Forum - View topicNEWS: Guillermo del Toro Develops Monster Manga as Possible HBO Show
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David.Seth
 Posts: 453 Location: near SF |
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Seriously. Location shouldn't be a problem for HBO. Look at all the countries they have filmed at for GoT |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14886 |
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OK maybe they can add ecchi scenes to spike things up. 
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Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
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This is awesome news. I'm usually not too excited about live-action adaptations of manga and anime because of the loss of specific aesthetics and such, but I've always thought Monster could work very well since it's focus is so much more on the strong writing and unfolding of events department than flashy animation.
And now an HBO series, so much better suited than a movie, less restrictions concerning (psychological) violence to please a studio, and Guillermo del Toro. I can see this working really well. Let's hope thy get their casting straight and don't do something awful like giving spoiler[Tenma and Nina a sex scene] or something. |
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CrownKlown
 Posts: 1762 |
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Oh because the Japanese did a live action of Negima where they cast a Welsh kid as negi. Or lupin was french in the live action movie. Or Kurosawa's works featured all white casts because they were based on the works of Shakespeare (the answer is no, a little Japanese kid played Negi, Lupin was played by a Japanese guy in Psycho Kinetic Lupin, and Kurosawa's work based on Shakespeare like Ran have all Japanese casts). Japan does the same thing America does, as does pretty much the rest of the world. In India you have an Indian Spiderman and Superman, etc. So stop this bullshit that the US is the only group altering characters to suit their audience. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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The difference of course is that America is a multi-cultural country, unlike Japan, and none of the examples you gave are of them changing American characters from an American work and setting it in Japan. Which they probably have done with something, but again, their audience is almost entirely Japanese (as is their selection of actors - trying to recruit foreign actors who probably don't speak Japanese would be problematic). In the US the audience is not almost entirely white, so there's no justification for changing the main characters in foreign works unless you're reworking and retitling it to be its own thing.
And no one expects The Magnificent Seven, an adaptation of the Seven Samurai rather than an American produced version of Seven Samurai, to be cast with Japanese actors in the American Old West, or for Last Man Standing to be Yojimbo. Those are more analagous to Ran and King Lear. Hopefully the attitude is changing a little. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was remade here, but the setting was still Sweden and the characters retained their names. On the other hand, Let the Right One In got turned into Let Me In, and went from Sweden to New Mexico (guess which of these two Swedish remakes had the best box office). But I think the setting was more important in the former than the latter, and for Monster, post Cold War Germany is essential. And if you're going that far, then keeping Tenma Japanese is a no-brainer. Why alienate your built-in fan base from the get go? You'd think Hollywood would have learned by now that comics and animation fans can make or break a movie. If this does get done though, I'm really wondering what they'll do about casting Johan and Nina.  I can think of a number of ways to handle it, but all of them seem like they'll be crappy.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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Right I can't believe someone actually used Kurosawa 's Shakespeare adaptions to prove their point. I mean because Shakespeare hasn't been adapted in every setting imaginable? |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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America isn't purely white, and hasn't been since...forever. We also have Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, Native Indians, and far far more. That's why whitewashing in America is looked down upon, because competent actors (who speak English) who aren't just white also exist, and they're almost always excluded for the sake of choosing whites. It'll be far less common in more homogenous societies like Japan that you will encounter non-Japanese who can speak fluently and ACT in Japanese. If you can't act in Japanese, and they're sure as hell not going to subtitle your lines when you're supposed to be speaking Japanese, then what use are you?
They are not equivalent practices. This HBO Monster could easily pick any Japanese American (or hell, any Asian American because they know general TV audiences won't care to know the difference) to be cast in the lead role. There's got to be some really strong actor out there who fits the bill, and thousands of times more likely than you'll find a competent white actor who speaks Japanese. And yet, we fear that they won't do that, but opt for a white guy instead. |
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danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
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Oh I adore Del Toro and Steven Thompson wrote that great episode of Sherlock called The Reichenbach Fall so I am expecting this stuff to be good.I am interested in seeing how visual presentation will differ and what effects will it have.
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mrsticky005
Posts: 133 |
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If they can't find one English speaking Japanese or at the very least Asian actor to play Dr. Kenzo Tenma then that's just pathetic.
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totoum
 Posts: 49 |
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Considering Del Toro refused to have his movie Pan's labyrinth be dubbed for american audiences I'm pretty sure he'll try and keep the authenticity of the manga of the manga as much as possible.
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daichi383
 Posts: 313 Location: England |
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That's a given though. Even if we don't want it there's that supposed HBO executive that tells their talent to just randomly add sex scenes to episodes for no reason. I would love to be able to watch an HBO show with the family without awkward silences like this weeks episode of GoT 
Seriously though, I'd be interested to see how they approach this. I would love for them to stick as close as possible to the basic plot but add stuff here and there to keep things fresh. I would love |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Complete cop out and no longer relevant in this modern inter-connected world. You either apply the standard or don't, but there's no excuse at this point to play favorites towards one and give them free passes for actions you ridicule others for aside from your own bias. Nobody is buying it anymore, and in this world that is so interconnected where you have actors and actresses working on shows regularly on the opposite ends of the world, there is simply no excuse no matter how much you want there to be one to justify your own double standards. It's prejudice, whether you choose to admit it or not, making you every bit as bad as the ones you point your finger at. Just sad. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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I don't think Japan is that diverse in population, regardless of interconnectedness, and neither is Japanese a global language. Your actor will need to speak Japanese, much like we'd expect actors to speak English in Hollywood films unless they're a bit part or side character, which is what most non-Japanese actors in Japan are. Maybe it does come down the same thing we always talk about: selling the most amount of tickets. Whites make up the majority of the US's population, so maybe whitewashing has proven to be more lucrative. Maybe whites don't want to see Asians in leading roles. There, I brought America down to Japan's level, no more double standard. They're both equally at fault.
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6172 Location: USA |
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While I'm all for this, I'm not going to hold my breath because every time you hear about these types of projects they end up getting canned. I'll believe it when I see it. But I'm for seeing his directorial skills put into action on this title.
I don't know why Japan never tried making this a live action series. Well, again the manga was long enough, and the anime was like 70+ episodes. Too bad I'll never get the chance to see it. |
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bj_waters
 Posts: 234 |
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I've said as much elsewhere, but if Del Toro's willing to trim the fat on the series, I might give this a go. (I personally think 74 episodes for the anime series was too long for what it was trying to do.)
Beside, this being an American adaptation, I highly doubt it will be anything near a 100% accurate adaptation, partially because American television and cinema just don't do that (I can't think of a time when they did, anyway). Still, with Del Toro in the chair, this thing could go anywhere. Also, while I may not be a fan of the series, I do hope, for the sake of the fans, that this does inspire Viz to release the rest of it. I know how much it sucks to have a series you love get left hanging like that (KODOCHA!). |
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