The Pizza Box Folding Video in 'Parasite' Was Shot in Ottawa

BY Josiah HughesPublished Feb 11, 2020

Parasite broke records as the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. We're guessing it's also the first Oscar-winning film to feature a viral video of a girl folding pizza boxes in Ottawa. 

Bong Joon-ho's masterpiece includes a scene where the Kim family attempts to make ends meet by folding pizza boxes for a local restaurant. In an attempt to work faster, son Ki-woo shows his family a video of a young woman folding boxes at a breakneck pace.

It turns out that young woman is Breanna Grey, a former employee of the Ottawa-area chain Gabriel Pizza. She went viral for her video entitled "Pro Pizzaboxer - Super fast pizza box making." The clip was filmed at the Richmond Road location of Gabriel when she was just 19, in 2009. In 2015, she decided to upload the video to see if it would go viral, and it did.

"I was very surprised because I didn't think much of it, I was just doing my job," Grey told the Ottawa Sun in 2015. She estimated that she would fold around 300 boxes for every shift she worked.

Of course, going viral on YouTube is a little different than playing an integral role in the opening scene of a timeless piece of cinema.

Watch Gabriel's cameo in the first 10 minutes of Parasite below, where you can also view her initial viral vid.



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