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Paul Fischer is an author and film producer based in the United Kingdom. His first book, A Kim Jong-Il Production has been translated to date into twelve languages. It was nominated for the Crime Writers' Association's Nonfiction Book Award. It was chosen as an Amazon Best of the Year Nonfiction Selection, one of Library Journal's Top Ten Books of the Year, and one of NPR's Best Books of The Year. It was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for History & Biography. Paul has also written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Independent, amongst others. In addition to writing, he works as a film producer and is an alumni of the Guiding Lights mentorship program. His first feature screenplay, The Body, based on a short film of his conception, was produced by Blumhouse and Hulu in 2018, starring Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair), Rebecca Rittenhouse (The Mindy Project), Aurora Perrineau (Truth or Dare), David Hull (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and Ray Santiago (Ash vs. Evil Dead).
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How did the almost unbelievable story of Shin and Choi's abduction first come to your attention?
I'd read about the bare bones of the story - "Kim Jong-Il is such a film nerd he once kidnapped his favorite filmmaker" - here and there, and always thought it would be a good concept for a play: dictator has hugely successful filmmaker brought to him, they both debate power and creation and so on. When I finally looked into it in more detail I found there was so much more to the story.
Why did Kim Jong-Il coordinate their kidnapping?
It was warped but simple logic: A) Our filmmakers aren't good enough, B) We can't send them abroad and no one will come here voluntarily, so C) I must force someone who's good enough to come here.
What sort of research were you able to do? Did you go to North Korea?
I did, for a week or so, and to all the places the story takes place. I stayed in Shin and Choi's hotel room in Vienna and went to the studio they worked in for Kim. I tracked down their North Korean and South Korean films and read everything I could find – in English, Japanese, Korean – and interviewed any defectors who had any information.
Did Shin and Choi's time filmmaking there ...
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