Lupin III Coming to Hollywood

Secret anime ninja writes "A story in today's Toronto Star says, "Master thief Lupin the Third, a comic book hero in Japan for more than 30 years, will soon make his Hollywood debut." The story goes on to say that it's been optioned by the producer of Minority Report, Schindler's List and Jurassic Park." Lupin III is currently airing on Cartoon Network and several Lupin movies are available on DVD. Castle of Cagliostro, directed by Miyazaki is a great movie.

Castle of Cagliostro is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Castle of Cagliostro is an excellent anime movie, with lots of humor and action.

Recommended!

As for life-action: we'll see it when we see it... I doubt Hollywood can do it, the character of Lupin the 3rd doesn't seem to fit any of their stereotypes.

Lupin ? Hollywood ?

[koh]

It is often hard to derive Japanese art and not lose that something that made the movie enjoyable.

I hope Hollywood does a better job with Lupin than with The Ring... I don't have much hope, touch, since Lupin is 1) animation and 2) based on humor.

Maybe it will be better than scooby-doo...

Lupin Moive

[E-Rock-23]

Thanks to Cartoon Network, I've been able to finally see the Lupin III TV series. Despite it's dated nature and the modernization of the dub script (tons of modern refferences), I find the show enjoyable, and watch it damn near religiously.

But a live action Lupin movie? And from Hollywood, no less? Has anyone here seen G-Savior?

I think that, because it's Lupin, I'll hold on to a little hope that the fruitcakes in Hollywood won't mangle it, but I'm afraid that my hope is misplaced. They might try a live action "Cogliostro," which wouldn't be bad, but would probably insult the greatness that is Haiyo Miazaki (just like I'll bet they'll snub him at the Oscars).

Another sad option is that they'll try to turn this whole thing into another "Hudson Hawk." They could try to turn it into an action flick (almost making Jigen and Goemon the stars as opposed to Lupin), but then they'd offer the part to not-so-awesome "action stars" like Vin "I Look Good Standing Next To Hot Cars" Diesel or Duane "The Rock" Johnson.

If Hollywood were smart, they'd drop the idea entirely. But they're not smart, they're money hungry, so they'll jump all over it and turn it into overproduced fluff. Still, I have hope that somehow, someway, by some wild twist of fate, Hollywood can overcome it's current stigma and actually make a good flick based on an excellent Anime...

Re:Cartoon Network

[argmanah]

It is indeed from the 70s, or most of it is anyway. Many, many changes were made by the dubbers. This would be acceptable perhaps if the actual dub was good, but alas it is not. I'm a huge Lupin fan but I couldn't make it through more than about 15 seconds of the CN version.

Agreed. For better or worse, we have a habit of Americanizing anything that comes over here. Watching anime transform from original Japanese to American television is often a scary process. You sometimes wonder if the editors understood why the anime had appeal in the first place. Good seiyuus (voice actors), interesting storyline, mature issues... many of these things often disappear when the American producers get ahold of it.

Then you watch something like Cowboy Bebop and you regain some faith in the system.

Bringing it over dubbed and edited can still be good, but only if the company doing it is competent.

Re:Lupin ? Hollywood ?

[Thomas M Hughes]

Lupin III is interesting because it really doesn't need to be a cartoon. Meaning, the effects taken aren't that outlandish (ala, Scooby Doo, or Dragonball Z). In fact, Lupin III could have been a very interesting live action piece from the very beginning as far as I can tell. The main reason to go animated over live action is that you can afford a lot more animated explosions and flying planes and exotic places internationally with drawings and ink then you could with a real set.

I think the comparison with 007 is really valid in this case. Whenever I watch Lupin III, it feels really similar to watching 007, if he had a set of good friends he hung out with, and he was a master gentleman thief.

Having said all that, I won't be seeing this movie, as interesting as it might be. A tight budget means entertainment tends to get cut first.

Castle of Cagliostro

[astrashe]

I know this is heresey, but I don't think that The Castle of Cagliostro stands up with Miyazaki's best work. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but his best stuff seems to be suffused with a kind of human warmth, a real fondness for and understanding of people, that doesn't come through in Cagliostro. It's not that Cagliostro is a bad movie -- it's not -- it just doesn't seem to have the force of some of the others.

For me the definitive Miyazaki scene is in Tonari no Totoro, when they're at the bus stop, and Totoro shows up. That moment when they're standing there in the rain, and she loans him her umbrella. There's so much that's good in that moment -- wonder, kindness, etc. -- and it all fits together perfectly.

Why is it...

[Mossfoot]

...that everytime Hollywood uses a much loved idea from other source I get this cold shiver down my spine? ;) Seriously, wouldn't you be worried if Disney decided to do their own version of Spirited Away or Princess Moanoke instead of just getting distribution rights?

Hmmm.. didn't they do that with The Lion King? I'm pretty sure I've seen a series of a similar theme out here that predates the movie... could be wrong though... I may live in Japan, but I still can't read Japanese ;)

Re:I hope it doesn't suck =(

[RobotRunAmok]

Man, I just can't but help thinking "sellout" when I read that article. Kato says he'll leave artistic control to the film professionals

Yeah, know what you mean. Guy's probably got a wife, kids, mortgage, bills to pay... DAMN HIM! Damn him to HELL!!

Seriously, if it helps, imagine him as the Linux-loving, MS-Bashing SysAdmin forced to run NT because of his job in the Fortune 500.

...or can only artists "sell out?"

Options are options, not guarantees

[ianscot]

Having something optioned isn't a guarantee it'll get made, ever. Options are... well, they're options. The studio or producer pays for the rights to make a movie, and then they check things out to see if it'll work. Lots of options expire and get re-sold elsewhere, with no movie ever made.

The Patrick O'Brian series I love -- "Master and Commander," due this Nov, is the source of endless hope and fear among fans -- took forever, with O'Brian getting option money for years and years with no film in the works. O'Brian died before anyone went ahead on a movie.

My former brother-in-law has had the option on a book of his sold, he collected somewhere shy of a million dollars on the rights, and the book's option has bounced around between producers for a long while now. Clint Eastwood supposedly liked it at first. No signs of a movie being made.

There are no guarantees. (And as far as it going on "as long as the 007 series," take things a step at a time.)

So doomed...

[realinvalidname]

At this point, part of the charm of Lupin is the familiarity of the cast and the hi-jinks. The TV movies they crank out every year are designed to give each of the cast members an opportunity to do the things they do best, or to do a little twist on viewers' expectations (the "it's a cop, no wait it's Lupin, no wait it's Zenigata, no that was Lupin" gag from Castle of Cagliostro gets reversed again in the opening to Harimao's Treasure). Is "The $1 Cash War" better than "To Hell with Nostradamus"? Doesn't matter. They're both aimed dead-center at the comfort zone.

Of course, a one-shot movie wouldn't have that effect -- it'd be like trying to do a "Friends" movie (or, for that matter, like doing a big-budget Zatoichi [imdb.com] revival). And can we trust Hollywood to capture what makes these characters appealing in the first place? I'm betting not.

Re:Castle of Cagliostro is great!

[Mogomra]

There was an old rumor floating around that said Steven Spielberg really liked Castle of Cagliostro. I don't know if that was ever confirmed, but it's interesting that someone who produced three Spielberg movies optioned Lupin.

I really have a hard time visualizing who could pull off the character, though. Jim Carrey is the first one that comes to mind, but do we even want something like this?

Re:Cartoon Network

[amuro98]

The original dialog was full of Japanese cultural references, not to mention puns galore. Sure, hardcore fans like myself wouldn't mind those left in...but that's not the audience CN is aimming for by putting the show on the air.

While not faithful to the original dialog, the English dub is pretty faithful to the original intent, tone, and to the characters themselves.

Yeah, I know the dialog's been peppered with cultural references that didn't exist when the show was originally created, but the jokes *work*, and sometimes being able to laugh in the right places is more important than a literal translation.

Besides, the DVDs are in stores now, and contain both the original Japanese language with subtitles, as well as the English dub as heard on CN.