The next Bong Joon-ho movie your film geek friends won’t shut up about now has a sexy pair of companies ready to bring it into the world.
Netflix and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment are backing the Korean director’s upcoming offering Okja. The video streaming giant is providing $50 million in financing for the picture and Plan B is in the mix as a producer. Considering that Netflix shelled out $60 million for Pitt’s upcoming movie War Machine, it’s not all that nutty the two sides would work together on something else.
Okja, Bong’s follow-up to his much splooshed over sci-fi creation Snowpiercer, will feature Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, and Kelly MacDonald in the soon-to-be filled cast. According to Bong, the film will focus on the “warm friendship between a country girl and a brute with stories.” The first half of 2017 clocks in as Okja‘s projected release date and the movie (already in pre-production) begins shooting in April 2016.
As you might expect from someone that’s just been backed in the tens of millions, Bong gave a hearty endorsement to the alliance he’s formed.
It really is a fantastic opportunity for me as a filmmaker. For Okja, I needed a bigger budget than I had for Snowpiercer and also complete creative freedom. Netflix offered me the two conditions that are difficult to have in hand simultaneously.
Elsewhere in Bong Joon-ho news, Snowpiercer has been earmarked for a TV adaptation. Entertainment Weekly reports that the film’s rights have been optioned by Tomorrow Studios for a small screen version with Bong earning an executive producer spot. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles creator/writer Josh Friedman is attached to the project as well.
(via Variety)
