Alain Delon influences Asian actors and directors, including Hong Kong directors John Woo (The Killer) and Johnnie To (Fulltime Killer, Vengeance,... ). These filmmakers admire Alain Delon when he plays gangsters in Melville’s films ( The Red Circle, The Samurai, ...).
Johnnie To wanted to work with Alain Delon. He offered her the lead role of Vengeance, that of Francis Costello in 1967, as an allusion to Jeff Costello in Le Samouraï, which was played by Alain Delon. After Alain Delon refused, Johnny Hallyday is chosen by Johnnie To. Vengeance makes its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2009. It is screened at the Festival International des Cinémas d'Asie in Vesoul as part of a retrospective devoted to Asian films.
In the comedy You Shoot, I Shoot by director Hong Kongais Pang Ho-Cheung, actor Eric Kot plays a hired gun who identifies himself as Jef Costello. He dresses like him and talks to him through a poster of the French film that he has posted in his apartment.
In Korea, the influence of Alain Delon is reflected in the Korean director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life). Lee Byung-hun, the male lead in the film is inspired by the acting role of Delon. In this film the gangster is called "Jeff", a nod to Jeff Costello, the lone killer betrayed by Jean-Pierre Melville’s Samurai.
South Korean actor Jung Woo Sung is also inspired by the performance of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï for his role as a criminal in Cold Eyes, directed by Cho Ui-Seok and Kim Byeong-seo.
In Central Asia, the influence of Alain Delon is felt, especially in Kazakhstan where the director Adhilkan Yerzhanov in Yellow Cat presents a solitary character, wandering through the Kazakh countryside, dressed in the trench coat and fèdora of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï. By imitating Alain Delon, he hopes to have the same talent and eventually believes that he has become the French actor.
These are a few examples chosen from many others showing the extraordinary fascination that actors and directors of Asia have for Alain Delon, more than an icon, a myth. The French actor’s aura in Asia encourages him to sell his image through a brand of cigarettes bearing his name in Cambodia, a eau de toilette in Japan and, more generally, to the luxury industry in the vast continent of Asia.
Alain Delon’s influence goes far beyond the cinema in Asia and well beyond the hundreds of millions of Asian spectators who are fans of the actor with his prodigious career of almost a hundred films.
Pax Aeterna.
Text written by Jean-Marc Thérouanne, General Delegate and co-founder of the International Festival of Asian Cinemas in Vesoul on 19 August 2024, following the death of Alain Delon on 18 August 2024.
Johnnie To wanted to work with Alain Delon. He offered her the lead role of Vengeance, that of Francis Costello in 1967, as an allusion to Jeff Costello in Le Samouraï, which was played by Alain Delon. After Alain Delon refused, Johnny Hallyday is chosen by Johnnie To. Vengeance makes its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2009. It is screened at the Festival International des Cinémas d'Asie in Vesoul as part of a retrospective devoted to Asian films.
In the comedy You Shoot, I Shoot by director Hong Kongais Pang Ho-Cheung, actor Eric Kot plays a hired gun who identifies himself as Jef Costello. He dresses like him and talks to him through a poster of the French film that he has posted in his apartment.
In Korea, the influence of Alain Delon is reflected in the Korean director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life). Lee Byung-hun, the male lead in the film is inspired by the acting role of Delon. In this film the gangster is called "Jeff", a nod to Jeff Costello, the lone killer betrayed by Jean-Pierre Melville’s Samurai.
South Korean actor Jung Woo Sung is also inspired by the performance of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï for his role as a criminal in Cold Eyes, directed by Cho Ui-Seok and Kim Byeong-seo.
In Central Asia, the influence of Alain Delon is felt, especially in Kazakhstan where the director Adhilkan Yerzhanov in Yellow Cat presents a solitary character, wandering through the Kazakh countryside, dressed in the trench coat and fèdora of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï. By imitating Alain Delon, he hopes to have the same talent and eventually believes that he has become the French actor.
These are a few examples chosen from many others showing the extraordinary fascination that actors and directors of Asia have for Alain Delon, more than an icon, a myth. The French actor’s aura in Asia encourages him to sell his image through a brand of cigarettes bearing his name in Cambodia, a eau de toilette in Japan and, more generally, to the luxury industry in the vast continent of Asia.
Alain Delon’s influence goes far beyond the cinema in Asia and well beyond the hundreds of millions of Asian spectators who are fans of the actor with his prodigious career of almost a hundred films.
Pax Aeterna.
Text written by Jean-Marc Thérouanne, General Delegate and co-founder of the International Festival of Asian Cinemas in Vesoul on 19 August 2024, following the death of Alain Delon on 18 August 2024.
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