Live Action Anime

In an interview with MTV, Keanu Reeves showed his eagerness for his hopeful upcoming role as Spike Spiegel in the live action Cowboy Bebop movie.  He also reveals some details on the film.

“It’s got a Western quality, a Western film noir aspect to it,” Reeves said of why he’s such a big fan of Shinichiro Watanabe and Keiko Nobumoto’s groundbreaking series. “It’s got so much style to it, and that’s part of its appeal. That kind of Old West, bordertown, low-tech science fiction aspect.”

Producer Erwin Stoff is currently putting the film together at 20th Century Fox.  Stoff has spent the last two decades working almost exclusively on Reeves projects. “We’ve got the rights, we’ve got a writer,” Keanu explained. “He’s putting together a scene outline.”

The current story idea revolves around the creation of the “Bebop” drug developed by the military.  A concept that was pulled from elements in the anime. “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.”

Since the beloved 26-episode show (as well as the feature film) didn’t necessarily maintain a linear style of storytelling, Reeves said that somewhere between the Red Eye origins and the “Bebop” conclusion, they’ll be picking out various highlights for their own use.

“Yeah, it’s so episodic and so disconnected. We’re trying to figure out what pieces to put together to tell one story,” he explained. “Because it’s such a short form, to make a 2 hour version [will be tough]. And it’s got so much of an origin-story obligation; you’ve got to get people up to speed, but you don’t want to do much of that. There are a lot of things to take into consideration, but we think we can do something good.”

So it seems like we might see one two hour movie that covers the entire Cowboy Bebop series.  Although I’m sure if it does well, knowing Fox, there will be sequels.  Could be the next franchise for Mr. Reeves.  Here’s hoping the Fox can pull it off.

To read the full interview go here.

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