Movie Make-out

Listen, it’s not that I particularly have it in for Keanu Reeves. He’s a decent actor when he’s given stuff that requires him to be very stoic, and I was actually surprised and pleased by his work in A Scanner Darkly.

But once again, I am forced to do the Luke Skywalker scream when faced with the news that Reeves is lobbying to get the lead role in the live-action adaptation of the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop.

From the MTV.com article:

Reeves revealed that this outline for the flick is currently focusing on the origins of the fictional “Bebop” drug developed by the military, which provides its users with a brief surge of superhuman reflexes and awareness. “We’re taking the Red Eye [story], the beginning part of the series,” he explained, “and then we’ll deal with the end of the series. We’re trying to figure out [the time frame]. We’re looking at the story right now.”

Already, my hackles are being raised, because even though he acknowledges that the drug seen in the first episode is called “Red Eye” Reeves says that the outline for the script as overseen by producer Erwin Stoff is calling the drug “Bebop.” Who the hell names a drug “Bebop”? Are they doing that in order to make the series name make sense to a mainstream audience? Why the hell would you want to do that, when the “Bebop” part of the name refers to the fantastic jazz soundtrack to the film?

And as for Reeves wanting to play Spike Spiegel, I have to say that if you do have to pick a half-Asian man to play him, why not choose one that has closer ties to the anime world, who actually does know how to do stuntwork well, and already has an established geek fan following?

Yes, I’m speaking of former Power Ranger, Johnny Yong Bosch who currently does ADR work for several popular anime series and whose stuntwork can be seen here in the trailer to Broken Path, a movie he screened all over the U.S. at anime conventions last year:

Am I right?

The always cool and terribly awesome Jennifer Vineyard over at MTV.com’s Splash Page turns in a wonderful interview with British author Neil Gaiman about his newest novel The Graveyard Book (over which Hollywood people went into a bidding frenzy even before it got published) and uncovers this gem: it is going to be made into a live-action movie.

[The people at U.K special effects house Framework] want to start making films, and start producing their own films,” Gaiman said. “And they read it, and they loved it, and I spoke to them, and they said all the right things, and they seem to listen. So I don’t think it’s going to be transported to a graveyard in Los Angeles where they’ve been burying bathing beauties or anything. I think we’re actual going to stick with where the book is written and film that. And I think part of the idea is that they know they can also do the special effects cheaply.”

This is perhaps the best news I’ve heard all day. Considering what an English geek I am and that I loved his and Roger Avary’s Beowulf, I have no doubts that Gaiman will be able to adapt his own work for the screen or at least have a hand in choosing the right screenwriter to do it.

You betcha I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled to Gaiman’s journal for those interesting behind the scenes tidbits when they actually start production.

As usual, Coming Soon’s Edward Douglas delivers a top-notch interview when he speaks with Philip Seymour Hoffman about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.

Here’s a taste:

Coming Soon: When you first got the screenplay from Charlie, what were your impressions of it? Was there enough on the page that you could read through it and understand where it’s going? There’s a lot of stuff that’s visual and very intricate in terms of the setting. Was that all on the page?

Hoffman: Pretty much, yeah, it’s all on the page. It’s weird because everyone knows it’s a visual medium, and sometimes I’ll be in script meetings with producers, and I’m like maybe there’ll be a scene and they’ll be like I’m not quite getting it, and I’m like, “Well it says right there…” And they don’t get it, and I’m like “Yeah, because you’re going to see it. You haven’t seen it yet. That actor has to act that.” ‘Cause the question is actually interesting because yes and no, of course, yes, I got an idea, my own vision, like when you’re reading a book.

Synecdoche, New York opens in New York and L.A. on October 24, before hopefully spreading out in the following weeks. Its tough battle to get distribution at all means it may not hit many markets in the US before leaving theaters, so please, if you live in New York and L.A. (and, of course, if you have any interest in the film), see it soon. Strong, early showings are the only way films like this — intelligent, truly independent films — stands a chance at a wider release.

Related Post: Trailer Watch: Synecdoche, New York trailer; Update on Synecdoche, New York; Che; Two Lovers

FirstShowing.net has pointed me at an interview with Studio Ghibli’s Toshio Suzuki over at GhibliWorld (originally from Cut, in Japanese). Suzuki has served as a producer for all of Miyazaki’s films since Kiki’s Delivery Service, as well the Ghibli/Bandai co-production, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. The interview concentrates on Miyazaki’s next film, Ponyo on a Cliff.

Elsewhere on the web, Variety reports that John Goodman and Joan Cusack have signed on to star as the ridiculously beautiful Isla Fisher’s parents in the upcoming adaptation of Sophie Kinsella’s shit lit bestseller Confessions of a Shopaholic. I thought Cusack was kind of a weird choice, because she’s not even 14 years older than the 32 year old Fisher. But apparently the babyfaced Fisher is playing a little younger than her age, since the book revolves around the 25 year old Rebecca Bloomwood, with a spending problem and a multi-millionaire suitor. Life is rough, huh?

While I’m glad that the very, very funny star of Wedding Crashers and Definitely, Maybe (and, yes, Hot Rod) is getting a well-deserved leading role, this premise really just rubs me the wrong way (I have no read the book). Publisher’s Weekly states that "Rebecca is so unremittingly shallow and Luke is so wonderful that readers may find themselves rooting for the heroine not to get the man. Although, since Shakespeare’s time, there’s rarely been any doubt concerning how romantic comedies will end." (Well, duh.) In any case, if this gold digger’s fantasy rakes in the box office bucks, there are four sequels to be mined.…

Lastly (for now), ReelzChannel has an interview with indie wünderkind David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls) about his new film, the Sam Rockwell/Kate Beckinsale drama Snow Angels, as well as his next… the Judd Apatow-produced "stoner action movie" Pineapple Express?! If you’re at all familiar with his other films, you’ll realize just how huge a change of pace this is for the director. I always like to see skilled directors break out of their usual schtick and tackle completely different kinds of stories.

UPDATE (3/6/08): And boy, when I said "completely different," I didn’t know the half of it. Over at the MTV Movies Blog, David Gordon Green has stated that he’s written a remake of Dario Argento’s classic horror flick Suspiria (the trailer for which can be found at YouTube) and hopes to direct it himself. Dimension Films has been trying to get a remake off the ground for years, so if the very thought of this film being remade scares you more than the movie did, I wouldn’t sweat it too much… unless Pineapple Express is a huge hit.

Related post: Trailer Watch: Kung Fu Panda, Pineapple Express, Sex and Death 101, more