dropping, cringe-inducing performance as the lead character in “Joker.” It was his first career Oscar. He was previously nominated for his leading roles in “Walk the Line” and “The Master,” and once in the supporting-actor category for “Gladiator.”

Phoenix gave a politically charged acceptance speech, saying he has been “thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues that we are facing collectively,” such as gender equality, racism, indigenous rights or animal rights, but he said he believes people can change for the better.

“I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think we have to sacrifice something, to give something up,” he said. “But human beings at our best are so inventive and creative and ingenious and I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.

“Now, I’ve been a scoundrel in my life. I’ve been selfish, I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with. And I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. And I think that’s when we’re at our best. When we support each other, not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption, that is the best of humanity.”

Phoenix appeared to get choked up as he quoted a line from his brother — actor River Phoenix — who died in 1993.

“When he was 17 my brother wrote this lyric. He said, ‘Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.’”

Zellweger, 50, took home her second career Oscar for her spot-on role as an aging Judy Garland in “Judy.” She previously won for her supporting work in “Cold Mountain.”

“I have to say that this past year of conversations celebrating Judy Garland across genders and … across generations and across cultures has been a really cool reminder that our heroes unite us,” she said. “The best among us who inspire us to find the best in ourselves. When they unite us, when we look to our heroes, we agree, you know? And that matters.

“When we celebrate our heroes, you know, we’re reminded of who we are as one people, united. And though Judy Garland did not receive this honor in her time, I am certain that this moment is an extension of the celebration of her legacy that began on a film set, and is also representative of the fact that her legacy of unique exceptionalism and inclusivity and generosity of spirit. It transcends any one artistic achievement. Miss Garland, you are certainly among the heroes who unite and define us, and this is certainly for you. I am so grateful. Thank you so much, everybody.”

Pitt and Dern also completed their sweeps of major award shows by collecting Oscars for their supporting roles in “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” and “Marriage Story,” respectively.

The performance wins were career firsts for both, although Pitt previously won an Oscar as a producer of best-picture winner “12 Years a Slave.”

Pitt, 56, was honored for his portrayal of stuntman Cliff Booth in writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s Manson-era fable “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

Pitt credited Tarantino for the win.

“You are original, you are one of a kind,” he said. “The film industry would be a much drier place without you and I loved the ethos you gave Cliff Booth — look for the best in people, expect the worst but look for the best.”

To his co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio, he added, “Leo, I’ll ride on your coattails any day, man. The view is fantastic.” He also gave a shout-out to an often unheralded group, saying, “I think it’s time we give a little love to our stunt coordinators and our stunt crews.”

But he also reminisced about his time growing up watching movies, moving to Hollywood and getting his big break in film.

“All the wonderful people I’ve met along the way, to stand here now — ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’? Ain’t that the truth,” he said.

Laura Dern collected her first career Oscar for her supporting role as a divorce attorney in writer/director Noah Baumbach’s Netflix film “Marriage Story.” She won the award on the eve of her 53rd birthday.

“Noah wrote a movie about love and about breaching divisions in the name and in the honor of family and home and hopefully for all of us in the name of our planet,” she said. “You know, some say never meet your heroes, but I say if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents. I share this with my acting heroes, my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. You got game. I love you.

“Thank you all for this gift. This is the best birthday present ever.”

For adapted screenplay, the prize went to Taika Waititi for the World War II satire “Jojo Rabbit.”

“I’d like thank my mother,” he said. “Thank you for being my mother, and for, I mean, many other reasons — for giving me the book that I adapted, and this film wouldn’t have existed without you doing that.”

“Toy Story 4” won the Oscar for best animated feature.

The Oscar for best documentary feature went to “American Factory,” the story of a Chinese production company operating in a former General Motors plant in Ohio. The Netflix film, produced by Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert, was the first made under Barack and Michelle Obama’s production house, Higher Ground Productions. The Obamas were not in attendance at the ceremony.

In one of the night’s more emotional moments, Hildur Guonadottir won the Oscar for best original score for “Joker” — a rare win for a woman in the category. And she urged others to follow in her footsteps.

“To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within — please speak up. We need to hear your voices,” she said.

Elton John and his long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin won the prize for best original song for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” from the biopic “Rocketman.”

“I don’t have words for it,” Taupin said. “I mean, this is justification for 53 years of just hammering it out and doing what we do.”

John heaped praise on his songwriting partner.

“Thank you to Bernie, who has been the constant thing in my life,” he said. “When I was screwed up, when I was normal, he was there for me.”

For the second year in a row, the Oscar ceremony was held without a host. Instead, the show opened with singer/actress Janelle Monae walking onto a “Mister Rogers” apartment set, putting on a sweater and breaking into a modified rendition of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” She then broke into an upbeat movie-themed musical performance that brought the crowd to its feet.

Comedians — and former Oscar hosts — Steve Martin and Chris Rock then took the stage to warm up the crowd. Martin ended the bit by saying, “Well, we’ve had a great time not hosting tonight.”

Independent Wire Services