Train to Busan Director Yeon Sang-ho Reveals How AI Inspired Colony’s Zombies | Interview
ComingSoon’s Tyler Treese spoke with renowned director Yeon Sang-ho about returning to zombie movies after the success of Train to Busan with Colony. The Korean director discussed the film’s themes, its creepy movement, and his recent productivity. Well Go USA will release the film in theaters on August 28, 2026.
“Horror master Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) directs a new Korean zombie thriller starring Gianna Jun and Koo Kyo-hwan. Professor Se-jeong (Ji-hyun) is thrust into a bloody nightmare when a rapidly mutating virus is released during a biotech conference causing authorities to seal the facility. Trapped inside with no escape, Se-jeong along with a small group of survivors must fight to stay alive while the infected undergo horrific transformations,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: We are all connected now via the internet, cell phones, and social media. The zombies are in a colony, as the title refers to, and we see them attack in such distinct ways. You also refer to ants throughout the film, as colonies very much exist in nature. Was it this blend of technology and nature that inspired the film, or what led to this unique spin on zombies?
Yeon Sang-ho: As our human society progresses, in my opinion, it resembles more and more the nature that we are seeing. I think that we can learn from nature to protect ourselves, to make ourselves better.
So in Colony, the zombies, the creatures, they think together. They are forming one entity. However, what I learned is that any creature living that way is very vulnerable to external threats because they lack diversity. So, as a result, they develop this tendency to mutate constantly to protect themselves.
In our own world, we think that through the high-speed information exchange that we are progressing, but on the other hand, that even worsens this tendency to think collectively. So I think we should learn from nature so that by protecting the minority groups, letting them bloom, express their individuality, I think that’s the lesson we can learn from nature to keep our human society healthy.
I love that you mentioned the mutating because the zombies rapidly change over the course of the film. What I thought was so interesting is that they don’t just evolve, they also devolve and they make mistakes and they get the wrong messages. How important was it to show that information can lead to negative changes in that whole group? That seems to be a key part of this text. What inspired you to design the zombies?
Yeon Sang-ho: I can say two elements inspired me in designing the zombies in Colony. The first one is these rampant AI programs. Now we are familiar with all this AI.
In the beginning, they had the uncanny valley. It looked bizarre. It didn’t really work. We knew that it was designed by AI programs. However, it’s rapidly developing. Now many people say that they cannot tell apart whether it’s created by AI or by humans. It’s mimicking humans at a breakneck speed. I wanted to show that also in Colony. These zombies make very weird, bizarre errors that humans wouldn’t make. It’s a similarity to AI programs.
The second element would be, we thought that our society would be much more transparent through very fast information. Things would be very clear to us. However, against our expectations, we have problems like fake news. We have to deal with them. This rapid information exchange is taking us back. It’s showing this regression.
These two were my ideas about designing these zombie characters in the movie.
I also love how the zombies move in this film. It’s very feral and very distinct. It’s one of the creepiest elements in the film. Did you get contortionists and other movement experts? How was it getting the people who played the zombies to move in such a disturbing manner?
Yeon Sang-ho: I wanted to emphasize this collectivistic inclination. So how are we going to do that? Then it came to me that we could hire contemporary dancers who specialize in more avant-garde styles of movement.
So I hired three separate teams of such dancers, and then I specifically asked them to create a movement that represents this collectivism, collective intelligence. But on the other hand, think about when you play a piano. Your ten fingers hit different keys to create all this harmonic music. So that was the suggestion I made.
You’ve been very active since 2020. You’ve directed six movies, you’ve written seven. You also have Paradise Lost out later this year as well. What has really led to this incredible output for you?
Since Train to Busan introduced itself 10 years ago, I’d say that the film industry has changed a lot. Not just in Korea, but worldwide and in Hollywood as well. Before, you could say most films were shown in theaters. However, now we have Netflix, streaming services, and OTT. For example, last year I made The Ugly, and I collaborated with the Japanese filmmakers on Human Vapor.
In other words, there are so many mediums these days for me to express my creativity, not just the traditional theater, the movie theater, or the commercial path, but also low-budget indie films and OTTs, and even collaborating with different countries’ filmmakers like Japan.
So I am adapting to these different markets, and I think this diversity is helping me to bring more and more creativity inside me.
Thanks to Yeon Sang-ho for taking the time to talk about Colony.
Source: Comingsoon.net