We’ve been following the sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer, an adaptation of the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother, Memories of Murder) for a little while now, and the international accolades continue to pile up for the director’s English language debut (throwing more and more doubt on The Weinstein Company’s decision to release an altered cut in the U.S.). Snowpiercer scored big at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards on November 18th, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Snowpiercer was produced by a local South Korean studio using an American/English cast and crew. Bong Joon-ho adapted the script along with Hollywood’s Kelly Masterson (Before The Devil Knows Your Dead). It has a lush cast of veteran actors, including Chris Evans (The Avengers, Captain America), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, Only Lovers Left Alive), Octavia Spencer (The Help, Fruitvale Station), Ed Harris (Pain & Gain, Appaloosa), Alison Pill (The Newsroom, To Rome With Love), and Jamie Bell (The Adventures of TinTin, Billy Elliot).
Set in a futuristic dystopian ice age, the movie tells the story of the last survivors of earth trapped together on a train going nowhere. The passengers are separated by class, and it doesn’t take long before the lower class passengers stage an uprising. The film has already garnered international success by selling to over 167 countries world-wide, including the aforementioned Weinstein Company in the U.S.
Produced by Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun, Park Tae-jun, Dooho Choi, Mathew Stillman, Robert Bernacchi and David Minkowski, Snowpiercer is waiting on a U.S. premiere date. What with the high-level of excitement building and sweeping the Korean Awards, fans are still hopeful for a 2013 release date, though as we’ve mentioned before, that idea has been all but nixed.
Watch the Snowpiercer trailer here: