"It's an allegory on class warfare and Curtis leads a revolt," Evans explains.
"There's a lot of dirt and makeup and everything that happens in that environment takes place on a gimbal, rocking from side to side. Bong brought together some top creative people and living legends like Tilda Swinton and John Hurt, who had a willingness to collaborate and were inspiring with their broad transformations."
It might be set on a speeding train but Snowpiercer has taken some time getting to screens around the world, following an attempted derailment of the original version by Harvey "Scissorhands" Weinstein, who wanted to cut 15 minutes for the US release.
Ultimately the Koreans held fast and the film arrives fully intact. By the time it reached the Berlin Film Festival in February there was an understandable sense of relief for the film-makers as well as for audiences who queued around the block.
Bong says Weinstein wanted to snip some of the film's more bizarre touches.
"They weren't so crazy really about the quirky, grotesque stuff that I like. For instance, when Tilda Swinton takes out her dentures or when Chris Evans says, 'Babies taste best'. Basically they wanted little cuts here and there."
Originally, the director thought he would attempt Snowpiercer as a 12-part mini-series because there are so many layers to the story.
But with the backing of Park Chan-Wook, the director of Korean hit Old Boy turning producer on this project, Bong proceeded with what is the most most expensive Korean film ever (US$40 million). But he needed Western stars.
"I cast two Korean actors from The Host, Kang-ho Song and Ah-sung Ko, in 2009. Then I read Tilda was a big fan of The Host and I'm also a fan of hers, so she was the first English-language actor to be cast. I met John Hurt 2011 basically as a film fan and we spoke about his previous films. Ed Harris was the last to be cast. He's a living legend too. Just the idea of having him at the front of the train and John Hurt at the back- to have them bookend the train is exciting."
Hurt, who starred in the movie version of George Orwell's 1984 knows a thing about dystopian futures on screen, and was impressed by Bong's ability to plan everything so accurately.
"When Tilda and I had finished the film we said 'we don't want to work for anyone else', partly because he only shoots what he wants to see on screen. There is no, 'let's do a two-shot or a close-up'. He knows it's going to be a close-up and that's what he shoots. So it's constantly fresh."
Korean director Joon-ho Bong.
"It's borderline genius," concedes Evans. "It's like building a house and instead of needing a bag of nails, it is like saying, 'I need 53 nails'. You just completely commit to his vision and trust that he knows exactly what he is doing because he does."
Hurt, who is known to call a spade a spade, says Evans was more like a European actor on set. "There's no great ego or huge entourage. Chris just turns up on his own and gets on with it and mixes with everybody, which was greatly appreciated."
Park was impressed too. "Chris knew all of director Bong's films and really wanted to work with him. I hadn't see Captain America, though I'd seen The Avengers and liked it. But it was Puncture, a very small film that impressed us," he says of the 2011 movie where Evans played a drug-addicted lawyer. "We knew we were right from his very first day on the Snowpiercer shoot."
It's Swinton's buck-toothed despot, sporting large glasses and an exaggerated British accent, that is the film's scene-stealer.
She clearly based her character on Maggie Thatcher, a figure who loomed large in her early career when she was making provocative movies with Derek Jarman. He used prosthetics made by the same person who made them for Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.
"The character and the accent were entirely Tilda's ideas, but the dialogue came from the screenplay by director Bong and Kelly Masterson," notes Park.
They also decided that a reference for the action taking place in a closed-off, narrow space was Alien, while Mad Max 2 : The Road Warrior was an influence "in terms of its linear structure and action rushing forward".
So far the film has taken US$80 million at the box office (almost $60 million in South Korea and $11 million in China) is significantly different from the graphic novel in part to suit Korean audiences who like happy endings.
"It's better to have source material that leaves a potential to stimulate inspiration," notes Park.
"For the entire duration of Snowpiercer you are looking at people who are suffocating and downtrodden in this small space and there's a constant series of violent scenes on screen. So at least in the ending we wanted to see a much more open space in nature and to give the audience that small thread of hope."
What: Snowpiercer, directed by Joon-ho Bong, starring Chris Evans, Ed Harris, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt
When: July 30 and August 1
- TimeOut
