Keanu Reeves as Spike in Cowboy Bebop movie? Woah.
A live-action adaptation of the extraordinary anime series Cowboy Bebop is bad enough, but then it gets worse. Rumour has it that Keanu Reeves almost certainly has the role of lead protagonist Spike Spiegel. Now, Spike doesn’t really talk much, which is a good thing, but I still have every belief that Reeves will screw this up.
The movie is supposedly under development at Fox, but they haven’t announced anything officially yet. A source close to FirstShowing here says that the movie is still there, and will be headed for a 2010 release. No clear director yet, but Keanu has been attached to Spike Spiegel for some 8 months now. Disturbing.
I’m against a live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, because it is best damn anime I’ve ever seen and one of my most favourite franchises. Now a CG movie or something, I can appreciate that. But why does Hollywood have to take it live action?
The awesome characters from the series will now be replaced by some crappy people like Keanu Reeves and what-not. I also doubt it the series will capture the original theme of the series, its mature Western feel, the importance of the soundtrack and its synchronization with the fight scenes. Instead, we’ll probably just be treated to some fancy special effects.
With the disaster that was Speed Racer, you must understand that it’s difficult to get your hopes up for this. I’m not saying that the anime was much better than what the Wachowkis made of it, but still.
Tags: 2010, Anime, casting, cowboy bebop, cowboy bebop movie, keanu reeves, rumours, spike spiegel
20. August 2008 at 9:57 pm :
I completely agree with you. In fact, my friend and I are looking up random news and I saw the title for this. I didn’t even read the article and started telling him about how much Reeves would suck as Spike. He mumbles too much for one thing and his voice barely reaches the microphone to the point you have to turn up your TV all the way (which sucks when someone else speaks or when the action scenes start).
Besides, what can they do in the way of story. The anime pretty much covered all that needed to be. And with an ending like that…
Anyway, I agree with you. Maybe we can sign some sort of petition to stop them from doing this horrible idea.