The battle over the final North American cut of SNOWPIERCER may be close to being over and while nothing has been set in stone yet, the word is that there is a chance we'll be able to see director Bong Joon-Ho's original cut as opposed to the Weinstein cut that has 20 mintes sliced out of it so American viewers can keep up.
As we previously reported, Bong and the Weinsteins have been going around and around regarding what version will be released to the States, and THR is now reporting that Bong may have made some headway in his argument for the original cut.
In an interview at the Mar De Plat Film Festival, he stated:
“I stayed in New York for two weeks before coming here to Mar del Plata, mostly because of this matter,” said the director. “And the good news is that after all the speculation and comments about that 20 minutes cut, and considering the original version that was released in Korea and France will also be released in Japan and Hong Kong, we now have been talking a lot about keeping the original cut for the U.S. release, so what I can say is … have faith.”
Although it hasn't been definitely confirmed yet, Bong's statement in Mar del Plata hints that his futuristic thriller with its A-list cast (Chris Evans and Oscar winners Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, John Hurt and Jamie Bell) is now closer to an untouched opening. Let's hope so! Perhaps the positive reception in foreign markets is helping to shape what will happen to the film in North America.