itsfreakingfrosty:
Keanu Ate My Baby

Ever since the sad Keanu meme hit I’ve been having trouble making fun of Keanu Reeves. It’s really taken away a large slice of my “acceptable targets” pie chart. And I can no longer watch “The Matrix: Revolutions” in the only acceptable way to watch it. That aside, it also makes it difficult to discuss the still-in-preproduction live action Cowboy Bebop movie. Before sad Keanu happened, I indulged in criticizing the choice of putting Keanu in the role of Spike, mercilessly. Spike, after all, needs to have just the right balance of light-hearted carefree coolness and angsty dark place mysteriousness. In other words, depth, something Keanu is not exactly renowned for. But now it just feels mean to talk about it. I mean look at Keanu, he never hurt anyone. He only wants to be loved and to eat his sandwich in peace.

Besides, the reality is that Keanu won’t make this movie suck. OK, yes, this is mostly sad Keanu meme sympathy talking, but I am hopeful. Keanu is a fan. And I believe that Keanu, at the very least, is not a complete dolt. I believe that he can recognize what makes Spike, Spike and why fans like that character. I believe he will do his sincere best to emulate those features and bring something likable to the character. Don’t get me wrong, the movie’s going to suck, it just won’t be Keanu’s fault. The fact of the matter is that American live action adaptation of anime tends to suck even with casting decisions that should work (I’m looking at, you, James Marsters). And the screen writer they’ve hired isn’t helping the film’s chances any. He’s written like one other movie and does not have the appropriate background to handle this adaptation. The movie will almost without question be a train wreck but it won’t be Keanu’s fault. So as this movie edges its way towards actual production be kind to Keanu. Surely there will be other shit to complain about.

http://itsfreakingfrosty.tumblr.com/

but the meme did have some positive effects. me happy :)

Keanu Reeves Discusses Live-Action Cowboy Bebop

Actor Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, Animatrix, Johnny Mnemonic) discussed the current status of the proposed live-action Cowboy Bebop film project with the Collider movie news website in a Monday interview. Reeves premiered his new film Henry's Crime at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday.

When Collider asked for an update on the Cowboy Bebop project, Reeves responded:

I haven't heard anything back. They turned in the script and it was very expensive. I don't know if they're going to…it would cost, like, half a billion dollars to make that script. So, I don't know where it's at right now.

Reeves had told MTV News last September that writer Peter Craig was rewriting the script. He added at the time that the producers were "just trying to pull it back" in scope.

The American film studio Twentieth Century Fox, the production company 3 Arts Entertainment, and the original anime studio Sunrise have been co-producing this proposed adaptation of the 1998 anime series. The original series follows the motley crew of the spaceship Bebop as it travels throughout the solar system in search of the next job.

Reeves is slated to star. Joshua Long is acting as a production supervisor, and Erwin Stoff, a film producer who worked closely with Reeves on The Matrix and A Scanner Darkly, is also attached. The associate producers are Sunrise President Kenji Uchida, the original Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe, and the original series script supervisor Keiko Nobumoto. The Sunrise studio itself and Masahiko Minami (former Sunrise producer and BONES studio co-founder) are both acting as production consultants.

http://community.livejournal.com/aramatheydidnt/1202675.html?thread=84250099#t84250099

Oh, and I'm loving the comments. Like this one, for instance:

"Cowboy Bebop is awesome. I want to say 'no' to the idea, but since it's Keanu Reeves..."

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything about the live-action movie version of Cowboy Bebop, and that’s not usually a good sign. Last we heard way back in January of 2009, Keanu Reeves was officially on board to star in an adaptation of the Japanese anime creation. Now, a year and a half later, he says not so much.

Collider talked to the One this week and he told them that the Cowboy Bebop movie is dead. Bottom line, the movie was just to expensive to make. It’s a problem anything even remotely ambitious has been running into a lot lately. Hollywood’s in serious cost-cutting mode, even though their profits are up and we live an environment where even the most poorly attended piece of crap always seems to manage to turn a profit after overseas and DVD sales totals are factored in. In a distributing environment where moneymaking is almost guaranteed, you’d think they’d be more willing to take risks, but instead it seems like Hollywood has decided to take all this as a sign that they don’t have to take risks. They seem more and more content to sit back and make easy money for making any old shit.

So nobody’s taking a risk on a big-budget Cowboy Bebop movie, even with Keanu Reeves attached as a box office draw, and now it’s dead. It’s a shame because Keanu sounded genuinely enthusiastic back when he talked about what they were going to do with it last year. Here’s how explained his take on Bebop: “It’s got a Western quality, a Western film noir aspect to it. 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.” The original anime series, which debuted back in 1998 followed a group of bounty hunters traveling on a spaceship named Bebop.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Keanu-s-Cowboy-Bebop-Movie-Is-Dead-20714.html

http://portfo.li/movies/2169035-keanu-reeves-says-he-s-still-knocking-on-the-cowboy-bebop-door?utm_campaign=tweet&utm_medium=tinyurl&utm_source=twitter

And here's a videoclip: http://splashpage.mtv.com/2011/04/05/cowboy-bebop-keanu-reeves/

Edit:

I dunno if this was ever posted, but it's from TIFF last autumn. This is what Keanu had to say about the project back then:

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/09/21/keanu-reeves-cowboy-bebop-movie/

great soundtrack, btw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V-WGwJJj58

http://itsfreakingfrosty.tumblr.com/post/2967268592/duuuuuddddeeee

I replied. :|

http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.
php?s=92f8aa67b43dad0d86af0a8500c79cf5&t=18289

ARYA - thanks for that link. it goes to show the usual controversy; one can't find two people who like the same Keanu films/performances. With him, it's always a matter of perception... it's more about the beholder, as the 'beauty' is the same ;) :D

will shut up now.

and Anakin ! your reply .. well what can i say?? I'm falling from my chair.. I'm serious :D

'depravity'? bah, he doesn't know the half of it ;) :D
'functional terrorist cell'? ahem. ;)

http://triplebeard.com/2011/08/22/an-evening-with-steve-blum-the-interview-with-a-bang/

Triplebeard: What do you think about the live action Cowboy Bebop movie that has been in development for ages, any thoughts on a cameo or about Keanu Reeves as Spike? I vote for Mickey Rourke as Jet, or Cheech Marin… joking with the Cheech thing by the way… or maybe I’m not!

Steve: I was concerned when I first heard that it was in the works. Then I met Keanu last year and had a brief, but powerful conversation with him. He loves the show and was passionate about doing it justice. It made me feel a lot better about him doing it. He’s a cool guy, and I believe if he was to do it, he’d bust his ass to do it right. He told me that the script was written and was amazing, but quite simply would be too expensive to produce. He was also worried that by the time it did get financed, he’d be too old to do his own stunts. Watanabe-San was attached, so I trust if it ever does get made, his watchful eye will make sure it’s true to his vision.