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Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Proposal Officially Announced


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I'm fairly interested in seeing how this will turn out... I was a big fan off the anime/movie... any thoughts?

The Japanese animation studio Sunrise has officially announced the plans for a live-action film adaptation of its Cowboy Bebop science-fiction anime franchise. The American film studio Twentieth Century Fox, the production company 3 Arts Entertainment, and Sunrise itself are collaborating on the project. Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly, Johnny Mnemonic) is slated to star. Joshua Long is acting as a production supervisor, and Erwin Stoff, a film producer who worked closely with Reeves on The Matrix and A Scanner Darkly, is also attached. The associate producers are Sunrise President Kenji Uchida, the original Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe, and the original series script supervisor Keiko Nobumoto. The Sunrise studio itself and Masahiko Minami (former Sunrise producer and BONES studio co-founder) are both acting as production consultants.

Stoff first revealed the existence of the proposed project last July to the IFMagazine.com entertainment website after the parties "just signed it the other day." Reeves confirmed the plans and his intentions to play the lead role with MTV Movies Blog last month. He also indicated that the preliminary story outline partly draws inspiration from the "Red Eye" storyline from the first episode of the animated series. Reeves and Watanabe had previously worked together on the "Kid's Story" segment of The Animatrix animated video anthology.

Watanabe's original Cowboy Bebop series follows the motley crew of the spaceship Bebop as it travels throughout the solar system in search of the next job. The anime distributor Bandai Entertainment and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block released the 1998 television series in the United States, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the subsequent 2001 animated movie. The anime was also adapted into two separate manga series, and Tokyopop released both manga series in North America.

Taken from:

***http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-01-15/live-action-cowboy-bebop-proposal-officially-announced****

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Keanu Reeves as Spike: DO NOT WANT

Keanu Reeves as prop for related story: Still do not want, but slightly less.

Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite anime of all time, and I'd argue that it's somewhere on everyone's Top 10 list. So much of what makes Cowboy Bebop so memorable (the space setting, Spike's incredible turn of speed and crazy hair, Jet's arm, the ships themselves) can only truly be carried out in an animated or a still (manga) format. I'm terrified that this landmark series, which brought so many people under the 'anime fan' umbrella in the late 90s, will be butchered and destroyed with overbearing special effects and wooden or stilted acting.

I was never a big fan of Dragonball or DBZ, so I've kind of missed the wah-wah boat about that live-action adaptation. I suspect I'll be "one of those people" about this one, though.

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And Bebop is one of my favorite anime, too.

That said, the *worst* that will happen is that this movie will suck, and you'll still have the awesome series to watch.

The best that might happen is that the movie will be a lot of fun, and bring a lot of new fans to the anime.

As for Mr Reeves: he's not as awful as people these days like to think he is. And fact is, his movies tend to be mildly to massively successful, even when they get bashed by critics or disappoint fans. So from a studio perspective, he brings the "name" clout to the project, as well as the mass appeal.

Tell a random person that Keanu Reeves will play a bounty hunter in space in a new action/detective thriller with an awesome soundtrack, and they will show up. Tell that random person that an awesome japanese cartoon is being adapted for the live screen and they'll keep walking.

Edited by alabaster
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Reeves isn't that bad of an actor. He sometimes gets crappy roles. I think he will fit in as Spike. If you mix in Ted, Neo, and Klaatu then you get Spike.

I am more critical of who will play Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV. If they find an actress who can pull of a convincing Edward, then you have a fan.

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