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Eva Live Action/Eva Count!

Almost a month ago I sent an E-mail to Tiffany Grant (voice actress of Asuka and wife of Matt Greenfield spearhead of the project) and here it is:


In the dvd eva ressurection, in the pics why is Asuka's name Kate Rose, also
why do the pilots look in there 20s, and one more, why is Rei's name spelled
Ray???

My friends and I have contimplated on this for quite a while and we have no
idea what this could mean, but please, please tell me that they are not
Americanizing Evangelion.

A yes or no answer would be fine on the last one.(But I understand if you
can't answer any)

Any ways other than those minor problems I love the idea of this movie and
think it is genious.

Oh yeah cant forget that you are my favorite anime actress all the animes
you have done are spectacular.Blah Blah Blah im sure you heard all of this
before.

She answered almost immediately with this:


Hi there - Yes, I can help you out, but you will need to wait until next week as I am on my way out of town. Remember that the live action movie is in very early stages of pre-production and nothing is set in stone.

Regards,


Tiffany Grant


And almost a month later she finally answered my question:


Hi there,

Since I have gotten several emails regarding the Eva movies, I wrote a short essay which should answer all your questions. Let me know if I missed something! - TG

This wasn't in there:
>>> why is Rei's name spelled Ray???

They sound the same. It's a typo. If you only heard the show, and never saw her name written down, you could easily make the same mistake.

Here's the rest:

First off, there are 26 TV episodes and two movies in the Eva library. The first goal is to produce a movie that encapsulates the most important elements of the early part of the series so that the viewer will not have to have seen the aforementioned 15 or so hours of video - AND - leave room for one or two (maybe more?) follow up films that can finish off the story.

The movie is being produced jointly by Gainax (of course), ADV and WETA. If you are somehow NOT familiar with the WETA Workshop, this is the incredible studio founded by Peter Jackson in New Zealand that created the Lord of the Rings films. By watching the fantastic documentaries on the LOTR DVDs, you can get an excellent idea of the kind of attention to detail that is being given to everything.

Also, if you have read the LOTR, I think you will see that the characters in that iconic tome have been very faithfully brought to life. In fact, in a film adaptation of the second most read book in the English language (the Bible is the first), it is pretty well unanimously agreed that WETA got it exactly right. Bearing that in mind, I have every reason to have confidence that the same folks who hand glued every hair on each hobbit foot, will do a spectacular job with our NGE heroes.

Keep in mind that WETA will not be doing this in a vacuum either, as they will be supervised by people at both Gainax and ADV (such as my husband, of course).

As for the "slug" names used in the preliminary script (NOT the final version!!!) which appear on the production drawings, they are only used so as not to refer to them as "Pilot A" and "Captain B" etc. As has been widely discussed, the cast will be international, and mostly of European descent. Meaning, for example, if Daniel Radcliffe (Anime Insider's suggestion - NOT mine!) were to play the lead male role, it would be pretty stupid to call an ENGLISH boy "Shinji." Therefore, "Kate Rose" for example is the name they are using for the designs is in place of "Pilot of 02" or whatever.

As no actors have yet been cast, the pre-production drawings are simply pictures that are drawn of imaginary people in place of having a headless plug suit. The artists are trying to design what a real-life plug suit will look like, and it would seem easier to do (and better to look at!) if the person also has a head. Remember - we don't know what the suits are even made of! Rubber? Plastic? Leather? The sketches are part of the early costuming process, and I am quite certain that when a director is found, he or she will seek out the best people for the roles. It seems doubtfull that they would try to find a person to match a drawing.

It may also be of interest to note that there is a geuine desire to cast kids of the right age to play the main roles - NOT 22 year-olds to "play younger." Therefore, it is difficult to speculate at this early stage on who will play these roles since it is not possible to tell right now when principal filming will begin.

The show is in VERY early stages of pre-production, so nothing is final yet. ADV was just trying to share a little Eva goodness with everyone by showing off some of the thousands of production drawings that have been produced. I think they are fabulous, personally, and I eagerly await each new development in the project.

I believe you can all rest easy knowing that the films will be everything and more that we ever thought they could be.



And there you have it now lets discuss.