The Live Action Evangelion Movie Thread

[Ironfoot]

Originally Posted by BLueFire

That possible Misato character looks scary as hell.

Tell me about it.

[Ironfoot]

March 1, 2004

Long time, no update. That's about to change.

From Tiffany Grant's website, some new movie information was added.

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8: I'm afraid the new Live-action eva movie I keep hearing about will screw up the characters.
What can you tell me?

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 in the Eva movies. 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 and not, as you put it, "screwed up." 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). I believe you can rest easy knowing that the films will be everything and more that we ever thought they could be. As a bonus feature on the new Evangelion Director's Cut DVDs about to be released by ADV, there will be LOTS of cool never-before-seen production drawings for the live-action movies. I've seen them, and they are AWESOME!
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Confirmation: "production drawings for the live-action movies." Multiple Live Action Evangelion movies. The next Lord of the Rings series?

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Someone from the Evangelion forums for trivialbeing.net went to "A Weekend with Tomino." There, some speech from Matt Greenfield, President of ADV (I think (he's writing the draft script for the movie)) was recorded.

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Question: If there were auditions, who exactly are you looking for? (*This isn't the exact question, but this is close to what was asked.)
Matt Greenfield: I've seen a lot of cast lists with a lot of dead people. And it's like, you know, yeah, he would be really great, but he died three years ago. Or, you know, people who were appropriate to the age... yeah, it would be great if you could go back in time short-round and Indiana Jones: The Temple Of Doom, but he's now thirty. So, that's why I don't talk about the casting 'cause until that project goes it's going to depend upon... I mean, if any... if it started today, there's people who'd be great who are not going to be good in a year. It's just a matter of character versus aging so... until we actually get to the point where we've got a completely greenlighted production, we're not even talking about... who. We're talking about types. But, and that's why, a lot of it's purely up in the air, it's like okay, you want to get someone to play the character and not necessarily someone who is a deadringer for the character in the anime or whatever; only to get the typewrite. And, it's an ensemble thing. Everybody has to be able to work with everyone else. You don't want, for example, [trying to think of something...] if for example, you know, you found a really great Asian teenager to play the male lead, it would be kinda weird if you cast Laurence Fishburne as his dad. So, it's one of those, you know, if you kinda... because, all the characters are related in various ways. You've kinda got a situation. AND YES, HE'S BEEN SUGGESTED BY A BUNCH OF PEOPLE OVER THE INTERNET.
ADV employee: And as far as your other bets concern, it's a matter of, we would have to kill you, and then they would kill us. (NOTE: This pertains to the reason why they can't explain what ADV stands for just so you all know since the girl asked.)
Matt Greenfield: We just find it a lot easier just not to say things that might be taken out of context. And someone says,"OH! BLAH BLAH BLAH!" And I could say," Yeah, someone who's like him." But, and the all of a sudden it's (Note: Matt Greenfield says the following in a higher-pitched voice and is very sarcastic. ) OH HARRY POTTER IS GOING TO BE SHINJI! AAAAWWW!!!
Matt Greenfield: Yeah, he would have been great four years ago. Have you seen him? He's like 6'6" or something like that. Pretty tall!

Question: What will the story of the Evangelion Live-Action movie be like since it is a 2 to 3 hour movie? (*This is also close to the original question asked.)
Matt Greenfield: So much that it's the basic storyline structure, but how closely it will tow the line to the... You can't exactly tow the line just as the manga does not tow the line. Even though the manga came after the anime. Different mediums require different ways of approaching it. If you're talking about a 2-hour feature film, there's things you can do in a 13 hour tv series, which Evangelion is, so, it will tell the basic elements of the story, but not everything.
Tiffany Grant: So will Tom Bombadil be in the movie?
[Everyone laughs.]
ADV Employee: Hey, it's YOUR wife!
[Crowd saying "Ooooooh!" while Matt Greenfield shakes his head like he's tired by resting his forehead on his hand.]
[Questions about Eva continue, but are not about the Live-Action movie here.]
Audience member: Hey, are you going to let Asuka kill a bunch of angels in the movie?
Tiffany Grant: YAY!
Matt Greenfield: ...No.
[Everyone whines "aww..!!" Tiffany Grant also whines too and adds,"Come on!"]
Audience member: (same one as before) Asuka needs to kill something!
[Some people are still whining/groaning.]
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I smell a Trilogy.

[Rndm_Perfection]

AWESOME information. Thank you very much.

Oh yes, I can't believe it... an A class animé getting A class production.


I liked this quote:

Tiffany Grant: So will Tom Bombadil be in the movie?

Hahah... yeah, I always talked about Tom Bombadil's absence. He could see Frodo when Frodo was wearing his ring! Ah, good input though.

[Ironfoot]

Originally Posted by Rndm_Perfection

AWESOME information. Thank you very much.

Oh yes, I can't believe it... an A class animé getting A class production.


I liked this quote:


Hahah... yeah, I always talked about Tom Bombadil's absence. He could see Frodo when Frodo was wearing his ring! Ah, good input though.

Your welcome.

Now you can see why I've been following the developments of the live action movie(s) for quite some time now. One of the best Animes being converted into (a) live action movie(s) by one of the best development studios on the planet. Evangelion deserves the attention.

And yeah, that Tom Bombadil quote was awesome. It gives us a slight perspective that they know what they're doing.

Also, keep this in mind:

"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."

Good confidence booster, eh?

[Ironfoot]

March 2, 2004

Things are indeed changing...

From trivialbeing.net, as usual. Apparently someone from their forums called "KameKase" picked up something written by Tiffany Grant. I'm not sure how old it is, but knowing the fact that eva.trivialbeing.net and other sites are always probing for new movie news, I'd say it's pretty recent. I'd like to point out however that a lot of it was cut and pasted from Tiffany Grant's information found above. I'll bold the text that's new...to me at least.

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I noticed there have been a number of posts regarding the moive, and this is a little essay I have written for your perusal. I hope it clears some things up. - TG

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 and not, as you put it, "screwed up." 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."

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.
=========

Change is happening, they must tred the path carefully.

[Rndm_Perfection]

Daniel Radcliffe... I don't want it.

[Ironfoot]

Originally Posted by Rndm_Perfection

Daniel Radcliffe... I don't want it.

I doubt it will happen after seeing this speech from Matt Greenfield:

Matt Greenfield: ...But, and the all of a sudden it's (Note: Matt Greenfield says the following in a higher-pitched voice and is very sarcastic. ) OH HARRY POTTER IS GOING TO BE SHINJI! AAAAWWW!!!

[Ironfoot]

March 6, 2004

Those concepts I posted a while back are now availible as High Res shots. Also, there's some new concept art from the Genesis Reborn DVD released just a little while ago, located here. Eva-01 looks nothing what its supposed to be, good thing they're just concepts.

[Ironfoot]

March 26, 2004

"Untitled Evangelion Project."

[Teuthida]

If I get as good a mindf*ck I'll be satisfied.

A lot better than Pitof, the horrible director of Catwoman, directing the live-action version of Akira. Now that's a way to ruin a classic. I'm preparing for the worst on that one.

[Ironfoot]

April 4, 2005

Well, after a year long hiatus, I return to GameTavern.


In the time since I was gone, Gainax had announced at around Jun 2004 that they had a pre-approved list of directors. The topic is found here.

Since then, The Live Action Evangelion Project has been in "pre-production hell", where a project in this phase could easily be put onto the backburner for years and/or just totally forgotten. Sometimes they get accepted right away, though that's not usually the case.

A few new tidbits (two rumors) were posted recently.

The first was posted on Feb. 21 about the possibility of Peter Jackson directing the project, found here.

Please note that the following is an unofficial source and should for now be treated as nothing more than rumor.

One of the attendees claimed to have an associate currently interning in WETA's prop shop (for lack of a better term). He claimed that WETA artists have produced more than just the conceptual artwork we've seen thus far, including some preliminary 3D models and so forth.

Also of interest is that the word around the studio is that Peter Jackson is indeed interested in directing this project, however due to contractual agreements with Universal (?), he is currently tied into working on King Kong, and is unable to head up Live Action Evangelion, and may well be in line or have vouched for Live Action Eva once King Kong's production closes.

Once again, this is pure unsubstaniated rumor, and should be taken with a grain of salt. The possibility for Peter Jackson's direction may exist, according to what I was told. However, this is not a credible source and needs further verification.

The next rumor was posted on Mar. 29 and the project is reconfirmed to be alive by ADV President Matt Greenfield. The post is found here.

From ANN's Kamikazecon report:

"As expected, a large portion of questions revolved around the live-action version of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Greenfield confirmed that the project was very much alive, and they were currently in the process of finding a director. While naming no names, Greenfield did confirm that interest has been shown by several major directors, including one who has won an Oscar. He also mentioned that the probable location of the shoot would be New Zealand, the same country where WETA, the studio slated to create special effects for Evangelion, is located. When asked how soon the movie would be finished, Greenfield indicated it would be at least a year, most likely 3 or 4."

[Ironfoot]

Originally Posted by Danchastu

If I get as good a mindf*ck I'll be satisfied.

A lot better than Pitof, the horrible director of Catwoman, directing the live-action version of Akira. Now that's a way to ruin a classic. I'm preparing for the worst on that one.

Well this is a coincidence. :o

Yeah Greenfield better know how to make people go crazy, like make everything religious and have crusaders try to ban the whole thing.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Thanks to a movie called Casshern I'm not worried about how good EVA will be.

Casshern is a live action movie based off the anime Kashayn or Casshan or something like that.

It was sweet!

So I fear not for Live action goodness any longer!

[Teuthida]

I didn't like Casshern...not one little bit.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I thought Casshern was great.

I can see where a lot of people wouldn't like it though.