Slashdot Mirror
Keanu Reeves To Star In Cowboy Bebop
It excites me incredibly to know that a Cowboy Bebop movie is happening. But it makes me scared to think that Keanu is getting the lead in what might be my single favorite Anime series of all time. I'm very skeptical that he can pull off this role. For now we'll have to wait and speculate who the rest of the cast will be. I'm mostly curious who will get Faye Valentine. And we can only cross our fingers and hope that the soundtrack remains intact.
Unless this is one of those 3D movies in which case he will just suck.
Keanu Reeves knows Japanese?
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
...he would have made a better Edward!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Poorly animated with stilted dialog is the way I'd also describe Keanu Reeves.
Just as the Starwars, or any media that we grew up to like. A redo of it with new actors no matter how good they do it will always seems lame to the old faithful fans.
When something new is released and it isn't just right, for our expectations, then it just seems like an abomination.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
It's going to go to some hollywood bimbo with connections.
What I want to know...
Who's going to play Ein?
If we're going for bad casting, I vote for Cheech Marin as Jet, Queen Latifah as Faye, Rodney Dangerfield as Ein, and Summer Glau as Ed. The soundtrack should be composed by Phillip Glass.
Tonight's Special: Leg of Salmon
I don't care who the cast is, it still sounds like a bad idea.
I think I am going to go watch the entire series right now to wash the very idea out of my mind.
Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
Reeves is in no way suitable for this role. Not even close. His voice lacks the gravely, emotional sarcasm that Spike is portrayed as having. His near monotone delivery will kill the character and reduce him to a mere shell of the original. Not to mention his hair won't be anywhere near as flowing as Spike's.
The only thing he has going for him is in the looks. His face has a similar appearance to the comic and his body is more or less the same build. Other than that, it's, "Whoa!" all over again.
But hey, since it's a semi-geek thing, I'm sure it will do as well as Serenity did.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'm gonna go out on a limb here:
I think he can do it.
My first thought was definitely 'oh no'. But then I remembered that Spike is a little quirky anyhow... And very, very rarely do they manage to make a live-action with characters that really match the Anime's.
What I'm most scared of is that they'll try to match the voice acting of the English version, instead of trying to get the tone and attitude of the Japanese version. Voice acting makes a huge difference to the overall feel of the character.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Oh, wait, Dangerfield is dead, isn't he?
Perfect; they can just splice him in from other movies he's done.
Tonight's Special: Leg of Salmon
I stand behind his one word tradmark and am looking forward to this movie.
Hm, I'm pretty sure in the original that Ein was alive. Maybe my memory's fuzzy though...
Comment of the year
I'd cast Christian Bale as Spike... but that's just because I want to see him in every movie I watch now.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
If they have to redo the soundtrack, I hope they hire Bill Cosby.
hey, if Fred Astaire can sell me a vacuum from beyond the grave, then Dangerfield can be reanimated for great justice.
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
I want to see Milla Jovovich as Ed. That would be perfect.
Spike: Adrian Brody or Adam Brody
Jet: Clancy Brown
Don't know about the others
but yes, they definitely need The Seatbelts/Yoko Kanno. Bebop isn't bebop without the music.
I'll probably have to skip this movie. I love Cowboy Bebop, but keanu reeves is one of the absolute worst actors of all time. I mean that both as serious and funny. So with a light heart I'm going to go find a bottle of cheap vodka to wash away the idea.
Can anyone explain to me why good actors such as Heath Ledger die, OD, or whatever but people like keanu don't? If the man had any honor as an actor he'd step down and let some one who can act take the part.
Oh, and here's to hoping Bruce Willis is cast as Jet. The voice may not be right but the look would be. Oh, and if Halle Barry is in the movie in any way I'm leading the boycott.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Stop making live action remakes of animated work. Actually, stop making remakes at all, but damn, some things work in animation for a reason.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
I'm mostly curious who will get Faye Valentine.
There's already a porn actress that goes by that name . . . maybe she could do it? :) (If Googling she also occasionally goes by Faye Reagan - and offtopic IMHO she's in the top 5 best looking gals currently in the business).
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I think Reeves could, actually, work for most of the scenes (Spike tended to be very melancholy and low key most of the time) but the directory will have to really push to get strong emotion out of him in certain scenes (such as fighting Vicious). As for Jet, I think a shaved Ron Pearlman could pull it off pretty well. Not sure who I'd pick for the rest of the parts.
Rules of Conduct:
#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
This is absolutely made for Scarlett Johansson. She could play the part well, she has experience playing a noirish character from something that was not originally live action thanks to The Spirit, and she has all of the requisite... y'know... "physical properties."
... I much rather would have liked to have a Cowboy Neil movie.
No, but you must be the only one that didn't just google it.
There are certainly exceptions, but I would wager that most live action adaptations of japanese animation/manga have been failures. Which means the worst case scenario boils down to "Cow Boy Bebop live movie is bad, just like nearly every such adaptation, life goes on."
However, I would have a little hope for this one, because the ambiance of Cow Boy Bebop is kind of a stereotype of "american wild west" (or at least its representation in japanese minds). And Keanu Reeves does not strike me as such a bad choice for Spike; I mean, physically speaking they have the same build, don't they?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't quite understand why people dislike Keanu Reeves so much. Well, I think he has a tendency to end up in these lame movies with roles that are easily mocked. I wouldn't call him a great actor, but he's certainly far from the worst. And he's not nearly as obnoxious as others.
My problem with this movie is the fact that it's yet another remake and it will probably be crap. They'll try to reinvent everything, completely missing the character of the original. I expect the end result to be crap much like Speed Racer.
Part of my problem, however, is the source material. Cowboy Bebop is decent, but like most other anime is very derivative and features convoluted storylines. Over the years I've found that anime fans tend to have low standards. As long as it's Japanese they love it. I can't count the times I've read glowing reviews for one thing or another only to find it's not very good. Even what is widely considering to be average anime gets overly positive reviews. And when something is actually pretty good, then it's really blown out of proportion.
My point is why bother remaking anime? The fans will never be happy with it. Few others will know enough about the source material to be interested which means the movie will have to stand on its own merits. At that point, they may as well have just come up with something unique and potentially more interesting. But then Hollywood and unique go together like oil and water.
Speaking of anime remakes, Battle Angel Alita is also coming in 2011, with James Cameron as the director. The manga's storyline has turned to crap, but I still have a fondness for the original story. Even though I'll probably be disappointed I am foolishly looking forward to the movie.
He is not entirely useless though. He could probably pull off the main role in Soylent Green. Starring as Soylent Green.
If they're going to yutz it up with Keanu, what else can they do wrong? Let's see:
Spike: Keanu Reeves
Jet: Samuel L. Jackson (not the cool one from pulp fiction but the lame one from Star Wars and b-movies)
Ein: Taco Bell dog
Ed: Rosie O'Donnell with CGI and optical effects like from Lord of the Rings to make her appear hobbit-sized
Vicious: the comedian Steven Wright with an albino wig, retains deadpan delivery.
Fae Valentine: the girl from Lazytown that all the pedos have the hots for
Coolie-yo: A brand new CGI character invented just for the movie who brings a fresh blast of hip-hop sass and in-your-face attitude, voiced by Chris Tucker
For every other character in the film, make it be Shia LaBeauf making like Eddie Murphy in the Professor movies, he plays every part. "Nononononononononononononononononononononononono!"
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Dracula? Are you kidding me? He is HILARIOUSLY bad in that movie. He drops and finds his accent multiple times throughout. It's just a disaster. A Scanner Darkly is good, though.
Maybe this will get Keira Knightly some more work as Ed, now that she refuses to let people digitally "enhance" her endowment.
You know, I like Star Wars, but I don't DEEPLY DEEPLY LOVE IT like many here. Yeah I know, turn in my geek card, etc, except I DEEPLY DEEPLY LOVE a lot of anime, so I think I should get to keep it.
Anyway, bearing that in mind, I didn't really mind the "new" Star Wars. Actually, I liked it (except Jar Jar, obviously), and thought all those people complaining about how Lucas was basically ass-raping their childhood innocence, etc, were kind of overreacting.
But holy shit, now I know what they meant. I fucking love Cowboy Bebop, I fucking LOVE it, and now Hollywood is going to fuck it up the ass.
There is NO WAY this movie is going to be a worthy continuation or even a semi-accurate movie version of one of my favourite anime series of all time. NO FUCKING WAY. They just cannot do it, Hollywood just cannot make that kind of movie. Cowboy Bebop is deeply nihilistic in a way Hollywood just does not understand. I have nothing against Keanu Reeves but there is no way he can possibly even comprehend the character of Spike. No-one like him can. I am sorry but happy dumb Americans living in sun-drenched California just cannot understand this kind of emotion. They don't even know what to shoot for.
Faye Valentine? Dear god it'll probably be Lucy Liu. Why not eh? It's an "asian" series so we should get someone from "asia"! Argh!
God, I'm sorry Star Wars fans. I should have fought for you. "Next they came for the Star Wars fans, but I did not speak up, for I was not a Star Wars fan" ... well now they've come for me ...
Let my new 7-digit UID be a lesson to all - write down your passwords.
"Oh no, Yoko Kanno!!! Now we'll have to use Danny Elfman!"
"Woah."
It's become popular to trash Keanu, and I'm not saying he's Johnny Depp, but I could also see him doing a respectable job here.
Pressing the panic button at this point is pure groupthink.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
and utter disappointment. why doesn't somebody just staple a 'fro to a wooden plank and let that be Spike. micheal clark duncan can be miscast as Jet and the hot chick from transformers and try acting as Faye. Ein will be CG and Ed will be any female actress...using CG to reduce their size.
and dont get me started on what a catastrophe the soundtrack will be.
No, no, no... Clearly Michael Ironside was born to play the role of Jet Black in the live-action Cowboy Bebop... It will also be one more film to add to his repertoire of crap sci-fi movies...
Ed will be played by a hot girl with big boobs. Instead of talking in rhymes and nonsense she'll be a hacker/greasemonkey/tomboy type character - everyone will recognize her as the character who would be totally hot if she just stopped talking about computers for a minute. They won't bother sticking to the original story, certainly not about little details like Ed's age...
Seriously, how can any fan of the original be excited about this news? I expect a disaster of "Aeon Flux" proportions, personally...
Bow-ties are cool.
It is indicated many times that Spike is 27 years old. It is allegedly a deliberate allusion to the 27 club, which counts Hendrix, Joplin, and Cobain amongst many others as members. Besides being a shitty actor, Keanu is far too old to portray this age. Too bad Heath Ledger didn't get this role 2 years ago.
Did Joss Whedon really need another blowjob today?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
A live action Edward.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Knock Knock!
...who's there?
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Knock Knock!
*sigh* Who's there.
Knock Knock!
WHO'S THERE.
Knock Knock!
GODDAMMIT! WHO'S THERE?
Philip Glass.
Your brain is not a computer.
This is how art works, it builds off itself. If you really love Cowboy Bebop, then you should applaud somebody trying to reach the masses with something based on the original.
Name one live-action adaptation of an anime that was good and didn't just mar the name of an original. Just one.
Or name a live-action adaptation of a western cartoon. Or of a video game. Or any American remake of a non-art film from the east.
The closest I can think of is the American remakes of Japanese horror films (but I'm no fan of either the remakes or the originals), or "The Magnificent Seven" which wasn't a remake so much as a complete recasting of "The Seven Samurai" and is just not the same thing.
Face it, Hollywood getting its hands on an anime for a live-action remake stands a very good chance of being right up there with "Starship Troopers," "Mortal Kombat," "Godzilla," or "Silent Hill." Even those formats which make for fair adaptations stand a good chance of screwing up. Think of the average comic book movie. (e.g. The Hulk) Think of the average remake of a classic movie. (e.g. Cheaper by the Dozen)
Hollywood has almost never taken an original idea and made it better or even nearly anywhere as good as the original. That's not what Hollywood does. A live action Cowboy Bebop, especially one starting Keanu Reeves, stands about as good of a chance as being likable and introducing a whole new audience to the wonders of anime as Congress stands of passing a budget without some pork project in it.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I find it hard to believe I am actually writing this, but Keanu could be actually a good choice for this role. Bebop's cool calls for a pulled-back emotional expression, and Keanu, being unable to express human emotion, is a natural candidate.
Also, I am sure this will brings lots of kids to the original series which is a very good thing.
I am more concerned with the script and the not yet selected director. A good director can pull out exactly what's needed from Keanu Reeves, something we saw in Matrix I.
The thing which made Bebop great was the larger story-line. The unfolding of the various characters as they healed themselves, or resolved their personal/emotional issues. That's what good sci-fi does these days. --Watch some of the old and loved Doctor Who episodes. The ones we (well some of 'we') thought were so great back when we were kids. By today's standards, they're amazingly FLAT; all about the plot and the cleverness and the adventure, but zero examination of the emotional dimension. These days, people are well acclimated to the science, (or whatever you want to call it). --Exploring that stuff is no longer the point of these stories. The thing we don't get, however, and which we are so driven from an instinctive level to explore is how we emotionally fit within these new concepts. The alternate realities and the high-tech wilderness of it all. People want to know how it feels to be human in an expanded set of possibilities. Emotions matter now. How cool is that?
--I mean, heck, look at the last couple of Bond movies, for goodness sake! 007 has a soul??? --He's a broken man with plenty of murder/lockpick skills, which yeah, we were all dazzled by in the 60's and 70's, but how did he get that way? Turns out, he's deeply messed up and needs a matronly M to keep his threads all tied up from unraveling. --When the question of James Bond's mental stability even crosses the public mind, you know we are living in a new era!
But to explore emotions properly in a story, you need space. Or rather, length. Emotions aren't like car chases; on one moment, off the next. It takes time for lives to unfold and relationships to evolve. Bebop, and Firefly, and Doctor Who needed a dozen or more episodes for these issues to be properly explored. You can't achieve some of the really great moments we saw in those series in a 90 minute format. Not easily, anyway. --They already made a Cowboy Bebop movie. It looked and sounded fantastic. I still listen to some of the tracks now and again. But compared to the lower budget TV series, it was listless and redundant. It was the series which sang!
Same with, "Serenity", which I know is well-loved among fan circles, but my feeling is that the popular reaction came more from the grassroots victory it represented over FOX's short-sighted cancellation of the series than it did from the movie actually being particularly great. It was clever, painfully violent, and tried to cram too much into too little, and when it ended, I was relieved and I didn't miss any of the characters. It was the series which truly studied relationships and the concept of, "Found Family"; that's what made it good. Some of the most powerful moments came with revelations of character which had been building to a crescendo for ages. --When Jane was locked outside the ship, and Mal was going to let him die for being a psychotic monster but changed his mind when Jane demonstrated that he had a semblance of a conscience. Stuff like that is gold, and I just don't think it's within the realm of likelihood that we're going to see anything resembling that in a film. Not in any meaningful way. And certainly not with a wooden post like Keanu Reeves.
Ironically, the problem is that Spike, while being the, 'Strong Silent type', was also a bit of a cheeky bugger with a lot of iron and self-confidence, whereas Keanu has never struck me as having known himself. Always a bit dreamy and confused. Poor, poor casting. --Because, I don't really believe much in, 'acting'; the eyes and unconscious, uncontrollable expressions of a person always come through the actor whether they like it or not.
The Bebop series was a great anime, and I'm as much a sucker fanboy as the next guy, so I'll probably plunk down my. . . Jeez how much does it cost to see a film these days? Well, I'll plunk that down just to see the thing. But, honestly, it would be foolish to expect much.
Heck, I'm still trying to figure out what the heck is going to happen with that Toby McGuire Macross project.
Erk.
-FL