It was six years ago that Joe Cornish broke out with “Attack The Block,” and the wait has been far too long for something new from the filmmaker. Thankfully, he’s currently filming his next feature, “The Kid Who Would Be King,” which features among others Rebecca Ferguson and Patrick Stewart but to be honest, there’s something else we would’ve preferred going in front of cameras: “Snow Crash.” Cornish signed up to bring Neal Stephenson‘s cyberpunk novel to the big screen hot on the heels of “Attack The Block,” but things stalled out. However, the project is being slightly reconfigured.
Moving from the director’s chair to an executive producer role, “Snow Crash” is now being developed into a sci-fi series at Amazon. The ambitious source material spins a tale dealing with virtual realities, the dark web, and global conspiracy, and envisions a highly commodified futuristic society. The story itself revolves around Hiro Protagonist (yes, meta) who delivers pizza by day and lurks in the Metaverse by night. He eventually crosses paths with Y.T., a young skateboard courier and together they get digitally entangled.
A series might end up being a right fit for “Snow Crash,” and its many narrative layers. It’ll also allow Cornish and co. to be more faithful to Stephenson’s work, having arguably more freedom than they would if this was being turned into a major studio movie. At any rate, it’s good to know the project is still alive and here’s hoping we see it sooner rather than later. [Deadline]