‘Save the Green Planet’: Emma Stone to Star Yorgos Lanthimos’ Remake!!

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone are gearing up to collaborate again. Lanthimos is set to direct a remake of the 2003 South Korean science fiction comedy Save the Green Planet, and Stone is in talks to star. Variety reports that Stone is likely to take a supporting role in the film, having previously turned in acclaimed star turns in The Favourite and Poor Things for the Greek director.

The English-language remake of the cult comedy hit has been in the works for some time; it was first reported in 2020, with Joon-hwan Jang, who helmed the original, set to direct. The dynamic art-house duo of Lanthimos and Stone are sure to get the remake a great deal of attention, after their two already-acclaimed projects – with another on the way. After The Favourite and Poor Things, the latter of which has Stone up for Best Actress at next month’s Academy Awards, Lanthimos and Stone‘s next collaboration is already in the can. The anthology film Kinds of Kindness, which also features Willem Dafoe, Hunter Schafer, and Jesse Plemons, is likely to hit theaters this year.

Save the Green Planet centers around a delusional man, Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun) and his circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jeong-min) who become convinced that aliens are about to attack the Earth. To save the Earth, they kidnap a pharmaceutical executive (Baek Yoon-sik) who they believe is an alien. It is eventually revealed that Byeong-gu’s delusions stem from his mother, who was poisoned in a drug test by the executive’s company. Captor and hostage engage in a battle of wits as the story takes a number of twists and turns, leading up to an Earth-shattering climax. Jang was inspired by the 1990 Rob Reiner film Misery, but wished to make a movie from the perspective of the kidnapper, instead. The film became a festival hit upon its 2003 release, and won Jang a Golden Bell award in South Korea for best new director.

Save the Green Planet‘s remake will be penned by Will Tracy, who wrote The Menu and several episodes of Succession, and is the showrunner for the upcoming Kate Winslet series The Regime. It will be produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe at Element Pictures, Ari Aster’s Square Peg, and CJ ENM.

Emma Stone is circling frequent collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos‘ remake of the South Korean black comedy Save the Green Planet; no release date has yet been set for the remake. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the trailer for the original 2003 version of Save the Green Planet below.