David Anselmo: Actor
Interview: David Joseph Anselmo
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Sudbury, Ontario-native David Joseph Anselmo is at the tail end of his weekend in South Korea. With The Host deep into its run in the United States, and critically lauded at festivals and in world media, hes enjoyed a focal role (Donald, who tries to save Park Hyun-seo) in a key scene in a major release.
Anselmo is on a mission. Hes not only seeking a rich and credible career in movies, hes in South Korea by choice to learn something about its culture, contribute to its arts, and take what he discovers back into the world of cinema.
Cinescare: Good evening to you in South Korea, which is apparently infinitely harder to dial to than I'd have ever imagined. Thank you, Verizon. I just rewatched "The Host" yesterday. What a beautifully photographed movie. It's a gorgeous film and you're prominently showcased in its opening dramatic scenes. Talk to me about getting involved with "The Host" and what its done for you, so far.
Anselmo: Well, I shot a film called Welcome to Dongmakgol last year. It was the biggest film of 2005. I was initially cast as the main foreigner character in the film, Smith, but the producers felt that they wanted to get someone from the United States. So, I chose a character that was totally different from my real self, which at first the director didnt think I could do, but he offered me my choice. I played a Special Forces character. I gained 20 pounds, grew a beard and shaved my head to show that I could be a character actor. See, the problem is that the industry believed that if I actually resided in Korea I was just an English teacher who's acting as a hobby. I needed to prove myself and the character did that. So, some big actors from that film mentioned me to Bong Joon-ho and I got cast for the character of Donald.
Cinescare: Talk about Bong Joon-so.
Anselmo: I was extremely happy to work with him. I believe he is the best director in Korea these days, even before The Host was released. The first Korean film I actually saw when i arrived here was Memories of Murder, and I thought it was brilliant. So, I guess I have to thank Welcome to Dongmakgol to get the chance to work on The Host.
Cinescare: Talk to me about your biography as an actor. You're s Canadian living in South Korea, correct?
Anselmo: How i got to Korea. Well after graduating university, I went to do some Shakespeare in a small theatre company in Europe for eight months. My two best friends went to Korea to teach. When my run was over they invited me over for a couple of months to visit. Igot bored after about a month and got involved with a small amateur English theatre group, did a play with them and met a producer from a major network in Korea who asked me to do a TV show. One thing led to another and I auditoned for R-Point, which was my first film; first film in Korea, that is. Six months turned into a year a now Im going on four. I dont know anyone else in Korea who is just acting. Most act as a side job, but Ive been lucky enough to be able to do it full time.
Cinescare: Do people in the industry still think youre there to teach English?
Anselmo: Its the perception of the industry in Korea when it comes to foreigners who are acting, and 99 percent of the time its true. So, you are not really respected or thought of as a real actor. The first couple of years I really had to try to prove myself, and only after Welcome to Dongmakgol was I considered a true professional.
Cinescare Bong Joon Ho is certainly the most well-known Korean director in the United States right now. And your journey to the role of Donald seems to be a turning point in your acting profile.
Anselmo: It was very difficult to do because I was interacting mostly with a figment of my imagination. The monster, at the time, was just a ladder. Just to elaborate a tad more on the previous point, most important foreign roles in Korean films are casted overseas, and the last two films it was the same case. But, I was cast from here and am starting to get that recognition in the industry.
Cinescare: "R Point" is a smaller part for you than Donald, but you were involved in a genre piece that got some notice overseas in that case, as well. Has Korean horror been an emphasis with industry execs in the country, right now? Is the Korean industry attempting to pump it into the same channels as Japan, perhaps?
Anselmo: Actually, I would say yes, a couple of years ago. The year before R-Point came out there were a lot of horror films that were released over the summer holidays and were all relatively successful. So, the industry tried to do it again for a second summer and I think they over saturated the market, a little. Its kind of slowed down since then. I learned, during that time, that Koreans like their horror movies in the summer. Its so hot that a good scare cools the soul, as I was told.
Cinescare: I like that expression, "cools the soul." What was the difference between your experience on "R-Point" and your experience on "The Host." Workload, expectations (yours and others'); end result for you as an actor?
Anselmo: I was really new at the game when i did R-Point. It was a great experience for many reasons. Itwas the first Korean film i was in. Also, it was all shot in Cambodia, up on a mountain. We were totally isolated from the world, and this old French casino was the setting. There wasnt too much added to the setting that wasnt already there. In R-Point, the elements took their toll. It was so difficult to shoot the night scenes, because you couldnt predict when the fog would roll in. All the fog you see in the film was all man-made and easy to control. The real fog was a pain and put a lot of delay in shooting. I was scheduled to be in Cambodia for five days and we were there for something like 10 to 14. As to getting into my character, it was a lot easier for R-Point because it felt so eerie all the time and we were also living up on that mountain with no electricity. I remember the first day, we travelled from the capital and drove about eight hours
and got to the our location in the late afternoon. After dinner we all got together to do a read-through by candlelight. From that moment, I felt the tranquil mystery of the location, which I [think] contributed to the success of the film. During The Host, there were alot of spectators watching, which could be a little intimidating. But, now that I look back, I was totally unaware of any of them. I just wanted to impress who I thought was the best director and the best Korean actor, Song Kang-ho. I was just so happy to be working with them.
Cinescare: What is next? Have you lined up the followup project? If not, what would be your ideal next step?
Anselmo: Its hard to have a next step, here in Korea. There are not a lot of good roles for foreigners. It was easier for me to get work before the last two films I did. I could do a lot of small characters, but now it seems they are not offered to me. Maybe they think I should be doing something bigger, and plus with the screen quota -- that kind of got cut in half -- only half of the films from last year are being shot - from 120 last year to 60-ish this year. Im currently scheduled to shoot a TV show this summer with a really good TV director called Lee Jae Kyu. He made a drama called "Damo," which was one of the most popular in Korea, and Im currently writing a TV show and a film. Most foreign characters in Korean films are ill-represented. I guess you could say that about Asians in American cinema, too. I feel a responsibility to write about my experiences as a foreigner living in Asia, so thats what Im doing these days. I want to show whats its really like to live here
Cinescare: One of the reasons we work with genre films at Cinescare is that the representation of people and issues is often highlighted within the fantasy elements of the genre picture.
Anselmo: I agree.
Cinescare: "R-Point" and "The Host" certainly talk about about the Asian experience and the American presence.
Anselmo: Those Korean elements are really well depicted in "The Host." I dont believe the host is a horror film, but a good family film. Many critics have said the monster is capitalism or the American military presence in Korea, but whats more important -- what is the true message of the film, I think -- is how this family has nobody to help them. No matter what they try to say, the government is working against them, and also that the individual and the small lower class person rises as the hero and not the Korean or American government. I think thats what Mr. Bong wanted to show.
Cinescare: Your character in "The Host" is this wonderful and absurd American image - suddenly present, athletic and selfless, then unfortunately whipped away by dint of his choice to get involved.
Anselmo: The small individual rising as the hero. In my character, the family, the homeless guy who pours the gasoline on the monster; all the people who are not looked too hightly upon in Korean society, they are the ones who fight for whats right.
Cinescare: "The Host" is a sort of 9/11 film -- in which the virus is a stand-in for the ability to use fear -- like that of terrorism in the United states, as a lever to shape public policy. Your character and the other main and minor characters become radical because they put each other before adherence.
Anselmo: Its an important message in todays world. We look to our governments to make the right choices and protect us, but in reality they are not there to help us at all and we must stand up and do whats right. I am very fortunate to be involved.
Cinescare: tell me something about your life that stands out as important to you - that helps define what you do and why.
Anselmo: Hmmmm. Tough question for a Sunday night. To find meaning with what I do. I rationalize it as this: actors, scriptwriters , filmmakers are all teachers.
A math teacher will teach numbers. A science teacher will teach evolution. A long time ago the Native Americans or the Greeks used to teach life lessons from vocal stories. Well, that form of story telling has changed to films, book, TV, etc and we teach people about new cultures, life experience what we have learned to leave for the next generation of people to view. Its why I stay in Korea. I feel like I should show what its really like to be a foreigner living here. I couldnt tell you what love is, I couldnt read the definition in a dictionary and fully understand, but if I read or watch a very good love story I could grasp what its like to be in love. Films are a way to teach about life. Films are a way to escape into another world and learn something about life that we wouldnt normally experience.
Cinescare: If you could communicate something about your life in Korea that you think really needs to be said, what would that be?
Anselmo: Well, in todays world, I see the main problem being a lack of understanding and acceptance of other cultures and life. What I learn in Korea is that if you open your mind and really try to see and to accept the differences. You can experience these subtle beauties in a different culture that you would not normally see with a closed mind. Its the biggest lesson that I learned living here.
James OBrien
Cinescare Staff
The Host, 2007
"The small individual rising as the hero. In my character, the family, the homeless guy who pours the gasoline on the monster; all the people who are not looked too hightly upon in Korean society, they are the ones who fight for whats right."
•-David Joseph Anselmo
