Bong Joon Ho

Bong scraped together his first camera cash by hustling doughnuts at his school’s cafeteria—yeah, just slinging snacks for gear. He once said he’d literally fall asleep clinging to that Hitachi camera like it was some kind of security blanket. Guy was obsessed, no doubt. While grinding through sociology at Yonsei University, he basically found his tribe and started this filmmaking crew, Yellow Door, pulling in other film nerds from nearby colleges. That’s where he started shooting his first short films—just scrappy, DIY stuff with his friends. And to keep the lights on, Bong shot wedding videos on the side. Not exactly the glamour you’d expect, but hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere. Imagine trying to balance college, passion projects, and filming strangers’ big days just to pay the bills. That’s the kind of gritty backstory you don’t hear enough about when people talk about directors making it big.

Sneaking in political and social commentary into movies? Oh, that’s basically the director’s secret playground. You’re watching this wild chase or some epic romance, but bam—there’s a cheeky jab at society tucked away in the dialogue or maybe a scene that low-key calls out the state of the world. It’s kind of genius, really. Nobody wants a lecture when they’re eating popcorn, but slide in some clever subtext and suddenly you’re thinking about big issues without even realizing it. It’s like, yeah, the heroes are fighting aliens, but also, hey, maybe this is about government control or people blindly following orders. Directors love that stuff—it’s their little wink to the audience, their way of saying, “Hey, I see what’s going on out there.” And honestly, it makes the movie stick with you way after the credits roll. You laugh, you gasp, and then later you’re like, wait, was that about capitalism? Sneaky, but so good.