Midsommar and Parasite were two of the biggest movies of 2019, and now, the producers behind both films are teaming up for an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s cult 2003 sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet! Deadline reports that Midsommar director Ari Aster and his producing partner Lars Knudsen will produce through their company Square Peg, with Parasite producer CJ Group financing and producing the film as well.
According to Deadline, Jang will reprise his role as director, while Succession‘s Will Tracy will be adapting the screenplay. Executive producers include Miky Lee, Vice Chariwoman of CJ Group, and CJ Entertainment’s Young-ki Cho and Jerry Ko, the outlet reports, while Aster, Knudsen will produce alongside Francis Chung, CJ Group’s Head of U.S. Productions.
A statement from Aster and Knudsen indicates that Jang was “passionate about revisiting” his film, “bringing it to the US and updating it to reflect the mess of the world today.”
“Swinging with youthful abandon between white-knuckle suspense, absurd slapstick, grim horror and a deeply felt (and earned) sense of tragedy, Save The Green Planet! is one of the most remarkable films to come out of South Korea – among this recent wave or any wave, for that matter,” they said, according to Deadline.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis, from Rotten Tomatoes:
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The genre-bending black comedy sci-fi thriller Save the Green Planet! marks the feature debut of writer/director Jang Jun-hwan. Shin Ha-kyun of Joint Security Area stars as Byun-gu, an eccentric beekeeper who, with the help of his tightrope walker girlfriend, Sooni (Hwang Jeong-min), kidnaps a powerful and successful businessman, Man-sik (Baek Yun-shik). Byun-gu believes that Man-sik is an alien from the planet Andromeda, one of many hiding among us and plotting to destroy the Earth in a few days. Amphetamine-popping Byun-gu sees himself as the planet’s last hope, and sets about torturing Man-sik with relish, trying to convince him to contact the “Royal Prince” and call off Armageddon. A battle of wits and wills ensues, with Man-sik trying to convince his captors that he’s human and attempting to escape. Man-sik recognizes Byun-gu as a disgruntled former employee whose comatose mother suffers from a mysterious illness. It begins to seem that Byun-gu’s true motivation may be personal, but he’s still ruthlessly determined to get Man-sik to confess and cooperate, even if he has to risk killing him. Meanwhile, a disheveled detective, Chu (Lee Jae-yong), and his young acolyte, Inspector Kim (Lee Ju-hyeon), discover that the person who kidnapped Man-sik may have struck several times before, always with deadly results.
