Summary
It seems ever since audiences saw their first anime, their imaginations of how that anime would look in a live-action setting. In fact, you could argue that ever since movies became a thing, people who were fans of books, comics, or theatrical plays have wondered exactly how their favorite forms of entertainment would look in film. One of the biggest anime that audiences have pondered about what it would look like in live-action isCowboy Bebop.
Considered one of the greatest anime of all time, a live-actionCowboy Bebopmovie spent years in Development Hell before it was ultimately canceled. Considering how popular the series was, why was such a sure thing shelved, and what were some of the problems that plagued the production?
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What is Cowboy Bebop?
Cowboy Bebopis a popular and VERY influential Japanese anime series created by Shinichirō Watanabe. It first aired in Japan in 1998 and quickly gained international acclaim for its unique blend of genres, captivating characters, and distinctive style. Set in the distant future, the series follows a group of bounty hunters, known as “cowboys,” as they traverse the galaxy in pursuit of criminals. The story unfolds in a futuristic world where humanity has colonized other planets and space travel is common.
The series was so successful that it resulted in manga adaptations, a feature-length animated film titledCowboy Bebop: The Movie, and was even one of the flagship shows when Cartoon Network launched their new (at the time) adult-skewing animation block, Adult Swim. Despite only having 26 episodes and a movie, the series had a significant impact on pop culture, and Hollywood soon came looking to capitalize on that impact.
The Origins of the Live-Action Movie
The idea for a live-action adaptation of the popular anime seriesCowboy Bebopbegan circulating in the mid-2000s. In 2008, it was officially announced that Keanu Reeves was attached to star as the lead character, Spike Spiegel. Having come off his recent success of The Matrix trilogy, Reeves was one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood. Not only would his involvement ensure the movie caught audience’s attention, but Reeves himself was a fan of the series and was looking forward to bringing it to life.
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What Went Wrong?
While bringing Keanu Reeves on was a great first step, it would ultimately prove to be the only successful one as well. Early on, there were concerns from production company 20th Century Fox about the budget of the film, because while the series had been a huge hit for Bandai and Cartoon Network, the studio was concerned that the series was still not popular enough to dedicate the high budget the movie would need to convincingly be brought to life on the big screen in live-action format.
As a result, the screenplay went through re-write after re-write, as writers and directors tried to find the right balance of adapting the story faithfully while keeping the budget in check. A variety of different directors were attached to direct the film that ultimately left the project. Some of these directors include (but are not limited to):
These are justsomeof the noteworthy directors who we know that were attached to the film. The reality is that there were many more directors, writers, and actors who were talking to that we may never know were in the development rooms. That said, it does highlight the fact that the frequent changes in directors and the challenges in finding the right creative vision for the adaptation contributed to the project’s protracted development.
What’s more, Keanu Reeves may have been a trooper and stayed attached to the project, but he also had abusy schedule and commitmentsto other projects. He couldn’t simply wait around for the movie to finally make it into production, so he took on other movie roles in the meantime. Sometimes that meant the studio would get close to getting ready to start production, but at that point Reeve’s would be busy with something else. At one point, the project was deemed so hopeless at Fox that it was moved to Warner Bros.
While Warner Bros. was excited about the potential of the film, shortly after acquiring the project, their big-budgetanime adaptation ofSpeed Racercrashed and burned at the box office, and soon the debates about the films' budget became a sticking point once again. The final nail in the coffin may have ultimately been Reeves' himself, who had finally had enough of the project being in development hell. He would leave to work on other projects, with one of them -John Wick- revitalizing his career and making him the “it” action star in Hollywood once again.
In the end, the cancelation of the live-actionCowboy Bebopmovie left fans disappointed, as they had been eager to see how the beloved anime series would be adapted for the big screen. Years later, the project would be revived as aNetflix TV seriesand starred John Cho as Spike Spiegel instead of Reeves'. The series received mixed reviews and was canceled after one season. As of this writing, it is the only live-action adaptation we are likely to get. Then again, considering how iconic the franchise is as an animated series, maybe the Bebop crew having adventures in a live-action world was never going to be the best experience audiences were going to have.
