Perhaps Bong Joon-ho‘s intriguing post-apocalyptic Snowpiercer will reach English speaking shores relatively intact?
Snowpiercer has captured the attention of many a sci-fi fan with its unusual combination of fabulous cast and bonkers concept. In the lives of folks who appreciate strange and original sci-fi concepts, a movie about the remnants of post apocalyptic humanity living on a single train traveling in perpetual motion around the world for years does not usually draw the likes of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, John Hurt, and Octavia Spencer.
But Snowpiercer is also a foreign made film, crafted by famed Korean director Bong Joon-ho, and that means it’s being distributed to English speaking audiences by the Weinstein Company, notorious for making significant cuts to movies to “prepare” them for new markets. It was even reported that as much as twenty minutes of Snowpiercer‘s 126 minute runtime would be cut, so that the film “will be understood by audiences in Iowa… and Oklahoma.”
But according to Xin MSN, we may have less to worry about. According to them, Bong is actually working on the American edit of Snowpiercer himself, and according to Bong, “Weinstein is actually being pretty soft toward editing, probably because it’s noticed how critics have praised the film and know how angry movie fans get over new edits. They even asked me which parts I want to include in the film.”
I hope they would do more than ask, but Bong does not seem to be worried. Perhaps, like another foreign director before him, he sent Weinstein a culturally appropriate, expensive, and yet vaguely threatening gift to ensure that his movie would reach US shores intact.
(Xin MSN via Flavorwire.)
