Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Writer Peter Craig Interviewed

The interview sounRAB sincere to me, not some "It's gonna be great!" PR feed to try and pacify existing fans. I get the feeling that at this stage the general production knows and respects the source material to want to see it done right. As others have said, Bebop is probably the best anime you could try and adapt for live action.

As for Keanu- I get the feeling the logic here is the movie will be focussing on the central plot of Spike being a shell of a man on the run with a bitter past. I think Keanu could carry that role just fine. I think anyone expecting fillers like Mushroom Saraba to be adapted is missing the point.
 
Everyone forgets that the Cowboy Bebop episodes that had the most relevance to the overarching plotline were the ones where Spike was the most beaten-down and showed the least amount of personality. For obvious reasons they are probably going to adapt the episodes that relate to the Sid Vicious plotline and not the stand-alone episodes. The possible exceptions are Faye trying to figure out her past and "Pierrot La Fou".

20th CenturyFox are probably not going to let this go the way of Dragonball and in any case if Fox tries to do that Sunrise will kick their asses. This will at the very least be okay.

Keanu Reeves is not a great actor but he does look the part and he is good at playing worn-down characters. He could pull off Spike as long as he isn't asked to try to inject a ton of personality into Spike.
 
I expect the live action movie to focus on the Spike and Vicious story. Other character will take a back seat since thats enough of a story to fill a 1:30+ movie.
 
Rough pacing expectations:

Open on a flasrabroadack with has Spike's days of being allied with Vicious, basically the job that went wrong and changed everything. Then cut to the present where Spike and Jet are now allies. Faye would be some kind of femme fatale mixed up in things who offers to help them in return for money/freedom/vengance. Ed and Ein would be relavent via some plot point that calls for hacking. The finale would be Spike storming Vicious' fortress and possibly dieing to save Julia.
 
Personally, I think Bebop would work best as a single film. It's different for a TV show but Spike's story is ultimately simple and direct. Telling it in a single focussed film will make it stronger.
 
I would completely agree, with a good enough script that should be the most sensible way to approach the subject matter and leave it at that. But it's still up in the air whether the powers that be really want to make a single powerful film and not just one more adventure in a parallel Cowboy Bebop universe, to see how it goes without ruling out a potential sequel.
 
I'd rather it not be Spike-centric. I'd like to see more back stories on Fay and Jet too, that way other people can enjoy the full story with just the movie. I know several people that haven't seen Cowboy Bebop, but would go watch the movie (most just because of Keanu Reeves).
 
If it's gonna be more than movie, the smart thing to do would be to break it up episodically. Do a focu piece for the main trio and end with "Ballad". There can be subtle references to the other characters ongoing plots but it remains very much character driven. Repeat for the sequel only end it at "Real Folk Blues."
 
Based on what? How is Sunrise going to kick their asses? How can they take on Fox? I don't see Shonen and Toriyama kicking their asses over Dragonball.



No he can't. Looking the part is not enough.
 
well for one thing...it isn't sunrise kicking fox's respect butt
its bandai...and if you mess with bandai and improperly adapt the movie, they will sue...and to further echo on gwotaku's point
regarding the adaptation, I think it will be okay...I actually wouldn't mind a la fou or mushroom saraba to be adapted though =P
and speaking of characters, what about ed and ein???
 
I think a bounty of the week type movie would work best. Spike's story is pretty much the backbone of the series, and I think trying to re-hash it in live action is kind of durab, not to mention taking on too much. :B
 
I think if you actually did it well, you could blend all the elements and backstory in. For instance, say that Spike is effectively hiding out on the Bebop and one of Jet's old police contacts rats out their location to the syndicate. Have Faye forced into working for Vicious because she's promised all she neeRAB to pay off her massive debt.
 
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