Keanu Reeves To Play Spike Spiegel In Live-Action 'Cowboy Bebop' Flick
Monday January 19, 2009
Well, its official...Matrix master Keanu Reeves has confirmed his involvement with the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop movie. "Oh yeah, cool," he told MTV in a recent interview. "We're trying to do that."
This won't be Reeves' first exposure to movies with an anime influence and he certainly seems to favor the sci-fi genre, with movies such as Johnny Mnemonic and The Day the Earth Stood Still under his belt, not to mention the infamous Matrix trilogy. But what fans are wanting to know is whether he can pull off the seductive and spicy Spike Spiegel and more importantly, whether FOX can do the Bebop series justice.
The 26-episode show is after all, one of the most revered classics when it comes to quality anime, something that its fans take quite seriously. And while anime to live-action seems to be on an upward trend, those transitions aren't always done as well as fans would like to see. No, I won't name names, but you know where I'm going with that...
Which is why Bebop is such an important adaptation for FOX to get right. I'm a big Keanu fan and he's definitely got the right look but Spike is so... well, you know.. "spikey". He's mysterious but easy-going. Sexy but kind of goofy too. Extremely macho and certainly well-skilled in hand-to-hand combat yet not a musclehead in any form or fashion. Like I said.. "spikey".
Erwin Stoff will produce and Shinichiro Watanabe and Keiko Nobumoto from the anime series are on board as associate producers. No word yet on a release date.
Comments
i think keanu reeves is a good actor but hes not the person to play spike. i loved the series and i dont think live action will do it justice.
I don’t know about Reeves playing Spike. If he actually watches the series, or at least the movie, maybe he’ll be alright. The good thing (imo) is that Cowboy Bebop is fairly on the realistic side, so the production value of a live action version should be pretty good. Afterall, there aren’t any super powers to consider, or magical special effects involved. I’ll be interested to see who will play Jet and Faye, or if they’re even in it.
I loved Spike and cried for three weeks when he died. Ok..so I don’t get out much, but I think whoever plays Spike has to love who he is, as Spike even did himself. Also the role of Viscious has to be absolutely a perfect connection so that Spike and Viscious compliment each other on screen, or you lose both characters completely. I hope they pull this one off well. We need awesome material to enjoy as viewers. The Cowboy Bebop Series was the most amazing series I’ve ever seen. Shinichiro Watanabe is one of a kind. How will they handle the music part of the show?
Hollywood, Americans in general really need to just lay off of making L/A out of Anime and Japanese stuff in general. They just suck at it.
All of the Japanese horror movies we’ve robbed = Fail, Godzilla = megaFAIL, DBZ & Speed Racer = ultraFAIL.
Just stop.
The Japanese tend to do more justice to their own stuff – Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls), Cutie Honey, Chromartie, Lupin, Sakuran etc…
If Junichiro Watanabe wants to make a live action of Bebop then and only then will it be good.
whoops I meant Shinichiro*
if you think about what they say in the article, doesn’t sound like they should be making GUN FRONTIER ? that is something that i wouldn’t mind american film producing…!
hmm…that’s nice! but would it be better if Keannu Reeves will play as Vash Stampede? hehe just kidding…
Why! It’s almost as bad as Zac Efrin as Light Yagami…
I think they would be better off with some tall, lanky, Asian dude who can also kick ass.
(Even though spike is white and Jewish decent.) hahaha
As a screenwriter…I must say, he can play any part and all my scripts are written with him in mind…so,Keanu…just keep being you*