Mercedes recalls working with ‘Parasite’ lead actor

Mercedes Cabral

The Korean “invasion” on the entertainment scene is unstoppable. K-pop and K-dramas are almost like a cult. “Finger hearts” and “oppas” serve as our adrenaline shot in our daily grind. “Parasite’s” victory at the Oscars cements the dominance of Korean cinema.

Mercedes Cabral had an “up close and personal” encounter with Korean actor Song Kang-ho, who portrayed the father of the destitute Kim family in “Parasite.” They worked together in the Korean film, “Thirst,” in 2008. It won the jury prize in the 2009 Cannes film festival.

Mercedes was also in the movie of Brillante Ma Mendoza, “Kinatay.” So when she attended the prestigious French fest, she was part of a Korean film and a Filipino movie, as well. That’s what I call “Bravo de Mercedes.” International exposure is by far sweeter than brazo de Mercedes!

Here’s my chat with Mercedes:

Song Kang-ho

What was it like working with Song Kang-ho?

He’s one of the most intense and brilliant actors that I’ve worked with. He’s pretty funny too. He always jokes a lot but gets very serious when the camera starts rolling. Everybody didn’t really speak English but I appreciate that everyone made an effort to accommodate me. He loves to tell funny stories during our downtime. He helped me with my Korean lines.

What did you learn from Kang-ho as an actor?

He and the other Korean actors were all professional and had no “star/diva attitude,” which I imbibed. They treated me as an equal and never made me feel out of place despite the language barrier.

Tell us about your role and his, and what was the hardest scene to shoot in “Thirst?

”My role was the Filipino wife of the lead character’s family friend. Kang-ho played the lead, Sang-hyun, a Christian priest who, in order to help find a cure for a disease, volunteers to be infected with a virus that’s devastating Africa.

He’s left with an intense craving for blood and sex. As a hospital visitor, he can quench his thirst for blood, and an intense affair with unhappily married Tae-ju provides him with a sexual outlet.

As their relationship develops, Sang-hyun is left struggling to hang on to his old morality. The hardest scene was when he carried me and threw me into a closet. We had to do it over and over again. I had to maintain my emotions. It was taxing for both of us.

What scene in “Parasite” impacted you the most?

The scene where Kang-ho’s character snapped, which made him stab his boss because he saw him cover his nose while getting the key from the lifeless body of the man who’s been living in the secret basement of his house.

The emotional unit that he gave for that scene, from being angry and in a trance-like state into realizing what he did and what happened, astonished me.