Just saw this at AICN:
IF Magazine has learned that producer Erwin Stoff is developing an adaptation of one of America’s favorite anime series…. Cowboy Bebop.
“I’m developing COWBOY BEBOP for Fox, but doing it as a live-action film, so I’m working on that at the moment,†Stoff tells iF. “I’m really excited to be working on it, and it’s in the really early stages. We just signed it the other day.â€
“I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth,†he says. “When I met with them in Japan, one of the first things that I brought up was the experience that we had on A SCANNER DARKLY, and how hard we worked to remain faithful to Philip K. Dick, and that was our big concern here.â€
America’s favorite anime series? I thought that was DragonBall Z… which also is getting the live action treatment, as I noted before. Of course there’s also that live-action Robotech coming up, too.
I’ll get really excited when they start casting for live-action Haibane Renmei. Others may be waiting for live-action Najica Blitz Tactics. To each his own…
Just curious, though. Suppose they were to do a live-action Haibane. Who’d you want to see playing Reki and Rakka?
I’m sure it’ll work just as well as the live action version of “The Tick”.
Who should play Rakka. Let’s see, she has to be young, have a very innocent and cute look… How about Ellen Page? I could see her pull it of. Rakka has both innocense and cuteness as maturity and strength (later on). Ellen Page has quite the acting pedigree, and that is required. The thing that makes Rakka both calm and alive, the sense of wonder she has towards the world, is a nuance, that needs to be done by a very skilled natural actor.
Reki is harder. She should be a bit older than Rakka, and her character is much more melancholic. Hollywood has tons of pretty, pretty girls. Imho that would not work. You need someone that is in her early thirties or late twenties, looks good, but not “hot” and knows how to play with drama and melancholy, while never really giving in. A young Jodie Foster could have pulled it of, even tough she doesn’t have the look. Who can play Reki? I don’t know. But Rakka and Reki should be selected based on the match they have.
I guess my latest post is biasing me, but I’d like to see AnnaSophia Robb as Reki. It would be against type for her, because she’s usually more Rakka-esque in personality. Agreed you would need strong chemistry to govern the casting. I dont know much about Ellen Page but after a google I agree she looks the part.