Bong Joon Ho Reveals Exactly How Expensive The Props For "Parasite" Were, And You Will Be Shook

Bong Joon Ho‘s latest film Parasite is racking up big awards and accruing much acclaim in the film industry right now, and is also gaining praise from tons of audiences worldwide!

The story of Parasite revolves around a poor Kim family who, in attempting to escape poverty, set a plan in motion to infiltrate the wealthy Park family as unrelated employees in different positions. They achieve this by driving out the previous employees and taking over their positions of service to the family.

A still from the film. Credit: Now Magazine

Much of the film takes place in the settings of a house; specifically, the house of the wealthy family, the Parks’. As the house acts as the most important catalyst for the events in the film to take place, Bong Joon Ho, in an interview with Vulture, revealed how much they spent trying to make the settings just right.

In the interview, Bong Joon Ho reveals that the props were built from scratch, with each detail meticulously created with the hard work of many craftsmen, with filming spread out across four different sets, all brought together in the film to give the illusion of one big house.

He then reveals that the production designer, Lee Ha Jun, practically had a nervous breakdown everyday, because of how expensive everything was in the Park house! He revealed that all the furniture was created by a modernist carpenter named Bahk Jong Sun, saying that he was sleeted for his “sleek, angular aesthetic”, as the house is focused on a minimalist expression.

Bong Joon Ho then listed the furniture they used, as well as their prices, starting with the table. The table in the large, open living area, constructed from cherrywood, was revealed to have costed a whopping $19,800 USD!

He quoted the price of the dining table in the kitchen next, revealing it to be around $22,300 USD.

He then revealed the price of the chairs next, revealing them to be $2,100 per piece; the price of a brass lamp is disclosed to be $14,000 USD, a painting made from stainless steel that illustrates a forest by Seung Mo Park is quoted to be $120,000 USD, and another painting of cats is set at $50,000 USD.

Stainless steel mesh painting: $120,000 USD

Bong Joon Ho also revealed in complete and utter disbelief that they used a German trash can that cost—wait for it—$2300 USD! He made sure to give his thorough thoughts on the price of the trash can, saying,

The trash can cost like $2,300! It was German. Me and my crew members were like, What the f*ck? What kind of idiot would buy a trash can that’s going to smell anyway?”

—Bong Joon Ho

But later, he conceded saying that perhaps the smoothness of the trash can justified the price; he wanted a trash can that opened smoothly for the full effect of the cinematic lid, and so,