Park Chan-wook and ‘The Sympathizer’ Co-Creator Don McKellar Expelled From Writers Guild

Legendary Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook and his co-creator on the HBO Max series The Sympathizer have been expelled from the Hollywood writers’ union after allegedly working during the strike. 

The director of Oldboy, Snowpiercer and The Handmaiden was booted from the Writers Guild of America alongside Don McKellar after working on the 2024 series during the work stoppage, the union told members Friday.

Adapted from the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, the series from A24 and Rhombus Media follows a North Vietnamese double agent (played by Hoa Xuande) who continues passing along information after moving to Southern California before the fall of Saigon. Robert Downey Jr. was critically praised for playing multiple roles in the series.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to HBO and representatives for Park and McKellar for comment.

Park is the most high-profile figure yet to be identified by the union as a rule-breaker during its 148-day strike. In April, the union announced that seven writers had been disciplined, six for allegedly breaking the WGA’s strike rules in 2023 and one for constitutional violations. Four of those members appealed their rulings and were named at the time. The decisions were largely upheld in a subsequent member vote.

According to the union, Park and McKellar did not appeal their disciplines. 

The union additionally announced that it has suspended member Anthony Cipriano until May 1 and imposed a lifelong ban on his holding a non-elected union office for writing on The Last Breath f/k/a Untitled True Story Haunting—Thriller Project.

A Korean auteur who in 2022 won the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Decision to Leave, Park is currently preparing to debut his latest film, No Other Choice, at the Venice Film Festival.

In 2024, Downey Jr. was nominated for an Emmy acting prize for his role in The Sympathizer.