Friday, June 17, 2016

Bong Joon-Ho's Netflix Creature Feature 'Okja' Digs Up New Plot And Character Details



South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho is the mastermind behind one of the greatest modern creature features, The Host. So when we heard he’s returning to monster movie territory with the upcoming Okja, we were understandably stoked. Then he put together an incredible international cast along the same lines as Snowpiercer, and we started drooling. Now some new details have slithered out, and we may or may not have started dancing around the office with glee.


At this point, we know Okja stars Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Byun Hee-bong, Devon Bostick, Lily Collins, Choi Woo-shik, Yoon Je-moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, and Steven Yeun. Giancarlo Esposito also just joined up, and other names have been bandied about. The plot, as we understand it, revolves around a young girl, Mija, who fights to prevent a multinational corporation from kidnapping her best friend. That’s sound thriller territory, but according to THR, the best friend is none other than a giant, genetically altered pig. And it is the pig that is named Okja. (I can’t help but think of Tony Jaa running around in Tom Yum Goong yelling, “Where’s my elephant.”)

But that’s not all. Tilda Swinton will once again play twins, which she did earlier this year in the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar! She plays the head of the corporation that wants Okja for their own nefarious aims, as well as this executive’s sister. Giancarlo Esposito serves as her right-hand man, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a zoologist, and Paul Dano is an animal rights activist.


Like Bong Joon-ho’s last film, Snowpiercer, Okja will be in multiple languages—primarily English and Korean—and it is currently filming now. Netflix picked it up a while back, and Okja will hit the streaming service, as well as get a limited theatrical run, in 2017.

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