Coming off the critical success of Poor Things, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has found his next directorial project. According to Variety, Lanthimos has signed on to helm the English remake of Save the Green Planet, based on the South Korean dark comedy about a disillusioned young man who kidnaps and tortures a businessman, who he believes to be an alien disguised as a human.
For his work on Poor Things, The Greek filmmaker earned two nominations for Best Director and Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards. Before moving on to the Save the Green Planet movie, Lanthimos is currently working on an anthology movie titled Kinds of Kindness, which will once again star Oscar winner Emma Stone. This project is now in post-production.
Who’s involved in the Save the Green Planet remake?
Save the Green Planet remake has been in development since 2020, with Midsommar director Ari Aster attached as a producer. Lanthimos will be directing the project from a screenplay written by Will Tracy. The film will be produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe for Element Pictures. It is a production by CJ ENM, the company behind Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.
Save the Green Planet! was written and directed by Jang Joo-hwan. It was led by acclaimed South Korean actor Shin Ha-kyun (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance). Since its theatrical release in 2003, the original has received positive reviews and numerous recognition from South Korea’s award-giving bodies, including the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Busan Film Critics Awards. The film also had international premieres at Cannes, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Brussels festivals.
The original follows the story of a man named Byeong-gu, who believes that he’s the only one who could save the world from an impending alien invasion from the planet Andromeda. With the help of his circus-performing girlfriend, Sooni, he kidnaps a powerful business executive named Man-sik, who Byeong-gu believes is an alien disguised as a human. He proceeds to torture him in order to make Man-sik confess his true nature and contact the Andromedan prince to stop their attack. A battle of wits and wills ensues, with Man-sik trying to convince Byeong-gu and Sooni that they are mistaken.
