'Parasite' 's South Korean Cast Gets 2-Minute Standing Ovation from Hollywood's A-List at SAG Awards

The Bong Joon Ho-directed film was nominated Sunday night for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture

Kang-ho Song, So-dam Park, Woo-sik Choi, Jeong-eun Lee, and Sun-kyun Lee speak onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty

The cast of Parasite received a lot of love at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night.

When Kang-ho Song, So-dam Park, Woo-sik Choi, Jeong-eun Lee and Sun-kyun Lee took the stage to introduce their movie — which was nominated for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture — they were welcomed with a two-minute long standing ovation from their fellow actors in the audience.

Directed by Bong Joon Ho, the psychological thriller was already a blockbuster hit in South Korea before it became one of the most talked-about films of 2019 in the United States — former President Barack Obama even put the film on his annual favorite movies and TV shows list last year.

Earlier this month, Bong became the first Korean director to ever win a Golden Globe, and Parasite was the first South Korean film to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

“Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,” Bong said from the stage at the Golden Globes to accept the award. “Just being nominated along with fellow amazing international filmmakers was a huge honor. I think we use only one language: the cinema.”

SAG Awards
Sterling K. Brown applauding Parasite. TNT
SAG Awards
Applause for Parasite. TNT

And while Parasite received Oscar nominations in six categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Foreign Language Film, no one from the cast was nominated.

“Compared to Japanese or Hong Kong film, the history of Korean cinema is relatively lesser known to American and European audiences,” Bong told NPR in December. “I hope, due to the opportunities that have arisen from Parasite, people will realize that Korean cinema has also had a lot of masters.”

The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are airing live Sunday starting at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and TBS.

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