Why do people keep trying to adapt ‘Snowpiercer’? The latest doom and gloom is that Scott Derrickson, who previously directed ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ and ‘Sinister’, helmed the pilot for TNT’s upcoming series, but is refusing to return for reshoots. This follows the drama behind the scenes which doomed the theatrical release of the film of the same name.
As he shared on Twitter:
The 72-page Snowpiercer TV pilot script by @Josh_Friedman is the best I’ve ever read. The feature-length pilot I made from that script may be my best work.
The new show runner has a radically different vision for the show. I am forgoing my option to direct the extreme reshoots.
— Scott Derrickson (@scottderrickson) June 29, 2018
As Derrickson mentioned, Josh Friedman, the show’s original showrunner also penned the script for the pilot, but Friedman has since been replaced by Graeme Manson. Friedman’s departure was blamed on “creative differences,” but Friedman took to Twitter to challenge that.
I didn’t “exit” over creative differences. TNT insisted that I be removed from show running duties because they didn’t think I’d be compiant. Hopefully they found someone more to their liking.
— josh friedman (@Josh_Friedman) February 27, 2018
He followed that up with an attack on Manson, in which he called him an “Idiot” among other things.
You should buy that person a nice meal or a bottle of alcohol if they’re up for it. Your money was earmarked for them at one time. And more than likely, what may be a good job for you was a passion project for them.
— josh friedman (@Josh_Friedman) May 17, 2018
Put another way: if you were to take over a show I’d originated and worked on for two years and didn’t reach out to me before taking the job you’re either an idiot, a coward, or a vichy motherfucker.
— josh friedman (@Josh_Friedman) May 17, 2018
The TV series is based on the 2013 film by Bong Joon-Ho, which was itself based on the French graphic novel ‘Le Transperceneige’. Bong will serve as an executive producer. Friedman has also held the title of EP, but it’s unclear if that’s still the case.
The plot of the film and TV show follows the last humans left on Earth, who live in a perpetually in-motion super train, where the wealthy live in luxury at the front, while the poor toil in squalor in the back. The film starred Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Ko Asung, John Hurt and Ed Harris. Despite critical acclaim, distributors The Weinstein Company demanded edits and a voice-over, among other changes, to make the movie more palatable for (dumb) Americans. The Weinstein Company also distributed the film in Great Britain and Canada, but with all the turmoil, the film flopped when it was finally released in theaters.
The TV show has cast Tony Award-winner Daveed Diggs in the lead role, with Academy Award-winner Jennifer Connolly as what appears to be the show’s main antagonist.
Can TNT and Manson correct the course of this out-of-control freight train? Should they?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
