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Evangelion Live Action Movie
Posted by
michael
on Wed May 21, 2003 08:15 AM
from the bass-ackwards dept.
from the bass-ackwards dept.
Rob Sollanych writes "ADV Films has just announced the production of a live action movie based on many people's favourite anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Special Effects will be developed by Weta Workshop, Ltd, the company that made the Lord of the Rings look so good."
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Evangelion Live Action Movie
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laws of nature (Score:4, Funny)
Some things just shouldn't be done
Re:laws of nature (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://shashdot.org/)
Re:laws of nature (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless the scriptwriter, director, and producer are willing to portray this story in all its gory beauty, they shouldn't even bother. I can't see them doing *HALF* of the things I listed above, and you really need *ALL* of them to get the story right.
Re:laws of nature (Score:5, Informative)
You're probably one of those people who became livid when Tom Bombadil was stripped from "Fellowship of the Ring", too. Do you really intend to hold it against them if they don't develop every last character in exactly the same way as the 13-hour series during a 2-hour movie?
It'll be a translation of the story idea, the same as the X-Men movies had to do, and they'll reduce the number of developed characters to two or three and probably throw away most of the Angels and half of the Evas to keep it simple. If this movie works, it'll invite people to go back and watch the original animated series and manga, and that's good enough for me.
Quitcherbitching. We don't need ALL of those elements to get the story right; you do. The rest of us have learned that if you want to turn anything longer than a short story into a feature film, compromises need to be made, and not all of them are necessarily bad.
Re:laws of nature (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know about him, but I personally found the idea of eliminating TB good, as it does not add much to the story and can be safely removed without messing up with the plot. I turned livid at "Faramir's massacre" or the Elves helping the humans at Helm's Deep, or Merry/Pippin "tricking" the Ents, as these are completely useless from the point of view of book->film conversion, but also fuck up what Tolkien wrote (and the elf one indicates a serious misundestanding).
Evangelion has a lot of strong/important points. If they want to keep "the message" they cannot change much. All the elements cited above ARE important, remove them and be ready to become target practice (verbal only
As I always say: there's nothing wrong in filming a grandma on a toliet for two hours, just don't title it "The Lord of the Rings".
When basing movies on "huge" books, people should basically not mess up with any element. The book was "huge" because of what it is: stick to it or do something different. Changing stuff looks like wanting to get easy cash from the big name.
Re:laws of nature (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.ps2emu.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday July 05 2003, @05:18PM)
riker: red alert!
picard: what is their status, mr. data?
data: They appear to be attempting to spoil the plot, sir.
picard: tactical analysis, mr. worf.
worf: captain, they are charging moderations! They are at + 5 !!!
captain: ready all phaser banks and photon torpedos, maximum yield, minimum spread. Fire!
graspee
What a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't see this movie doing anything but hurting the rest of the plot of the series. If they want to do a live action they should do cowboy bebop. You can fit another cowboy bebop film in about anywhere you want. But Neon Geneis is completed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
How can you say that? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 07 2003, @02:57PM)
How can you possibly say that? Look at all the great work that has been done bringing anime and the like to the silver screen. I mean, just look at Fist of the North Star. [imdb.com]
And besides, the effects studio not only did LOTR, but also gave us the effects in such quality shows as Andromeda, and Mutant X!
How can this NOT be good?
OK, all sarcasm aside, I don't see how this can be anything but a bad thing. Even so, there is some potential, but it will still PO lots of fans. The only way that this could have some merit is if they did the same thing Sam Raimi did with SpiderMan, that is don't try to duplicate the story exactly, but try and capture the "feel" and the essence doing a stand-alone movie that doesn't really fit into the existing material. This has the greatest potential for success, but also, as with SpiderMan, the greatest potential to tick off the purists and the avid fans.
I don't have much hope for it though. Pity. I'll have to wait and see what happens.
Re:What a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday October 09 2003, @02:39PM)
why am I unenthused? (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday March 25 2003, @04:35PM)
gundam would be a cooler choice (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.teenagewi...teract/registry/3150 | Last Journal: Sunday October 06 2002, @10:53PM)
Re:gundam would be a cooler choice (Score:4, Interesting)
I am utterly baffled by the fact that no one has made a big-budget Giant Robot movie yet. It's such an obvious genre to take advantage of modern CGI. There's a well-established market, not only on the "anime-based" side (Robotech, Battletech, Mechwarrior) but in the primarily domestic audience familiar with Transformers. Hell, the powerloader scene was a favourite in Aliens.
So why on earth hasn't it been done yet? I want my giant robots!
Please, god, no. (Score:3, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/~cyranoVR/journal/139343 | Last Journal: Wednesday October 31, @09:08PM)
PS - evaotaku.com [evaotaku.com]
Animatrix (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday July 29 2002, @08:50AM)
I never really thought much of Anime in general. I grouped anime watchers in with goths, freaks, Magic the Gathering players, and others i just ignored.
I'm a Matrix fan, and as such, i downloaded The Animatrix: The Second Generation, Part I. I was astounded. Rather than large mouth monkey drawn, slow plotted, boring anime, such as is found on the Cartoon Network, instead, something more akin to what i thought Asimov's robots would be like was presented. I've since downloaded all the free short stories from the Wachowski bro's, and plan on buying the DVD.
What i want to say though, is that perhaps this anime converted to real life will have the same effect on people, perhaps to a larger audience, showing more people that anime isn't just a cartoon for the vast unlaid, but rather something more meaningful, with great plots and scriptwriters. On another note, I'm going to watch Spirited Away this weekend, due to its great reviews, and the fact that i saw the first 5 minutes, and was impressed at the overall feel of it.
Good luck with this project, i hope it does great!
How long do they plan on making it. (Score:5, Insightful)
The series is done. Let people look back and say.. "damn that was an awesome series" instead of " What the hell was that live action POS"
Re:How long do they plan on making it. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://anti-slash.org/)
What I'll probably be thinking 1/2-way through it: (Score:5, Funny)
"THE MOST INFLUENTIAL JAPANESE ANIMATED SERIES..." (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.geocities.com/mogomra/ | Last Journal: Friday June 06 2003, @04:03PM)
Re:A Movie Not To See (Score:4, Insightful)
Shinji doesn't freeze at the moment of truth; he's eventually ready to unite with all humanity, but Asuka's rejection of this causes him to choose to return to individuality. The movie doesn't show a "failed" Third Impact, just a scenario in which the uniting of humanity does not take place as Yui planned. She ends up as the only human to live for eternity (that's why you see Shinji's Eva floating off; it's carrying Yui). Rewatch it and listen carefully to Yui's "conversation" with Shinji.
**********MAJOR SPOILER for people who haven't watched EoE***********
The final scene of EoE is very ambiguous; Shinji and Asuka (and possibly all other humans except for Yui) have been reincarnated as individuals as a result of Asuka's rejection of unification with Shinji. Many people see this as an indication of Asuka's feelings for Shinji, in that she doesn't wish him to know how deep her emotions are for him. Even the last line (which, in all the subbed versions I've seen, seems to be mistranslated) is ambiguous; it was actually an adlib by the voice actress, which Anno considered to be better than the script. What Asuka says could either be taken as a further rejection of Shinji as an extension of her earlier rejection, or as an indication of a genuine dislike of him. It's a bit hard to justify the latter considering what has occurred previous to that, though. I think the ending of EoE is actually rather positive - "humans should make the effort to do get along with each other as individuals".
Before the naysayers rip this one apart... (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean, I tend to agree that really astonishing works - like Evangelion - do not really 'need' to be re-made in a new way, but at the same time, I don't think it hurts anything. The Gus van Sant remake of Psycho, for instance, was nothing special at all, and not as good as the original... but who cares? I could have ignored it. It's not like it *replaces* the old film.
Besides, WETA kicks heroic amounts of ass, and they get an automatic vote as far as I'm concerned for the top-notch work in LOTR. They deserve some credit.
My question is, how 'live-action' can it really be? Live actors surely, but I'm guessing the bulk of the action will be CG... and do I want to see a top-quality CG adaptation of an Evangelion battle sequence? Hell yeah.
Extra, Extra, Read All About It! (Score:5, Funny)
Tux, the famed mascot on the Linux world, has been cast in the role of Penpen!
Also appearing, the BSD Devil will make a special guest shot as "the guy who sent the angels to destroy Earth!"
They're kidding, right? A live action NGE flick?
Things I'd like to see next:
Live action Dragon Ball Z. The movie would have to be about 19 hours long with frequent intermissions, and roughly 3 battles during that time in order to make it feel like the show.
Live action Tokyo Pig. What would be more exciting than a pig that can do magic, FILMED IN REAL LIFE! And that reporter chic is HOT!
Live action Dirty Pair. Okay, this isnt a joke. Remember Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft? Multiply that by two, add in tons of explosions and skimpy clothes, and BAM you got a winner!
I could go on all day, but I think I'll stop now!
Does this mean... (Score:4, Interesting)
Does this mean that it won't go all wacky and weird in the end, like every anime?
Akira was great until the weird-ass things started happening... like giant blobs of flesh and stuff.
Spriggan was good until the exact same thing happened.
Serial Experiments: Lain was absolutely FANTASTIC until all that supernatural stuff started to take over the plot.
What's with the freaking out? Do Japanese anime creators resort to drugs to finish off their masterpieces? It's as if they were on to something good and then they just decided to rush the ending... "umm... err... oh screw it, I'll throw in some freaky psychosomatic flesh monsters... that'll do it!"
But with all honesty, I hope it turns out good. With the advent of a live action Battle Angel Alita, it'll be nice to see some non-anime mech footage hitting the screens.
My vote is for Dominique Swain to play Osuka! She's a hottie
Evangelion Live? You will be SO sorry... (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.dreamops.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 02 2005, @10:05AM)
It'll be consistent with the series in one way... (Score:3, Funny)
Number one person to sign: (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.photo.net/photos/MTWhite)
It might not be THAT bad ... (Score:4, Informative)
The important thing is that there's no sign of any hollywood studio being involved. I suspect that means that most of the creative work will be done by Gainax, with ADV providing the $$$$ and Weta obviously doing the special effects. If Gainax and Anno are left to do their thing, then the project might turn out alright. The special effects might look a big cheap due to a (relatively) small budget, but I can't imagine Gainax and Anno sanitizing Eva like everyone says.
But then again, this is Gainax we're talking about
The script... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Shinji: Whine whine whine whine whine.
Asuka: Ego driven retort with subtle sexual undertones.
Shinji: Whine whine whine piss moan.
Rei: Creepy silence followed by one-word retort.
Shinji: Whine whine bitch piss whine bitch moan.
Gendo: Evil overlord smile.
Transform the pain of Eva into laughter (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/ | Last Journal: Saturday April 29 2006, @04:33PM)
Did you suffer through the entirety Eva and for some reason weren't granted the same level of transcendence that most Eva-faithful appear to have gone through? Sure, parts were fun, parts were exciting, parts were a bit emotional, but you simply can't find it in yourself to declare that Eva somehow ties everything together into a logical conclusion filled with actual meaning? Are you certain that the random Judeo-Christian imagery, surreal character development, and insane ending are actually a high school level attempt to fake depth of plot, philosophy, and maturity?
Take your suffering and at least get a good laugh out of it with Toastyfrog Jump's Neon Genesis Evangelion Thumbnail Theatre [toastyfrog.com].
EVA vote (Score:4, Funny)
1) I understand 0.005% of the story
2) I understand 0.05% of the story
3) I understand 0.5% of the story
4) My name is CowboyNeal Ikari,
you insensitive clod
That's a bad idea from the start... (Score:4, Insightful)
There are a few reasons about this.
1. FUNDS. How can an adaptation of a series that's full of heavy steel, gunfire, apocalyptic explosions, mind-boggling psychotrips be correctly done, out of the "cellulo-space" ?
One of the reasons of why Anime earned such a success in Japan is that filmmakers there didn't have enough money to crank out movies without said movies seriously lacking... funds. Celluloid really IS cheaper for impossible scenes like some that are in Eva... And porting this to the silver screen should require some huge amounts of money. Where are they going to find the budget usually used for an announced blockbuster ? I hopa Gainax's not going to spend too much on that, I'd really get angry if they had to close before of the bankrupt following the release of that movie.
2. CHARACTERS. Ikari Shinji. Soryû Langley Asuka. Ayanami Rei. These surely sound European, heh ? What are they going do ? Rename all those people, thus moving the entire story in the US and getting American actors ? (yeah, "Washington-3", sure.)
Or will they stick with Japanese actors ? How can you even reproduce de-japanized japanese people drawn on celluloid well enough ? I'll be curious to see who gets the role for Ayanami Rei. If it destroys my dream vision of an almost-perfect (barring an introverted-beyond-autism personality) human being...
3. STORYLINE. How will you ever be able to summarize that twisted series that is Evangelion into something that can be seen in 2-3 hours ? Or if you take the problem the other way, how will you take a part of the series without screwing the entire context/continuity/complexity ?
And what about the complexity itself ? Will the scenario scaled-down for the non-depressed to understand ? I surely don't want to see an action film made out of THIS. Do you ?
4. WAY OF THINKING. There are things Japanese can stand that Americans can't, and the other way. What would be done about those things ? I mean, there are some in the storyline that are understood (and appreciated ?) by us nerds, but for the others... Remember the beginning of EoE, you'll get an idea of what I mean.
I spent too much weeks staring at the ceiling after having seen Eva to let it become a botched adaptation. Really.
- Hadriven
Re:I hope this doesnt suck! (Score:5, Interesting)
That's just completely untrue. What about the thousands of warriors at the Battle of Helm's Deep? The majestic fortresses, the grotesque oliphaunts?
LOTR was filled with CG from head to toe, for subjects neither explicitly magical nor netherworldly. (I won't go into Golum- one could say he's magic too, instead of simply malnourished)
The CG needs for an Evangelion movie (an ill-starred project if there ever was one) will be similar to LOTR. They'll have to create realistic depictions of huge, improbable structures for the actors to be projected in front of. Then they'll have to build large creatures which look natural when stationary (like the Ents) and command them to move in ways that are smooth and life-like, but far from human-like.
Re:OK (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://anti-slash.org/)
How can you watch Shinseki Evangelion and not understand:
- They aren't alien invaders (in fact, they're 98% human), they're angels. You know, as in from Heaven? They've come to earth to bring about the 3rd Impact which will (pressumably) destroy humanity.
- The fight with the angels is secondary to the plot. The story of Evangelion is about Ikari Shinji who embodies the inante human fear of other humans (hence the existence of the Absolute Terror Field or AT Field). The goal of his father, Ikari Gendou, is to eliminate the AT Fields so that all humanity can be united and thus ascend to the level of God.
Evangelion is intensely deeper than that and I've shaved off most of the details, otherwise this post would be pages long. But those two things are obvious if you've only seen the episodes (in which Gendou is successful and a "positive" 3rd Impact is achieved). The movies turn that around and show what would happen if things went wrong (because of Shinji's own emotional strife).
I could go on and on, but Eva is not just about action. In fact, the action often carries meaningful undercurrents (especially when Shinji first fights Sachiel).
*sigh*
Nevermind.
Re:OK (Score:4, Informative)
- The uniting of humanity is not Gendo's aim, but rather his dead wife's (Shinji's mother). Gendo's aim is to be reunited with her; everything else is secondary for him. The reason for her attempt was to ensure that humanity survived effectively forever (at least until the heat-death of the universe).
- The Third Impact was not really "positive" in the series; some people think that the series ending was just Shinji tripping out. Anno dropped several hints as to what actually happened (in the series, there's a couple of very short cuts showing a certain death scene (don't want to spoil it for others). A more cynical view is that Anno's lack of funding at the end simply lead him to give a giant 'fuck-you' to the production company by producing the most unsuitable closure possible.