It's nearly been two years since the release of his murder-mystery "Mother" and news of his planned adaptation of French post-apocalyptic graphic novel "Le Transperceneige" but we now finally have a solid update about South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho's next project.
KoreanCinemaToday reports that "Snow Piercer," his adaptation of the aforementioned graphic novel, is already in pre-production with lensing set to begin next March in Prague with a budget of about $35 million for the Korean, U.S. and French co-production. Not only that, Bong adds that the film will also reunite him with his "The Host" and "Memories Of Murder" star Song Kang-ho — an easily recognisable face who's also worked with South Korean compatriots Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong and Kim Ji-woon — in a role described as "a very attractive character like Han Solo."
The French graphic novel follows 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. Bong certainly has great aspirations for the project noting that he's "working with the mindset that there will be no more train films" after his. A train that's 80-90 metres in length is reportedly being specifically built for lensing for what's being described as a film which is "mostly about what happens on the train [with] the plot said to be brimming with non-stop action moving forward in the train."
No word on what other talent Bong has installed for the project though actor Song's role is noted not to be a lead role with "a great number" of other (presumably leading) thespians in the film to be English speakers. The project also has Park Chan-wook on board as a producer.
Bong, meanwhile, also has a short film he's making as part of a Japanese Earthquake omnibus and has talked up following "Snow Piercer" with a horror film, which may or may not be the project he's reportedly teaming with J.J. Abrams for.
