The Official Live-Action "Cowboy Bebop" News & Discussion Thread

....This can't end well. It just cant..

Really if Cowboy Bebop did not have floating ships and such then maybe...but...no this is going to be horrible. Really I just can't see Bebop being a live action movie x_X.
 
Probably not the best cast in the world, but here's my try:

Spike: Robert Downey Jr.
Jet: Samuel L. Jackson
Faye: Jennifer Garner
Ed: Evanna Lynch
Julia: Natallie Portman
Vicious: Keanu Reeves
 
I'm having a hard time picturing which actors should be cast. The only person who comes to mind is Angelina Jolie as Faye.
....and Dakota Fanning might make a funny Edward.


Purists never get what they want because they are NEVER pleased with anything they get. Duh.
 
Oy. To be honest, these anime-to-live-action things seem pretty pointless. Part of the appeal of movies like Akira or shows like Bebop (and, to a lesser extent, Avatar, although that's not technically anime) is that they utilize the scope of animation to pull off crazy stuff that would either be really hard or nigh-impossible to pull off in live-action. Heck, some of the fights in Bebop or Avatar rival or even surpass some of my favorite live-action fights in terms of choreography and excitement. These adaptations just seem like such a pointless endeavor (particularly Akira and Avatar).
 
So do books, but things can changed when books are made into movies, that's why these movies are adaptions, making a literal adaption is almost impossible.

Of course DB and CB are different, one is way easier to make into a movie then the other, CB is about times more Hollywood friendly then DB, CB is in general more realistic then DB and more serious and thus way easier to bring to screen. That's like saying Batman and Spider-Man are the same because they are both comic books, they are very different and their movies reflect that.
 
Asia Argento as Fay, assuming I wanted to see this movie. I love the series, but, I mean, do we really need to review the track record of live action based on anime?
 
You know, the best bet to make this work might be casting unknowns. Don't make it hinge on name value, make it hinge on raw acting skill, the story and the direction. Oh, and cast to the right ages of the characters. Don't cast anyone over 30 for Spike, Julia, Vicious or Faye, make sure Jet's atleast in his late 30s.

Oh, and make sure the outfits don't look like costumes. It should like real clothes, as warn in and beat up as everything else in the Cowboy Bebop universe. Cosplay doesn't film.

And, I'd guess their will be no Ed in the movie. The movie would likely be based off the heavier parts of the series, episodes in which Ed always happened to be basically absent anyway.
 
Well maybe a cast of unknowns would be great but I think that maybe Abigial Breslin would probably fit the bill as Ed since she IS one of the most important merabers of the team...to me at least.
 
DB's easy to make into a film, however not into a generic one. With CB--while more realistic--it's also highly stylize, if I remeraber correctly.

I'm at least willing to give this film a trailer.
 
Stylized gun play is well within Hollywood's realm, haven't you seen the Matrix or Wanted? That's easy for them and CB has far less cross cultural issues then DB. Heck not only is stylized gun play within Hollywood's realm its within their comfort zone.

DB has stuff that is way out of Hollywood's realm and comfort zone. First its based on Journey into the West, a story not a lot of westerns are familiar with and it deals with things that are hard to translate to screen, like planets blowing up, super ultra transformations and ultra stylized kung fu fights.

CB is way more Hollywood friendly then DB.

Now you asked why are these films are being made, its simple, the studios are trying to make money, they want a pre-established story with an existing fan movement, so there is a greater of chance of success, in their minRAB.

Ultimately its up the Manga companies to decide what do with franchises, they can ignore Hollywood and thus ignore the dump trucks of money Hollywood can bring to their house, I'm not sure that's likely, I would assume most of them like money. They just sign over the rights and let the studios do whatever they want, ensuring a high likehood of a bunch of really crappy movies based on Manga, until Hollywood simplely loses interest or they can take a creative interest in these movies and try ensure they are somewhat faithful and as well as good. It is also the responsbility of the Manga companies to ensure thier characters are treated right by hollywood.
 
The mere idea of Reeves playing Spike Spiegel makes me sick.

The guy in in his 40's, and he totally butchered Klaatu in The Day The Earth Stood Still. He butchered and totally misrepresented John Constantine. Keanu Reeves is a terrible fit for this role.

Not to mention, he's like 20 years older than Spike.
 
Edward's character might be a little hard to adapt into live-action, though. She's pretty "bouncy," for lack of a better word...
 
When I saw the title of this thread, I assumed this would be a Japanese production (which wouldn't be too bad). I can't really see an American live-action version of Japanese animation working well. I remeraber someone once said a live-action version of Bebop would be too similar to Serenity.
 
Cowboy Bebop could work. Easily. No one has any super powers, as a matter of fact, if you give the lead actor special training(kind of like Toby Maguire and Christian Bale got from Spider-Man and Batman Begins) and get him used to a fighting style, and Spikes hand to hand corabat moves are a piece of cake. Gunplay seems to be essentially easy these days, so I wouldn't list that as a problem. The main problem is getting the right person to play Spike. And Ed. Ed will not be easy to cast. Spike's hair make's him hard enough to cast.
 
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