Forum - View topicWhen Gundam Came to Hollywood
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5920 |
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War, politics,teen angst, and likeable characters getting killed off?
I'd be shocked if this production had happened and they missed that considering what happened with Star Wars. |
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Animeking1108
Posts: 1244 |
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Honestly, if Hollywood is going to attempt it, I'd be for the movie being its own self-contained story. The Gundam franchise has a such a big multiverse that it doesn't need to retell Amuro, Domon, or Heero's stories. Just as long as they keep the basic elements of the Gundam franchise, they'd be good to go.
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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Well making the main bad guy non-human AI is also a decision that sounds awful. But making Char younger than Amuro is hilarious here. Also the brainwashed puppet soldier of his mother also, and at the age of 13 apparently. |
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doomydoomdoom
 Posts: 278 Location: Michigan, USA |
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LOL this is just unbelievable. Who ever would have guessed they were plotting a damn Gundam movie in Hollywood in 1983? I guess Hollywood was truly, desperately searching for the next Star Wars. "Hey, there's this Gun Damn cartoon in Japan that's really blowing up. Let's go check that out."
Anyway, if Proser's first draft is anything to go by (likely not I guess), we really dodged a bullet. "Fighting f-ck?" Really? Char is Amuro's little brother? There's no Newtypes? (except for that "new type" mentioned in the script) There's no Principality of Zeon, or Noa Bright, etc.? Sounds like Proser was basically trying to remove Gundam from Gundam. I get why the Hollywood people would want to do that; the stuff of Gundam is not the stuff of 80s summer blockbusters, it's far too philosophical and dark. But Gundam doesn't work without Tomino's characters and world-building. It's just not Gundam if you remove that stuff. You can't just go and change stuff like that. 35 years later and they still don't get it, as we can see by the Ghost in the Shell flop. And if they really try and resurrect the Gundam live action prospect AGAIN? Don't make me laugh. Or DO make me laugh. I would love to see them fail yet again. |
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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It's even more hilarious that Bandai wasted all that effort actually having Proser go over the source material and this is what he comes up with after having seen it. I can imagine Proser wasn't paying attention to any of these discussions about what Char looks like, him being a ruthless masked rival to Amuro. The whole war storyline must not have interested him in the least, instead let's make this stuff about dangerous computer AI being the real problem. Then they discuss Bright Noa and he's like whatever, ignores them. The only thing he can barely get right is Amuro and he calls him Amura. I mean the movie could have even not even been about Amuro or Char instead he could of just made a tragic war story with Gundams, not even touched the mythology of the show including newtypes. Even that would have worked, even if it would probably cost too much money most likely. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5920 |
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Well damn I guess everything from Wing, G, Seed, 00, AGE, Build, IBO etc removed Gundam from Gundam............while still featuring Gundams. |
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Usagi-kun
 Posts: 877 Location: Nashville, TN |
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Hollywood Godzilla a few years back had the same problem and it turned out to be a major stickler for Japanese original fans. Now we have Shin Godzilla revival. I don't think the first draft is terrible, but it is terribly ambitious for the time period, and I can't blame Proser's attempt to tie into other sucessful science fiction elements. This is another fanbase question when it comes to anime adaptations, though: Why would you change something that works? In 1983, I can understand the need for restraint and caution being a delicate balance of cultural stylings, but what about the last ten/fifteen years of Hollywood filmaking? Superheros, horror remakes, sprawling fantasy epics like LOTR and Game of Thrones, American animation aestheticals like Steven Universe and Adventure time, speedy simulcasts on legal sites, high profile actors and directors 'coming out of the closet' as anime fans, etc. With Amazon and Netflix jumping onto the anime train, are we any closer to getting a mainstream, but faithful adaptation to classic anime franchises? It still makes me nervous thinking about it, even with all of the minings. I am a big fan of Boardwalk Empire fan on HBO, and the rumor that Michael Pitt left after the first season to star in Akira still stings. Of course, now he is the Laughing Man. Did that work out? ...Eh. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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Hand to God, my first reaction just now was, "wow, Hollywood's making a Ghost in the Shell movie?" Then: "...oh." |
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doomydoomdoom
Posts: 278 Location: Michigan, USA |
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Yeah, basically. All of those are alternate universe side stories. Gundam to me is the Tomino series, War in the Pocket, Stardust etc. I was never interested in the sci fi giant robot crap, there's 10 billion giant robot space opera anime which do that better, including stuff like G Gundam. It's the intrigue and "human factor" that really make the story of the MSG. @codeanime93: Yep exactly. Last edited by doomydoomdoom on Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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db999
Posts: 299 |
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I'd really like to read the script for this as reading it being described seems interesting. Personally, I just don't think this would have worked out if it was made because it just seems way too ambitious on both a technical and a storytelling level. However, if this had been actually made I'm nearly 100% positive that most or none of this version of the story would have actually made it to the final film. Screenplays go through so many drafts before the final script that most of the time the first and final drafts bare little resemblance towards each other. On another note, I think that Gundam is one of the only anime franchises that might work as a live-action Hollywood movie. Hollywood usually just changes everything anyway that it might as well be a different story altogether, but I think that it could work because Gundam pretty much already does this with every series anyway. Hollywood could create their own stories and characters release it and fans wouldn't bat an eye at them not even bothering to remain faithful to the source's plot as long as certain elements, such as newtypes, are retained. Don't get me wrong the story and writing would still have to actually be good, but people would be able to love or hate it on its own merits, rather than loving or hating it depending on how close to the source material it is.
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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There is this... The problem with a lot of writing today is that many of the screenwriters don't seem to have been trained to look at things like plot development, characterization, etc. They've been taught about beginning, middle, and end but basic analysis? Does anybody actually think the last Star Wars movie was written by someone who was a FAN of the original series, let alone the Jedi or Luke Skywalker?!? It was a colossally cynical film and POORLY written to boot with plot logic and meaningless outcomes from the subplots (that waste valuable film time and make the bloated screen time less than its worth) that make what I've heard about the second half of Fate/UBW sound like fantastic screenwriting! This is the kind of thing I'm talking about besides poorly thought out ideas and ill-advised remakes that are generic and completely misfire (ST: Into Darkness a prime example). Uh-uh. It seems the last few MAJOR installments in the "Big Two" sci-fi franchises in the West (SW and ST, I don't have to tell you what those letters mean!) have been directed by people who were fans of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg but they have no freaking clue about what made those gentlemen's earlier films of the 1970s and 1980s actually work! They write "comical" aside quips, in very general details describe SFX sequences but otherwise there's nothing to the characters other than [insert your demographic here] and [please be sure to fill your ethnic archetype/bland good guy with no personality here] BUT [acting talent and actual directorial ability are not necessary]! The JJ's and Bay's are very interchangeable and extraordinarily bland! When the big thing people remember you for are "explosions" and "lens flares," there's a fundamental problem there! That's not so say there's EVER been a Scorsese or Coppola in (Western) sci-fi. The closest to that has probably been Spielberg and to be honest, the Indiana Jones films are probably the nearest he's ever directed to a Gundam or Macross movie. He WANTED to direct one of the Star Wars prequels but there's this subtle reality that there actually IS a competition among people of the Lucas-Spielberg-De Palma generation and Lucas wanted to do those films. Let's be frank -- the best Star Wars movie was NOT directed by Lucas but his mentor/instructor (Irvin Kershner) from back in film school. It was edited like a Lucas film but THE ACTORS were obviously not directed by George Lucas! Maybe Lucas didn't want to invite yet another comparison to Spielberg considering the success of their collaboration on the Indy movies? And furthermore, we really don't do sci-fi in the West. The "Big Two" are NOT really sci-fi but Westerns moved into a galactic/stellar setting. People have the personality to snag the job [insert current big-name director or guy handed the keys to the "franchise"] but it doesn't mean they have the talent or skill to actually direct and write something meaningful! Not to let them off the hook but there are also producers, well-meaning or not, who butt in and basically give ideas good or bad, but it doesn't seem like most of the time these are very creative people who understand story development, either. Really, it's rarely a good thing when the "money people" butt and give more than 1 cents' worth input into a script. It just historically hasn't worked out well. It's not as if Gundam doesn't go through its "dry spells" but the output is generally better than average for "big robots" and sci-fi in anime and it's rarely completely betrayed its roots. And yes, a few of the alternate reality Gundam series are actually GOOD because they don't turn the head completely on the concept of the original series! In contrast, Macross is definitely in a decline and creative malaise... Legal issues about the original series aside, it's NOT in good shape right now. They can still be selling tons of toys and record albums but by and large the later shows are a colossal joke. I don't think there's been a critically well-received Macross installment that's been universally accepted since Macross Plus to be frank and that was nearly a quarter century ago now. Gundam is fundamentally about good vs evil, political power struggles, and those crazy interpersonal relationships people have in the middle of it all. Most good sci-fi shows are like this but Gundam (and, to a much less extent now thanks greatly to the weakness of the later installments, Macross) really stand out from the crowd. And, in general, it hasn't been politically corrected to death (yet! -- Japan may be less than a decade or two from that, unfortunately) which is another thing that makes it stand out. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4378 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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hardly! there's so many differences between the two, that its not really plausible. at least char still had his humanity, especially during the grips war and lost it during the two neo zeon wars. vader only got his humanity back during EP 6!
please for the love of god let someone give him the proper sense to scrap this running train wreck of a project. otherwise it will indeed go down as one of the worst live action adaptation movies EVER!!!!!! even worse than the abomination that is DB Evolution! |
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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I think Gundam strayed a little with IBO's second season, just saying. Personally I feel like the writers were way too cynical in their writing of the show and season 2 suffers from a ridiculous amount of writing pitfalls. Not enough to ruin the franchise or anything. Though personally a lot of things I like out of Gundam lately come out of the Origin OVAs, not a big fan of them trying to coast on this Build Fighters thing as much as other people. I'm kind of hoping for another alternate universe Gundam show that might be better, crossing my fingers. I thought honestly Macross Frontier was hugely successful as far as the latest Macross shows go. If not critically, commercially. |
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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He's also not Amuro's bratty little brother either, but try saying that to Mr. Proser while he was writing this draft. Plus, Amuro's mother is some grand manipulative person who puts her sons on opposite sides of a war against a AI computer. Char lost his humanity after spoiler[Kamille got brain crippled] and the first Neo- Zeon war happen. Char started the second one, pretty much had a death wish and wanted Amuro to kill him and the earth to go in nuclear winter. Char was also a ruthless anti-hero too, mostly only cared about Newtypes, his sister, his pride, Kamille and Lalah. |
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noblesse oblige
 Posts: 279 Location: Florida |
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Wow...fascinating pre-production history of a tantalizingly ambitious Gundam movie that never came to fruition
 . Having now read the broad strokes of the screenplay and some of the dialogue, as well as having seen the concept art, it's clear Proser and Mead had created something special. Proser's Gundam story seems wholly unique with its own fully realized characters, complete with compelling internal struggles to match that universe's macro power struggles.
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