South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho is arguably one of the greatest working filmmakers in the world. With his stunning debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite, he showed both a twisted sense of humor and a creative style of filmmaking. Fortunately, his spark was not burnt out after, with his following features all being both unique from each other, and masterpieces in their own right. Anyone unfamiliar with his work owes it to themselves to go check him out, and find themselves in for a real treat.
It has now been almost 2 years since 2010’s mystery thriller Mother, and Bong has remained relatively quiet since. Aside from the news he will be directing a 3-minute segment of the Japan Earthquake feature, there has been little to no news of his plans to make a new feature film. However, fans of the director will be ecstatic to hear that he is finally getting to work down on a movie again. The project is possibly his most ambitious yet, an adaptation of the French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, with the film set to be titled Snow Piercer. It also sees him reuniting with prolific South Korean actor Song Kang-Ho, who starred in his Memories of Murder and The Host. Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy) will produce.
The post-apocalyptic story centers on a “a group of people on a train without a final destination, struggling to survive after the end of the world brings on a cataclysmic ice age.” The train, which could in some ways be seen as the protagonist of this unique story, is going to be built specifically for the film. The film has a budget of $35 million and will also be the first film of Bong‘s to feature English speaking actors, in what is said to be a large ensemble cast. The highly intriguing synopsis, coupled with the fact it’s going to be handled by this considerably talented man, has set my anticipation skyrocketing, I have the feeling this could be something very special.
Shooting begins in Prague next March.
Have you seen Bong Joon-Ho’s earlier films? Are you looking forward to his next feature?
[KoreanCinema via ThePlaylist]