Q: Is it about your personal experiences? A: Let me tell you one thing. I transferred to another school when I was in Junior High School. That's where I met a friend who became the model for Woo-sik in the film. He was a class monitor and fought like a lion beyond your wildest imagination. Even high school students were no match for him. Back then I was pretty tall for my age, and there was this boy who bullied me around like Stabber in the movie. One day, he says to me, ¡°Don't let him bully you. Throw the first punch...Looking back, what tormented me most in my teens was that my manhood was tested almost everyday. That's what this film is all about. What's being manly? Do we learn to be manly at school? I started hanging out with that friend, and I changed into a completely different person. In high school, I even joined a school gang and got involved in so many fights. That is, I went from a naive feminine boy to a fearless macho kind of guy. Was that truly being a man? Wasn't it a false, evil manhood planted in me by this male-oriented society? This self-reflection became the motive for this film.

Q: How is it different from other films for teenagers? A: Growing-up is defined as "The Age of Losses." Hyun-soo turns into a monster after his love for Eun-ju is lost. Hamburger turns into another monster after his friendship with Woo-sik collapses. Teenagers despair over these losses, but these losses lead them into further maturity. In that aspect, this film sticks to that topic, but what makes it so unique is that it takes on a more realistic approach to their lives.

Q: This film and your previous work, "Marriage is a Crazy Thing", are both about unstable youth. Why is that? A: 1% of us are heroes, and the other 99% are cowards...I think this applies for every teenaged boy. I fell into the category of the other 99% back then. I saw a friend leaving school after he sent an anonymous letter to the Ministry of Education, reporting the wrongdoings of our school, and some of my friends got expelled. I wanted to quit school and follow my buddies, but I wasn't brave enough to do so. I stayed in school, graduated, and moved onto college. The guilt that I betrayed my friends by not following them still lingers deep in my subconsciousness. It's the same for marriage. I always detested the distorted meaning of marriage, but here I am, happily married. Making films are all about doing what you couldn't do in real life. My desires for what I couldn't possibly do in real life are well expressed in those films.

Q: Tell us about characters in the film. A: Hyun-soo is very sensitive and somewhat feminine. Woo-sik, I think, is the manliest character by social standards. Eun-ju is just a normal high school girl, but falls into the trap of dangerous temptations. She's like most model students around us. They always get good grades and never do anything wrong, but desires for deviation can be found deep in their minds. The reason I compared her to Olivia Hussey was not only because she was the most popular actress then, but because I had an experience of running into a girl who resembled Hussey back then.

Q: What was the reason you cast KWON Sang-woo for a character of a timid model student? A: He's got this image of being a tough guy. I thought it'd be fun to make it the other way around. The biggest reason was his face. When he frowns, he changes from a timid student to a tough guy. The character of Hyun-soo goes through a lot of emotional changes, and I knew Sang-woo was the right person for the part. It's fun to see how his character changes in the film. He and I focused on the expression of Hyun-soo's self-awareness.

Q: What do you think of LEE Jung-jin? A: He's got a chiseled face, but I wanted a rather rough look for the character of Woo-sik. I tried to give him charisma and qualities that no girl could refuse. What girls would turn down a guy who says he doesn't mind dying for her and punches the wall? Of course she would know he's bluffing, but she'd still get attracted. Jung-jin delivered his character quite well.

Q: Are you a huge fan of Bruce Lee? A: Today, there are so many media sources, producing so many stars. In the 70s, the TV network wasn't well established, and we weren't as exposed to the variety of stars we are today. Yet, there wasn't a single soul that didn't like Bruce Lee. In fact, that's another good example of totalitarianism, the value that upheld society back then.

Q: What influence did Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee leave on the film? A: The original name for this film was "Tao of Jeet Kune Do". However, the CEO of the production company asked me to add "Once Upon a Time In High School' to make it sound more exciting. Up until I read the book by Bruce Lee, I thought of him as a mere entertainer and gifted Kungfu artist. But the book made me realize what a great philosopher he was. In his book, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, one of the two bibles for martial arts exercisers, he inserts that a true victory is not about training in the mountains day and night, but beating the enemies inside the ring. In other words, to be a true martial artist, you should know how to win the fight at all costs. Jeet Kune Do is similar to the Korean education system in a sense that nothing counts unless you achieve your goals. In Korea, schools have turned into places where teachers cram facts into student's heads to get them into college, instead of teaching them the true values of life. In the film, Hyun-soo is forced to do nothing but study to prepare for college, and, at a certain point, his fury explodes.

Q: What comes to your mind when you think of the 70s? A: I always look back in life. You might say I'm regressive, but my consciousness still stays back in the 70s. It was both the most painful but memorable times of my life. The 70s is a present-progressive tense for me. Images of the 70s often pop up in my mind. The face of Olivia Hussey, songs of Chelsia Chan and John Denver, the smell of Kimchi I smelled on the bus, and Bruce Lee among others¡¦ In the film, songs from the 70s flow in the background. Music plays an important part in restoring the seventies. Personally, I think it was the seventies that, both in Korea and in other countries, were the most spiritual and free.

Q: Any promises you made to yourself making this film? A: Let's make it make sense...It's easy to make it stylish, but not so easy to make a film that makes sense.

Q: What "s the message that you intend to give to the audience through this movie? A: Our youth was fierce and harsh.

Q: Anything you want to say to your teenaged fans? A: Love your lives outside school. I doubt that the situation has changed much over the years. Today, teenagers enjoy a variety of things both in and out of school, but, sadly, uniformity is still forced on them. It's very important to find their identities and learn how to respect them. Play hard and experience everything. That's what you'll have left in years to come.