Well this is pretty huge news if you’re into the geek genre of films. As some of you know, there is a Dragon Ball Z film in development. This is one of those films that is very tough to imagine on screen because of the outlandish over-the-top nature of the show (which isn’t a bad thing at all in its animated form). But a live action version is indeed on the way.
Well… it looks like all the main players are in place with some surprise casting. The leads for the film will be Justin Chatwin (The Invisible, War of the Worlds) to play Goku and James Marsters (“Smallville,” “Angel,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) as the villain Piccolo. I never would have guessed either one of these guys. The good folks over at ComingSoon give us this:
Actor/writer/director Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) is producing. Final Destination helmer James Wong will direct from a script he wrote. Ben Ramsey wrote an earlier draft.
Ok, I’ve said before that I don’t think a live action Dragon Ball Z film is a great idea. First of all (and you can quote me on this and refer back to it 2 years from now if you’d like) there is no chance in hell this film will make anywhere near the revenue Transformers made. That’s not to say that it couldn’t be a better movie than Transformers… but it just does not have the same appeal to an audience outside its core fan base that Transformers did.
I know I know I know… everyone likes to talk about how DBZ has a HUGE MASSIVE following. Yeah well… so did Serenity… so did Star Trek.
Franchises like Spider-Man, X-Men and Transformers succeeded because they were able to appeal to the larger movie going audience OUTSIDE the properties existing fan base… DBZ won’t do that. Sorry… I like DBZ… I think it will be a lot of fun… but unless you’re already a DBZ fan… there aren’t going to be a lot of people going to see this. That’s just the way it is. My mom wasn’t a Transformers fan, but the movie appealed to her anyway (like a lot of other people). She won’t be interested in DBZ.
Ok, now back to the casting. I’ve gone on record before to talk about how much I like James Marsters. I think he’s a terrific talent who is just being wasted right now. This guy should be a leading man or at least be in a lot more projects than he is. But having said that… I just don’t see him as Piccolo. Nor do I see Chatwin (who I thought was excellent in The Invisible) as Goku in the least. No, it’s not because they’re not asian… I just got see them as a fit. But like I said, I love Marsters so I hope I’m wrong about that.
