Bong Joon-Ho's Oscar-winning Parasite is set to receive a Criterion Collection Blu-ray release. It's got an HBO series adaptation coming. And now it's getting a graphic novel adaptation, sort of - in the same sense that most movies exist as graphic novels before being shot, in the form of storyboards. Parasite's storyboards are going to be released as a book, is what I'm saying, and Grand Central Publishing is calling it a graphic novel.
The book - 304 pages in length - has already been released in South Korea, and it seems quite the package, containing the boards drawn by Bong, coupled with camera directions, dialogue, and staging notes. For its worldwide release, all the text will be translated into English, and a foreward by Bong will be included as well. Here's a sample image from the Korean release:
Storyboards are a fascinating part of the filmmaking process, allowing directors to sort of soft-direct the film before getting anywhere near a set. They're a place where experimentation is cheap, and if you're Alfred Hitchcock, you probably think they're where most of the directing is actually done. The project I'm currently working on is the first of mine to be fully storyboarded, and the creativity of the process - unbound by on-set schedules or physicality - is truly liberating. I can't wait to get a look at Bong's approach to the process, particularly if - as in the Korean release - it also includes annotations like camera blocking diagrams and so on. That shit is like crack for film nerds; I fondly remember reading the Jurassic Park storyboards as a kid and expanding my concept of filmmaking.
The Parasite storyboard book will release on May 19th, 2020, two days shy of the one-year anniversary of its Cannes premiere. It's available for pre-order now.