“Fargo.” “Minority Report.” “Limitless.” “Scream.” “Ash vs. Evil Dead.” The list of movies that are now TV shows is getting longer. Here”s the movie you can add to that list today: “Snowpiercer.” The dystopian film is getting the small screen treatment, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed.
This brings “Snowpiercer” further around the world just like its eponymous train. The story started as a French graphic novel called “Le Transperceneige” published in 1982. The movie was produced by South Korean company CJ Entertainment and directed by Bong Joon-Ho (his first English-language film). It was released in South Korea in summer 2013 and in the U.S. in June 2014. Now the TV series is being developed by American company Tomorrow Studios, which also produces NBC”s “Aquarius.”
Set to pen the script for the project is Josh Friedman, writer of the Steven Spielberg “War of the Worlds” film and “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” He does seem in tune with what made “Snowpiercer” compelling. Here”s what he told THR: “It”s great the way the best sci-fi is great – thoughtful, political, funny, scary and sly. And it”s on a train. A big f-ing train. What more could you want?”
If the show”s developers are going to justify pouring their time and resources into a “Snowpiercer” show instead of into an original story, it better be a damn good adaptation. How is a TV show going to beat the big screen cast of John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Chris Evans, Song Kang-Ho and Ed Harris? It was a brutal, gritty and dark film but uniquely so. The horrifying revelations about this dystopian world and the bloody deaths in that movie kept coming but you never got numb to them – each one was individually shocking and effective. I can”t imagine translating that to a broadcast network, so let”s hope, if this “Snowpiercer” series must come to pass, that it finds a cable or online home and some creative, talented stunt coordinators and writers.
Meanwhile, Bong Joon-Ho, the director of “Snowpiercer,” is directing a monster movie for Netflix, announced yesterday. HitFix”s Drew McWeeny has declared that project a game-changer for Netflix. You can read more about that here.