Snowpiercer (Tsarwick film)

Snowpiercer is an unproduced American post-apocalyptic science fiction film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. It was in development in the early 2010s and was set to be produced by Tsarwick Pictures in association with Warner Bros. Entertainment. The film was intended to be the first installment of a series of films with Samantha Nash-Blythewood directing from a screenplay she co-wrote with Mark Jolst, Christopher Wenton, and the writing team of Frank Durant-Nelson, Mario Hamada, and Andrey Kubliv.

Development for a film began as an independently funded project in the 2000s but did not leave the planning stage until Broadchurch Pictures acquired the rights in mid-2006. After Broadchurch put the project in turnaround, Tsarwick Pictures acquired it in 2008. Most of the cast signed on by August 2012, and principal filming took place between July and August 2014 in Poland and Canada with the use of CGI for the train's exterior shots and interior scenes being filmed on a sound stage in Hollywood.

The film had been in development hell since then, with Murray Wyatt, Clarence Arlington, and Samantha Nash-Blythewood attached as director to the film. Following the 2013 premiere of the South Korean adaptation, Tsarwick delayed the film release by several years, taking several years to redevelop various aspects of the film, such as modifying the screenplay to be suitable to a PG-13 audience, which meant the film's release date also got pushed back numerous times. Snowpiercer was scheduled for release on April 19, 2018, but Warner Bros. officially cancelled it in May 2019.

Plot Outline
Far in the future of Earth, most humans have been wiped out. The Earth is now in a fourth snowball event, the only people left on the planet mostly taking to one of six self-sustaining circumnavigational trains. The passengers on this train are segregated, with the wealthy in the extravagant front cars and the poor residing in cramped freight cars attached to the tail end who are watched by guards.

The central idea to the story was that the train -- dubbed the Snowpiercer -- would have been portrayed as a massive diesel fueled train that was originally built with 1201 train cars, having been reduced to just 1001 by the time of the film's events. Additionally, there would have been huge populations confined to large cities within enormous greenhouses that were built in the lands that were formerly Central India, the Midwestern United States, South America, Mongolia, and China. These populations wouldn't originally be known, but they would eventually be found. These settlements have since grown into substantial urban areas despite being originally worker communities with facilities for railway maintenance staff as well as livestock and agricultural fields to provide food for the Snowpiercer and other trains.

The story would have also centered on two passengers, Louis (Proloff) Johnson and Abigail "Dorothy" Belle (Adeline Belleau), the latter passenger being from second class who is trying to integrate the tail riders into the train's society. Louis would've also served as the main protagonist of the film and would've documented particular events from a notebook. Meanwhile another passenger, Reggie (Reginald) of First class is stricken with disease and is placed under quarantine with another passenger, Michael from third class. Later on, Louis and a cured Michael are eventually called to meet Colonel Crimson, passing through several different cars of the train. As they advance, Louis and Michael observe fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat, luxuries which they believed extinct.

Meanwhile, a revolutionary named Markus Tess lead the tail passengers to mutiny with the guards into joining third class after they realize they have no weapons and only just tools. Despite the fact that the majority of protests in the tail end of the train were peaceful, some particular demonstrations in the train (such as this particular one) would drastically escalate into riots, looting, and even skirmishes with the train conductors. Meanwhile, Reggie breaks free from his restraints in an attempt to restore order at the tail end. He ends up getting killed from a rioting passenger snapping his neck.

During the battle, the train goes into a tunnel, causing total darkness. Since the majority of the train crew lacked weapons, some of them reacted to the demonstrations violently, often using objects that weren't meant to be used as weapons, like craft and box cutter knives, and other objects, even attacking their peers and the train's operating crew. As a result, any tail end cars that had weapons would be uncoupled and stranded, leaving the occupants to freeze to death. This would serve as an explanation as to how the train lost 200 cars over the course of several decades. Many turn on flashlights and try to attack the guards using switchblades and craft knives stolen from them. The protestors eventually back off while Tess takes Roger, Mike, Sullivan, Carlos, and William toward the front of the train.

They soon enter a boxcar-converted-garden with crudely fashioned lighting and glass to allow natural sunlight for the plants to grow. In the car, William and Mike reveal that in the early days of the train, 60 years before, the tail section had been given food smuggled from the train and that this garden was created to sustain the "tailers" and prevent anyone who usually stayed there from stealing food from up front of the train. Carlos overhears this, and he challenges the idea that there is a livestock car attached to the train. However, Mike responds by saying that they obtain dairy, meat, and eggs from the outside of the train to which Carlos disregards and doesn't believe because of the chilly winter weather. In addition to Williams' assertion, Mike goes on to say that the opposite situation also occurred over time, in which some chefs from the kitchen cars started to hoard this "garden car" for ingredients in recent years. Having calmed down, an intrigued Carlos expresses his longing to face the creator of the "garden" as to why he or she created this closed ecosystem.

Development
As early as 1992, American independent director Joseph Davis had intentions to create a series of feature films based on his obsession with trains, each of which would be focused on a different film genre. After completing his fourth year of college in 1995, he began production on a documentary in 1996 that was primarily about the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad and the Sierra Railway, two heritage railroads in California, USA. The project originated from a research paper published by Davis in college that focused on rail infrastructure and the history of trains in general when he was given the opportunity to choose his own topic for an extra credit assignment.

In the winter of 1998, Davis flew to France for a vacation when he was presented a translated version of Jean-Marc Rochette's French graphic novel series Le Transperceneige by independent filmmaker and novelist Pierre Laurent. He was fascinated by the idea that, despite not being the most viable option, people had the capacity to build an intercontinental railroad and a train to run on it as a way to evade the constant year round winters. He was also interested with the general idea that such a train is able to keep going in such winters without major maintenance, yet he was especially intrigued by how each section of the train was divided into social classes. Later, in 2002, Pierre Laurent mailed him the entire anthology that he had manually translated into English, complete with original illustrations by Marie Blanchet. Although Davis admired this version of the graphic novel over the original French story, he nonetheless wanted to make a movie based on the latter that stuck close to the source material but differed just enough to make it suitable for both adults and teenagers. Davis preferred this approach rather than carrying over the adult material from the original Snowpiercer novel as he felt it might turn teenagers away from watching the film.

In 2006, Broadchurch Pictures, a production company ran by one of Davis' friends, acquired the copyrights to the original story of Snowpiercer for Davis, and also leased the copyrights to the story that year to South Korean studio Moho Film. The first draft of the screenplay for Broadchurch's version of Snowpiercer was completed on 20 November 2007, and in February 2008, the second draft of screenplay was completed and modified. On 4 October 2008, Broadchurch put the film in turnaround where it was acquired by Tsarwick Pictures. Meanwhile, Davis, whilst at the Vancouver International Film Festival, had initially entertained the idea of shooting the film in Canada. Later the production team collaborated with Warner Bros. to film the interior shots in the train. There was also a temporary studio complex built outside of Los Angeles that consisted of four soundstages that themselves contained between four and six cars. These "cars" were semi-trailers that had been modified and redecorated with the walls of each car being removeable so that cameras could get inside the train.

In May 2010, it was reported that Paul Rudd was in talks for a lead role as Louis, the protagonist of the film; however, this was later denied by Paramount. A day later, it was announced that Tom Hanks was cast. In June, Amber Heard was cast as Abigail Belle, with J.K. Simmons cast to play Markus Tess, a minor character who inadvertently kills a first-class passenger by inciting a riot at the back of the train to get his supporters to third-class early in the film.

During that year, Samantha Nash-Blythewood was attached to the project as director. She renewed interest in the project, and Warner Bros. became the main financial backer and studio for the film.

Cancellation
Particularly during the time when Broadchurch Pictures was contracted to produce the film, a sizable sum of money had not been added to the project's expenses or earnings. Correcting the calculations revealed that it was no longer financially feasible so attempts were made to reduce the price of Snowpiercer by omitting crucial scenes and completely remaking the film. These ultimately failed and Warner Bros. decided to completely halt production, especially as the title of the would be misunderstood with that of the South Korean version.