Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho cannot believe he beat his idol Martin Scorsese to the Best Director Oscar.
The filmmaker asked the audience at the Academy Awards to give Martin an ovation during his directing acceptance speech, before his film also picked up Best Picture.
Backstage, he told Entertainment Tonight, how much it meant to win a directing Oscar ahead of his idol, calling the experience “f**king crazy”.
“It still feels very surreal,” he said. “I still feel like something will hit me and I will wake up from this dream.”
He added: “I’ve seen Scorsese lose this award multiple times and he didn’t know me back then, but I was so frustrated. I remember when he won for The Departed, I was so excited. So, to be nominated with him is a huge honor. It’s hard to believe.”
The director, whose films include Okja, and Snowpiercer, also thanked Quentin Tarantino as an early champion of his work, and joked that he would take a chainsaw to his Oscar so Martin, Quentin and fellow nominees Sam Mendes and Todd Phillips could share it.
The Oscar-winning star reveled in his victory, giving all his acceptance speeches in his native language, although he can speak English, through his translator Sharon Choi, who is also a filmmaker.
“You already know she’s a filmmaker. I’m curious about her script,” he said. “She’s writing some feature length script. I’m curious about it.”
