A man is fed the same fried dumplings for fifteen years. The kitchen that made them for the film is real, opposite Busan Station. Taste your way to it, then follow the film out from Busan.
Busan Chinatown · Choryang-dong
Fifteen years of one dish.
Oh Dae-su knows his dumplings by taste. Eat down the plate: each one tells you something true about where the film’s dumplings came from.
Six fried dumplings. Pick one up.
· · ·
· · ·
· · ·
· · ·
· · ·
· · ·
Where it came from
Fifteen years: The same fried dumplings, for fifteen years.
The Chinatown gate in Choryang-dong, Busan, September 2008. Henri Bergius · CC BY-SA 2.0
Busan Chinatown, a few steps from Busan Station, September 2018. Christophe95 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Choryang-dong, Dong-gu, opposite Busan Station
Dumplings first.
Busan’s tourism office says Oldboy brings dumplings to mind before anything else.
Its film route sends you to a Chinatown restaurant where Choi Min-sik ate steamed and fried dumplings and jajangmyeon, noodles in black bean sauce.
Busan Station, the southern end of the main line from Seoul, stands in the middle of Choryang-dong. Its new KTX terminal was built from 2001 to 2003, the year Oldboy came out.
Public streets. Walk in through the gate across the road from Busan Station.
Where it came from
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Busan food tours
Busan
Live marketplace results for food tours of Busan. None is built round Oldboy; check each itinerary for Chinatown by Busan Station.
Shooting began on 12 May 2003 and was about half done by mid-July. Two places in Korea are on the record: a studio set north-west of Seoul and a dam in South Gyeongsang.
On Sunday 13 July 2003, Oh Dae-su and Lee Woo-jin’s first meeting face to face was filmed on a set at the Art Service studio complex in Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju.
Shooting had begun on 12 May and was about half done by mid-July.
That afternoon gave seven or eight minutes of film. Park kept calling “cut” rather than “OK” until the framing was right.
Paju is under an hour from central Seoul by train or express bus.
Heyri Art Valley, an artists’ village of galleries, small museums and cafés, is in the same district.
A film studio, not a visitor site, and not pinned here. Heyri Art Valley, in the same district, is open to visitors.
Where it came from
SceneThe corridor
Take—
The slate is clean.
Where it came from
The corridor sequence took seventeen takes over three days and is one continuous take, with a single detail added by computer. The building it was shot in is not named in any source read for this page.
Hapcheon Dam on the Hwang River, July 2008. iTurtle · CC BY 3.0
Hoeyang-ri, Daebyeong-myeon, Hapcheon County
Hapcheon Dam
The Gyeongnam film archive lists Hapcheon Dam as Oldboy’s location in the province. It does not say which scene.
A concrete gravity dam 96 metres high and 472 metres long, built from April 1984 to December 1988.
It holds back the Hwang River, a tributary of the Nakdong, and can store 790 million tonnes of water.
The lakeside road towards Geochang is a popular drive, and K-water’s water culture centre draws visitors.
The lakeside road from Hapcheon past the dam towards Geochang is a well-known drive; K-water runs the dam and its water culture centre.
Where it came from
Mount Lyford in the Amuri Range, South Island, September 2009. Justin McCormack · CC BY 2.0
Amuri Range, inland from Kaikōura, South Island
No snow in Korea.
Park wanted the seasons to change on screen, and Korea had no snow, so the epilogue was shot in New Zealand.
A location compilation places the final scenes on Mount Lyford. The airline lost the crew’s luggage, cameras and costumes included; they hired cameras there and made new costumes quickly.
The peak is 1,590 metres high; the ski field reaches 1,742 metres on neighbouring Mount Terako. It is about 9,700 km from the Busan kitchen in a straight line.
The village and ski area are on the Inland Kaikōura Road (SH70), about 150 km by road north of Christchurch.
Where it came from
Shinjuku, 1996 · the Croisette, 2004
From Tokyo to Cannes.
10years locked up, in the Tokyo manga
15years, in the film
Its hero, Shinichi Gotō, is let out after ten years in a private prison. The film’s Oh Dae-su is held for fifteen.
Futabasha’s headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo, May 2013. Asanagi · CC0
Higashi-Gokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Futabasha
Old Boy, written by Garon Tsuchiya and drawn by Nobuaki Minegishi, ran in Futabasha’s Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998: 79 chapters in eight volumes.
Manga Action began in July 1967 and is counted as the first true seinen magazine, for young adult readers. Futabasha has its headquarters in Shinjuku.
The film keeps the manga’s outline and changes much of the rest; its final revelation is Park’s own and is not described here.
A publisher’s offices, not a visitor site, and not pinned here. Shinjuku’s streets are public.
Where it came fromThe Palais des Festivals et des Congrès at night, December 2014. Jorge Láscar · CC BY 2.0
1 Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes
The Palais des Festivals
Oldboy won the Grand Prix at the 57th festival, held from 12 to 23 May 2004.
Quentin Tarantino, the jury president, praised it highly. The Palme d’Or went to Fahrenheit 9/11.
The Palais, by Hubert Bennett and François Druet, opened in December 1982 on the site of the town casino.
No free photographs from 2003 were found. These are from 2009: Park at Cannes that May, Choi at Karlovy Vary in July, Kang in September.
Choi Min-sik presenting Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells at the Karlovy Vary festival, July 2009, six years after Oldboy. Petr Novák, Wikipedia (Commons user che) · CC BY-SA 3.0Choi Min-sikOh Dae-su
Park Chan-wook at Cannes in May 2009, five years after the Grand Prix. Masha Kuvshinova · CC BY 3.0Park Chan-wookDirector
Kang Hye-jung in September 2009, six years after she played Mi-do. KIYOUNG KIM · CC BY 2.0Kang Hye-jungMi-do
$3mBudget
3.26mFilmgoers in South Korea, fifth of 2003
17Takes for the corridor shot, over three days
$17.6mTaken worldwide
Where it came from
Choi Min-sik plays Oh Dae-su, Yoo Ji-tae Lee Woo-jin and Kang Hye-jung Mi-do. A $3 million budget, 3.26 million filmgoers in South Korea (fifth of 2003) and $17.6 million worldwide; the corridor took seventeen takes over three days. Released in South Korea on 21 November 2003.
5 places on the map: 3 in Korea and 2 abroad. The Paju studio and Futabasha’s offices are named but not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working Chinese restaurant, open 11am to 9.30pm every day of the year. Check the hours before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public streets. Walk in through the gate across the road from Busan Station.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The lakeside road from Hapcheon past the dam towards Geochang is a well-known drive; K-water runs the dam and its water culture centre.
1A street in Busan Chinatown, August 2011: the neighbourhood around Jangseonghyang, not the restaurant itself. Jirka Matousek · CC BY 2.0
Esquire Korea names it as the kitchen that made the film’s fried dumplings, the dish Oh Dae-su is given for fifteen years.
A working Chinese restaurant, open 11am to 9.30pm every day of the year. Check the hours before you go.
Where it came from
2The Chinatown gate in Choryang-dong, Busan, September 2008. Henri Bergius · CC BY-SA 2.0
Choryang-dong, Dong-gu, opposite Busan Station
Busan Chinatown
Busan’s tourism office says Oldboy brings dumplings to mind before anything else.
Public streets. Walk in through the gate across the road from Busan Station.
Where it came from
3Hapcheon Dam on the Hwang River, July 2008. iTurtle · CC BY 3.0
Hoeyang-ri, Daebyeong-myeon, Hapcheon County
Hapcheon Dam
The Gyeongnam film archive lists Hapcheon Dam as Oldboy’s location in the province. It does not say which scene.
The lakeside road from Hapcheon past the dam towards Geochang is a well-known drive; K-water runs the dam and its water culture centre.
Where it came from
Stay
Near Chinatown.
A hotel a short walk from the dumplings.
Commodore Hotel
Commodore Hotel Busan
151 Junggu-ro, Jung-gu, Busan
A hotel in Jung-gu with three restaurants, an indoor pool, a gym and a sauna, under a kilometre’s walk from Chinatown and Jangseonghyang. No prices were posted on its own site. The photograph is Chinatown, not the hotel.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every mouthful
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
