{"id":2128818,"date":"2026-09-04T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2128818"},"modified":"2026-09-04T22:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:00:12","slug":"hope-director-na-hong-jin-wanted-to-make-an-alien-movie-from-a-cosmic-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2128818","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hope\u2019 Director Na Hong-jin Wanted to Make an Alien Movie From a Cosmic Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-Neon-3-1200&#215;675.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"post-2000807472 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-movies tag-hope tag-na-hong-jin\">\n<div class=\"entry-content prose dark:prose-invert lg:prose-xl prose-io9 dark:prose-io9\">\n<p><em>Hope, <\/em>Neon\u2019s latest sci-fi film by director Na Hong-jin, hits theaters on September 9th. The film, starring <em>Squid Game<\/em>\u2018s Hoyeon, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander, aims to be Na\u2019s directorial hat trick, his first foray into the sci-fi genre and his fourth feature film following <em>The Chaser<\/em>, <em>The Yellow Sea<\/em>, and his 2016 horror masterwork <em>The Wailing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Set in a sleepy, secluded village, <em>Hope<\/em> follows as police officers Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and Sung-ae (Hoyeon) and local yahoo hunter Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) stumble upon what they believe is a mysterious animal preying on farmers\u2019 livestock. Quicker than a hiccup, the troupe goes from hunting the creature down to being hunted themselves across congested city streets and dense forests. What follows is a full-throttle alien invasion film full of Na\u2019s patented dark humor, high-octane action, and plenty of U-turns away from and toward the warzone of the aptly titled South Korean village, Hope Harbor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HOPE - Official Trailer - In Theaters September 9\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R5jcEBVBEbQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Ahead of<em> Hope<\/em>\u2018s theatrical premiere, io9 spoke with Na about what drew him to sci-fi for his fourth feature film, the reported recuts following its mixed reception at Cannes, and how he strove to make it different from the sci-fi blockbusters he and moviegoers have grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n<p><span>The trajectory of Na\u2019s career, from Park Chan-wook-esque films <em>The Chaser<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The Yellow Sea<\/em> to full-throated horror with his leap into <em>The Wailing<\/em>, felt like watching a director find his niche. After cutting his teeth on the oppressive tension of gritty neo-noir crime thrillers, Na tapped into something novel, letting the dark humor and arresting violence of those films come into full bloom with his third-ever film\u2014a film Na says left him \u201ccreatively and physically drained,\u201d with resting as his only desire. The prospect of his fourth film, hopping from horror to sci-fi with the same crew who helped him along his meteoric rise, like cinematographer Hong Kyun-pyo, stunt coordinator Yoo Sang Seob, and actor Hwang, made <em>Hope<\/em> all the more tantalizing, a cinematic experience to see what novelty Na brings to the table of alien invasion cinema.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807687\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807687\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807687\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of an officer and hunters checking out the carcass of a bullfighting bull. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"804\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hwang Jung-min and Zo In-sung in \u2018Hope.\u2019 \u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Na told io9 he was drawn to the sci-fi genre because he wanted to make a film that interrogated his prevailing theme of how misconceptions and ignorance could escalate from human conflict into a tragic mushroom cloud of \u201ccosmic proportions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI usually get my idea for my films from social phenomena or human phenomena. What\u2019s really important here is where, and from what perspective, you\u2019re viewing this phenomena from,\u201d Na said. \u201cAfter <em>The Wailing<\/em>, I wanted to try viewing this phenomena from a perspective I haven\u2019t been used to before. I decided on a cosmic perspective to see humans and how they behave. That\u2019s where the idea came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>While any other filmmaker, save for Bong Joon Ho with his 2006 film <em>The Host<\/em>, would opt to obscure its towering CGI creatures in shadows,\u00a0<em>Hope<\/em> makes that bold decision to showcase its coterie of mysterious creatures in broad daylight throughout the film. Rather than give the entire game away (as its trailer did, which left no question that audiences were walking into an alien-vs-humans movie), it was paramount to Na that viewers question whether the oddities wreaking havoc were from this world\u2019s wild animals or some local demon running amok. Once the cat was out of the bag in the film after the arrival of the first invading alien (played by Cameron Britton), Na had to put in the work on the rest of the alien creatures\u2019 designs to make them both ethereal and functionally terrifying contenders for the denizens of Hope Harbor in the film\u2019s mile-a-minute action sequences<\/span><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn terms of how they move, I wanted to stray from previous conventions. In deciding whether these aliens appear during the day or at night, or whether I should shoot them on location or at a sound stage, I decided that, even if it makes it more difficult, I should maximize the locations we\u2019re shooting in. It really added a sense of spaciality to the characters,\u201d he said, in reference to the film\u2019s implementation of wide-angle lenses keeping both humans and alien characters\u2014who are over three meters (roughly 10 feet) tall\u2014in frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807688\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807688\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807688\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-1.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of an officer and a mercenary breaching a torn-down building.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"803\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807688\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While creatures of this stature don\u2019t move at a kaiju\u2019s glacial pace, Na wanted to break conventions by having <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s aliens move incredibly fast. To bring\u00a0<em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s creatures to life, Na worked alongside Korean VFX crew Westworld to motion-capture stars Fassbender, Vikander, Britton, and Taylor Russell. <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s international stars playing its titular aliens wasn\u2019t a coincidental decision for Na.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision to use a cast from two different cultural backgrounds came after making the alien language that\u2019s featured in the film,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to cast actors from a region where the pronunciation of their language was more similar to the language that we created.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the imposing stature of its aliens and the prevailing language barrier between them and <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s bumbling humans create palpable tension throughout the film, at the end of the day, it\u2019s still a Na film. Which means there\u2019s gonna be some dark humor sprinkled throughout all the dread as hapless officers in over their heads\u2014a prevailing theme in his works\u2014confront aliens terrorizing the intimate setting of a remote village.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe movie is told from a cosmic perspective. We\u2019re looking down on these human characters. Due to that, our perspective is more friendly to the aliens than toward humans,\u201d Na said. \u201cBecause of that, I wanted to emphasize more of the primitive and uncivilized sides of mankind. But at the same time, I didn\u2019t want these elements to feel too serious, which is why I used humorous scenes to convey that. In a way, you can say through humor, I tried to make these explicit intentions of mine a little more ambiguous. I also wanted these elements to be communicated to the audience in a smoother, more fun fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807690\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807690\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807690\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of a bloody hunter looking up at an alien.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"804\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807690\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the film\u2019s mixed reception during its run at Cannes, IndieWire\u2018s Chris O\u2019Falt reported that Na recut <em>Hope<\/em>\u00a0into what audiences will experience in theaters.\u00a0<span>Ahead of its world premiere, Neon secured a 1,500-theater opening for <em>Hope<\/em> across the U.S., making it the widest domestic theatrical release for a Korean film since Bong Joon Ho\u2019s <em>Parasite, <\/em>according to Variety.<\/span> If that\u2019s not a ton of confidence points for a creature feature, we don\u2019t know what is. After I watched an early screening of the movie, public relations confirmed to io9 that I watched the recut audiences will see in theaters. Naturally, I asked Na what led him to recut <em>Hope<\/em>, what changes he made between the two versions of the film, and what he discovered he wanted to say about the story in the movie audiences will see compared to its initial cut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided to re-edit it after viewing it at Cannes. Overall, in terms of content, it became four minutes shorter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Na explained that the shorter runtime was intended to give more screen time to Hope Harbor\u2019s local taxidermist, Yang-bae (Eum Moon-suk). Unfortunately for <em>Squid Game<\/em> fans, the equivalent exchange of Yang-bae getting more shine in <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s leaner runtime meant Hoyeon\u2019s hotshot officer, Sung-ae, got less play.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hope<\/em>\u00a0crash-lands into theaters on September 9.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"entry-content prose dark:prose-invert lg:prose-xl prose-io9 dark:prose-io9\">\n<p><em>Hope, <\/em>Neon\u2019s latest sci-fi film by director Na Hong-jin, hits theaters on September 9th. The film, starring <em>Squid Game<\/em>\u2018s Hoyeon, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander, aims to be Na\u2019s directorial hat trick, his first foray into the sci-fi genre and his fourth feature film following <em>The Chaser<\/em>, <em>The Yellow Sea<\/em>, and his 2016 horror masterwork <em>The Wailing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Set in a sleepy, secluded village, <em>Hope<\/em> follows as police officers Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and Sung-ae (Hoyeon) and local yahoo hunter Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) stumble upon what they believe is a mysterious animal preying on farmers\u2019 livestock. Quicker than a hiccup, the troupe goes from hunting the creature down to being hunted themselves across congested city streets and dense forests. What follows is a full-throttle alien invasion film full of Na\u2019s patented dark humor, high-octane action, and plenty of U-turns away from and toward the warzone of the aptly titled South Korean village, Hope Harbor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HOPE - Official Trailer - In Theaters September 9\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R5jcEBVBEbQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Ahead of<em> Hope<\/em>\u2018s theatrical premiere, io9 spoke with Na about what drew him to sci-fi for his fourth feature film, the reported recuts following its mixed reception at Cannes, and how he strove to make it different from the sci-fi blockbusters he and moviegoers have grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n<p><span>The trajectory of Na\u2019s career, from Park Chan-wook-esque films <em>The Chaser<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The Yellow Sea<\/em> to full-throated horror with his leap into <em>The Wailing<\/em>, felt like watching a director find his niche. After cutting his teeth on the oppressive tension of gritty neo-noir crime thrillers, Na tapped into something novel, letting the dark humor and arresting violence of those films come into full bloom with his third-ever film\u2014a film Na says left him \u201ccreatively and physically drained,\u201d with resting as his only desire. The prospect of his fourth film, hopping from horror to sci-fi with the same crew who helped him along his meteoric rise, like cinematographer Hong Kyun-pyo, stunt coordinator Yoo Sang Seob, and actor Hwang, made <em>Hope<\/em> all the more tantalizing, a cinematic experience to see what novelty Na brings to the table of alien invasion cinema.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807687\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807687\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807687\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of an officer and hunters checking out the carcass of a bullfighting bull. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"804\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hwang Jung-min and Zo In-sung in \u2018Hope.\u2019 \u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Na told io9 he was drawn to the sci-fi genre because he wanted to make a film that interrogated his prevailing theme of how misconceptions and ignorance could escalate from human conflict into a tragic mushroom cloud of \u201ccosmic proportions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI usually get my idea for my films from social phenomena or human phenomena. What\u2019s really important here is where, and from what perspective, you\u2019re viewing this phenomena from,\u201d Na said. \u201cAfter <em>The Wailing<\/em>, I wanted to try viewing this phenomena from a perspective I haven\u2019t been used to before. I decided on a cosmic perspective to see humans and how they behave. That\u2019s where the idea came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>While any other filmmaker, save for Bong Joon Ho with his 2006 film <em>The Host<\/em>, would opt to obscure its towering CGI creatures in shadows,\u00a0<em>Hope<\/em> makes that bold decision to showcase its coterie of mysterious creatures in broad daylight throughout the film. Rather than give the entire game away (as its trailer did, which left no question that audiences were walking into an alien-vs-humans movie), it was paramount to Na that viewers question whether the oddities wreaking havoc were from this world\u2019s wild animals or some local demon running amok. Once the cat was out of the bag in the film after the arrival of the first invading alien (played by Cameron Britton), Na had to put in the work on the rest of the alien creatures\u2019 designs to make them both ethereal and functionally terrifying contenders for the denizens of Hope Harbor in the film\u2019s mile-a-minute action sequences<\/span><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn terms of how they move, I wanted to stray from previous conventions. In deciding whether these aliens appear during the day or at night, or whether I should shoot them on location or at a sound stage, I decided that, even if it makes it more difficult, I should maximize the locations we\u2019re shooting in. It really added a sense of spaciality to the characters,\u201d he said, in reference to the film\u2019s implementation of wide-angle lenses keeping both humans and alien characters\u2014who are over three meters (roughly 10 feet) tall\u2014in frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807688\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807688\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807688\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-1.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of an officer and a mercenary breaching a torn-down building.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"803\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807688\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While creatures of this stature don\u2019t move at a kaiju\u2019s glacial pace, Na wanted to break conventions by having <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s aliens move incredibly fast. To bring\u00a0<em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s creatures to life, Na worked alongside Korean VFX crew Westworld to motion-capture stars Fassbender, Vikander, Britton, and Taylor Russell. <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s international stars playing its titular aliens wasn\u2019t a coincidental decision for Na.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision to use a cast from two different cultural backgrounds came after making the alien language that\u2019s featured in the film,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to cast actors from a region where the pronunciation of their language was more similar to the language that we created.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the imposing stature of its aliens and the prevailing language barrier between them and <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s bumbling humans create palpable tension throughout the film, at the end of the day, it\u2019s still a Na film. Which means there\u2019s gonna be some dark humor sprinkled throughout all the dread as hapless officers in over their heads\u2014a prevailing theme in his works\u2014confront aliens terrorizing the intimate setting of a remote village.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe movie is told from a cosmic perspective. We\u2019re looking down on these human characters. Due to that, our perspective is more friendly to the aliens than toward humans,\u201d Na said. \u201cBecause of that, I wanted to emphasize more of the primitive and uncivilized sides of mankind. But at the same time, I didn\u2019t want these elements to feel too serious, which is why I used humorous scenes to convey that. In a way, you can say through humor, I tried to make these explicit intentions of mine a little more ambiguous. I also wanted these elements to be communicated to the audience in a smoother, more fun fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000807690\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000807690\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000807690\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hope still of a bloody hunter looking up at an alien.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"804\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000807690\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Neon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the film\u2019s mixed reception during its run at Cannes, IndieWire\u2018s Chris O\u2019Falt reported that Na recut <em>Hope<\/em>\u00a0into what audiences will experience in theaters.\u00a0<span>Ahead of its world premiere, Neon secured a 1,500-theater opening for <em>Hope<\/em> across the U.S., making it the widest domestic theatrical release for a Korean film since Bong Joon Ho\u2019s <em>Parasite, <\/em>according to Variety.<\/span> If that\u2019s not a ton of confidence points for a creature feature, we don\u2019t know what is. After I watched an early screening of the movie, public relations confirmed to io9 that I watched the recut audiences will see in theaters. Naturally, I asked Na what led him to recut <em>Hope<\/em>, what changes he made between the two versions of the film, and what he discovered he wanted to say about the story in the movie audiences will see compared to its initial cut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided to re-edit it after viewing it at Cannes. Overall, in terms of content, it became four minutes shorter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Na explained that the shorter runtime was intended to give more screen time to Hope Harbor\u2019s local taxidermist, Yang-bae (Eum Moon-suk). Unfortunately for <em>Squid Game<\/em> fans, the equivalent exchange of Yang-bae getting more shine in <em>Hope<\/em>\u2018s leaner runtime meant Hoyeon\u2019s hotshot officer, Sung-ae, got less play.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hope<\/em>\u00a0crash-lands into theaters on September 9.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/hope-director-na-hong-jin-wanted-to-make-an-alien-movie-from-a-cosmic-perspective-2000807472&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOPE-Neon-3-1200&#215;675.jpg&#8221;] Hope, Neon\u2019s latest sci-fi film by director Na Hong-jin, hits theaters on September 9th. The film, starring Squid Game\u2018s Hoyeon, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander, aims to be Na\u2019s directorial hat trick, his first foray into the sci-fi genre and his fourth feature film following The Chaser, The Yellow Sea, and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2128818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2128818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2128818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2128818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2128818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}