You may not know who filmmaker Bong Joon-ho is, but clearly, the world of discerning A-list actors do. And perhaps that milieu have rather discerning taste as well. The South Korean auteur, known for thrilling international works like "The Host" and the police procedural "Memories of Murder" (which many of us feel is superior to "Zodiac"), is mounting his first English-language feature, and so far a little guy named Chris Evans is pegged to lead the picture.
Two more actors – both from across the pond – are in talks to join Bong's sci-fi genre film "Snow Piercer": Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell. Swinton is coming off her astounding turn in "We Need To Talk About Kevin," while Bell has recently finished promoting his motion-capture effort, "The Adventures of Tintin."
Set in a post-apocalyptic winter world, "Snow Piercer" takes place on board a train full of survivors, divided by class and battling to stay alive, and is based on the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige," created by author Jacques Lob. No word on who Swinton or Bell would play, but presumably, like Evans, they're all passengers on this train. It'll be interesting to see how this single-setting film plays, especially considering we just had a train-centric genre picture in "Source Code" last year.
Bong Joon-ho has also directed rather excellent works like the amazing 2009 thriller "Mother," the segment "Shaking Tokyo" in the omnibus picture "Tokyo!" and his debut, "Barking Dogs Never Bite." There's a reason top-shelf English and American talent want to work with him: he's vastly talented and his films are strikingly original, mixing dark comedy with grizzly murders, pointed investigations and or in the case of "The Host," revitalizing the monster movie. Production is expected to begin in March, so perhaps Cannes 2013 if we're lucky?
It's good to know Evans and Bell are closeted cinephiles (Swinton obviously is, natch). If you've never seen these aforementioned films, run, don't walk to your newest Netflix queue. [Variety]