Cowboy Bebop will Cost Too Much to Make
Posted by Rodneyon 23. 09. 2009in News Chat
Looks like Keanu’s Cowboy Beebop film is facing far more than blind cricitcism that the characters are not all played by Asians is that after reviewing the script, the movie would just cost too much to make!
AICN says:
MTV sat down with Keanu Reeves to discuss his upcoming THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE.During their chat, the status of Reeve’s COWBOY BEBOP adaptation came up. Here’s what he had to say:
There’s a draft of the script, but the writer did such a great job…in order to make the movie you would need half a billion dollars.
[EDIT] The studio kinda just went: ‘This script is fantastic – and it would cost half a billion dollars!
Now I am about 86% certain that they pulled that number out of their ass. I know movies cost a lot to make, but I have seen the anime and I don’t know that there is anything in it that couldnt be CGI or propped together convincingly enough by the masterminds behind today’s special effects that could possibly cost half a billion dollars.
I don’t know what measuring stick they use to deterimine how much a movie will cost to make just by reading the script either but ALL THREE Lord of the Rings films were created with $300million.
But regardless of exaggerated numbers and unrealistic estimates, they have determined that they need to rework the script so that the budget is within reach before they move forward with the film.
I liked the groovy feel of the anime, and I look forward to seeing how it adapts.
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Spike is asian? That’s news to me.
With a plank of wood like Keeanu Reeves as the lead, my anticipation is already in the negatives.
who cares…sure AKIRA was a great movie but it had a multitude of problems within the story that will need to be changed for a real life movie…same with macross/robotech….sure silly adults that loved it as a kid will want them to be made but the fact is there is so much bad science involved in anime that the japanese plainly overlook and its accepted by the majority of readers/viewers in that country…fact is i think americans will not accept it as much unless there die hard fans….COWBOY BEEBOP should not be made into movie…the fan base is too small and its just a horrible idea.
“so much bad science involved in anime”
Uh, I’d just like to take this time to point out that “bad science” is not only represented in anime. Everything medium across the world suffers from this. Books, television shows, Hollywood movies, comics, you name it and there is plenty of bad science to go along with it, why should anime be any different?
One of my favorite Anime of all time is Gunbuster, and between every episode they have little mini-anime shorts that take place explaining the real science behind some of the concepts found in the series. Pretty awesome.
Name me one science fiction property that’s actually had 100% realistic science.
well the differance is that japanese culture lets more room for flexibility….i mean say the first lady said she was kidnapped by aliens…that would have surely hindered obama’s campaign…yet in japan it helped the prime ministers support….basically what i am saying is that (and yes i have seen cowboy beebop) is that somethings translate better over seas then here…
So your not talking about bad science, then. Your talking about cultural differences?
ya pretty much…hey i never said i was good at explaining my thoughts =)
Well cultural differences being an issue or not, Cowboy Bebop has very little. The creator of the series loves America and made it very easy for Americans to get into. The series is also riddled with hidden gems from our culture. It’s one of the easiest animes to get into, no matter who you are.
To me, anyone looking to get into anime, Cowboy Bebop is a perfect starting point.
And to say it’s not very popular is just silly. It was the first successful anime on Adult Swim and helped to keep Adult Swim on the air when it first started. Cowboy Bebop is also one of the few animes that started on Adult Swim that they still air today on a regular basis. And I remember when I saw the Cowboy Bebop movie in the theater and it was packed. I also know lots of people who only like Cowboy Bebop and no other anime.
Cowboy Bebop is one of the best and most popular animes of all time, period.
Spike is asian? That’s news to me.
Besides, with a stump of wood like Keeanu Reeves as the lead, my interest in the film is already below zero.
with keanu in the lead this movie has no chance of being any good.
Because clearly the Matrix films suffered so badly for it.
There are many reasons why The Matrix was a great film, Keeanu Reeves isn’t one of them.
Well, the 2nd and 3rd did. First one was too awesome.
Guess you didn’t like the first Speed right?
I don’t get why Reeves played such a dead character in Matrix either. I mean I get that he was suppose to be some disconnected from what he thought was the real world, but wasn’t for sure, guy. And then he had to learn all this new stuff in a short time and just listen to his teachers, but still, I don’t know. He just still seemed like nothing more then a vessel for this amazing thing to come threw to the Matrix.
Most everything else Reeves has done was pretty good. Loved him in Point Break, Speed, A Scanner Darkly, Constantine, Something’s Gotta Give. But his portrayal of Neo in the Matrix does concern me. Plus the character of Spike is not like anything he’s done before.
The Spike character has allot of personality and there is allot to him. His story is pretty deep and very cool. Also Spike himself exudes a seance of coolness about him that’s on a level that only comes along with a character once in a great while. Can Reeves pull all this off, no, not from what I’ve seen of him. He can try to come close however and if he’s who they got to play Spike then we’ll just have to deal with it, or just not see the movie at all. ;P
I think they can make a decent transition from anime to real life but why would you want to? Part of the allure of Cowboy Beebop (well pretty much any anime for that matter) was the fact that it was done as an anime. Look at Riddick, they went from real life to anime and I thought it was better in the anime. Things just transalte better as anime.
I still wouldnt mind them doing a real life adaptation of Vampire Hunter D though. I know they already did the whole half Vampire half Human deal, but the character is pretty bad ass and I cant imagine them not having a budget for it with the Blade, Underworld, and Van Helsing movies that came out already.
Batman never transitioned well into anime.
Never caught that one. Cartoons were decent though. At least I didnt mind them anyways. Cant imagine how they could mess up an animated Batman haha.
Batman: The Animated Series is nothing short of fantastic.
But, the Gotham Knight anime left much to be desired.
What the hell u talking about? 4 of those short episodes on “Batman: Gotham Knight” were fuckin awesome, especially the “Deadshot” episode.
Too bad that was only one of two good episodes (the other one being the Killer Croc episode).
The rest of the episodes were poorly written and don’t successfully serve as a bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
i really enjoyed Gotham Knight…they had some fantastic stories that expanded on the batman ethos…my favorites were the ones with the bullet deflecting devise, deadshot, croc, and the one that ended with bruce holding all those guns…good stuff imo
“There’s a draft of the script, but the writer did such a great job…in order to make the movie you would need half a billion dollars.”
I agree with you Rodney. Unless they’re thinking about filming it in space, I don’t see why they can’t use CGI.
I’m with a lot of others who were turned off the minute Keanu was cast as Spike. Personally, I’d rather not see this live action just like I wish they’d leave Akira alone.
What I find curious is that this script is so good it’ll cost too much to make? Something about that statement is puzzling. So now they’re working it, which makes me wonder if the script was actually smart and the studio feels it needs to be dumbed down to fit the empty action movies we’re fed each summer.
*sigh*…
I hope this movie gets made soon. I hate waiting around forever.
I don’t know who are the people that are complaining about a non-asian staff… But did they watch the same show as I did? The protagonist is called Spike Spiegel, that’s far from an Asian name. On top of that he does not look Asian. Actually I don’t think any of the main characters were Asians. So what’s up with that?
I really dig the Cowboy Bebop setting. Western in space. It’s so akin to Firefly/Serenity. In fact I can see Bebop as a major inspiration to Firefly.
I hope the movie will get the green light. If it ends up being good, than that would be cool. If not, we just have to ignore it :)
And yes, I think they pulled that number out of their ass.
make it like serenity with cooler characters, more jazzy tone and good actors to play jet or spike. the script has to work tho, it cant be too campy or corny, but should be a lil funny. that number is obscene.
Same here. complaining cuz it’s a non asian? That’s one dumb complain. I’m sure these come from some rabid fanboys, who can’t see beyond “it’s anime! and it’s japan!” thing. The characters definitely not Asian per se, the background story are space western opera, also the location have NYC and Western US feel on it. Having said that, I’ve found out that many anime characters that are not even asian.
District 9 cost 30 Mil. They shouldn’t have budget issues with this, just dumb people issues.
Better just to have a Cowboy Bebop The Movie 2, with Reeves doing a voiceover….
A LA Bebop costing that much though…? I think it’s an over estimate of the budget. If 300 and Sky Cap’n can do stuff…
All three of the Lord of the Rings movies were made with $300 million because they were filmed at the same time, which saved a great deal in costs.
I doubt it would cost half a billion to film Cowboy Bebop, but I could easily see a decent adaptation costing $200-300 million. That’s a LOT of money for a film that may not transition to a major film audience, especially if Keanu played Spike. Consider that it’s cowboys in space (basically) which TANKED at the box office when the decent film Serenity was made by Joss Whedon, as well as the fact that a lot of the hard core Bebop fans (myself included) would be pissed if they screwed with the cast too much. Finally, I wouldn’t be shocked if the studios balked at the film just because of Keanu… he has been box office poison of late.
I want to add an additional comment: I actually think it’s highly possible there will be a Cowboy Bebop movie at some point in the next 10 years. However, I don’t think Keanu is going to be the guy to do it.
If DiCaprio’s Akira is a big hit, the studios could start to look at animes as they have been doing with comic books since the success of X-Men, Spiderman and Batman. Given the huge amount of animes out there — and how tired I’m getting of comic book movies (especially X-Men, which is just getting ridiculous with all those Origin movies planned), this could be a refreshing thing. There are plenty of animes out there that could make interesting movies, too, perhaps being full-fledged franchises to unto themselves, Cowboy Bebop being one of them. Witch Hunter Robin would be a natural fit right now, with all the interest in the supernatural. I would personally love to see an Escaflowne, but that really could be a half-a-billion dollar film… LOL
So you want to move on from one trend to another to satisfy you’re craving?
Let’s be careful before we get a Fist Of The North Star or a campy cult film in Crying Freeman.
“My Own Private Idaho” …watch that movie if you don’t think “Keanu” can act.
I did, and he can’t.
The studio is probably looking at the numbers of recent anime adaptations as well…. like Dragonball. =\
Dragonball the movie is a piece of monkey feces. But it’s understandable because plenty of movie studio are run by monkees… :-O
reeves as Bebop = fail
You do realize that Spike’s last name is not Bebop?
Actually, Reeves playing the Bebop would be inspired casting. Play to his strengths.
Keano to fanboys may = fail,
Keano to the world = Face, star, celebrity, someone to front the movie to the masses.
Personally I think Keano suits the role, his dead face and bland acting suit many an anime charactor.
People forget his zany and energetic Theodore Logan.
Clearly he is capable of more than his dry presence, he just prefers it.
He will suit Spiegel just fine.
if done correctly it could be a fantastic movie