Forum - View topic

NEWS: Netflix's Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Series Casts John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Ale

People have to remember that Jet was “only” 37 in the anime. Ancient by anime standards but simply not that old everywhere else.

I am not going to get into the absurdity of being okay with casting a non-Japanese Asian as a Japanese character, especially given the actual dynamics between the countries in real life and getting into the "all people look alike" implications that it makes.

But John Cho. Harold and Mr. Sulu? Spike is supposed to be a slick badass character. Some one who has a ruffian charm, but instills respect as a former gangster turned bounty hunter.

I like John Cho, but they might as got Ken Jeong to play Spike if they were going to go with Cho. I personally still would have gone with Keanu Reeves even now. He is relatively young looking, and I can see him pass of as a Spike in his 30s , even if the character was supposed to be younger.

And John Cho is probably the best casting of the bunch.

Its ironic you want to typecast John Cho into playing stupid characters, and then go on and praise Keanu Reeves. If all you ever saw of Keanu was his Bill and Ted movies, you'd look at the poster for Speed and go "Well that looks dumb, why'd they cast him?"

Give Cho a chance to break from playing bit parts and dumb comedies.

Keanu Reeves as Spike is an old internet meme. Just like people wanted Danny DeVito as Pikachu. Of course they're terrible casting choices and don't fit the characters at all, but people care more about silly memes than picking an actual good fit for the character. Fans are just as bad at casing movies as Hollywood is.

Steve Minecraft wrote:

Keanu Reeves as Spike is an old internet meme. Just like people wanted Danny DeVito as Pikachu. Of course they're terrible casting choices and don't fit the characters at all, but people care more about silly memes than picking an actual good fit for the character. Fans are just as bad at casing movies as Hollywood is.

No, not in this case. There's plenty of reason for Keanu to fit the part.

1. He can do martial arts.
2. He can also do fancy gun moves.
3. Spike's character was more laid back and soft spoken so even a type-cast Keanu largely fit that role pretty well. Even age-wise I think Keanu would've been good as a mob hit-man who's been around the block.

Such a missed opportunity not casting Keanu... imo.

They should've cast Cho in Death Note, and just let Keanu be Spike.

But this probably had to do with salary/scheduling most likely.

Anyway, it's not that Cho couldn't play Spike's character, but action-star isn't anywhere on Cho's resume like Keanu. And well, when I think of Cowboy Bebop, I'm thinking space action adventure.

Cho's casting to me sounds like they intend to scale back heavily on any physical action part for more drama, unless they go with carefully choreographed stunt doubles, or Cho has fighting talent he's kept hidden all this time.

There are a few roles Keanu would fit like a glove, and I think Spike Spiegal would've been one of them. Basically a bit of Neo X John Wick, and the kind of stoicism that Keanu can do in his sleep, and reviving some Ted for when Spike needs to be in his sarcastic playful witty moods.

If all you ever saw of Keanu Reeves was Bill and Ted and that Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film, you'd be saying the same things about Keanu as you would be saying about Cho. You'd say things like "This guy is in dumb comedies, and his English accent was awful, why'd they pick him for Speed, this sounds stupid."

The lead actor being a martial artist is not going to make the show better for it. IF it were the case, Steven Segal would have had an actual career. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, he lifts weights, but he isn't some MMA cage fighter, and yet he has been in plenty of action films. Same with Bill Paxton, who isn't exactly a military guy, yet he was a marine in Aliens.

Cho's experience with martial arts is not going to make the show worse or better off. It's a non-issue.

If all you ever saw of Keanu Reeves was Bill and Ted and that Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film, you'd be saying the same things about Keanu as you would be saying about Cho. You'd say things like "This guy is in dumb comedies, and his English accent was awful, why'd they pick him for Speed, this sounds stupid."

The lead actor being a martial artist is not going to make the show better for it. IF it were the case, Steven Segal would have had an actual career. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, he lifts weights, but he isn't some MMA cage fighter, and yet he has been in plenty of action films. Same with Bill Paxton, who isn't exactly a military guy, yet he was a marine in Aliens.

Cho's experience with martial arts is not going to make the show worse or better off. It's a non-issue.

ranran-001 wrote:

If all you ever saw of Keanu Reeves was Bill and Ted and that Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film, you'd be saying the same things about Keanu as you would be saying about Cho. You'd say things like "This guy is in dumb comedies, and his English accent was awful, why'd they pick him for Speed, this sounds stupid." The lead actor being a martial artist is not going to make the show better for it. IF it were the case, Steven Segal would have had an actual career. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, he lifts weights, but he isn't some MMA cage fighter, and yet he has been in plenty of action films. Same with Bill Paxton, who isn't exactly a military guy, yet he was a marine in Aliens. Cho's experience with martial arts is not going to make the show worse or better off. It's a non-issue.

Arnie's casting takes full advantage of his muscle. He doesn't fight via any specific martial art, he just overpowers people and spouts one liners. Paxton didn't have anything complex to do either, other than ad lib Game Over.

Spike on the other hand is a character who actually utilizes Jeet Kune Do. When he engages someone, he appears totally fluid, mirroring his character's disposition. His foot is regularly over his head. It's a completely different issue compared to Arnie and Hudson, and replicating a JKD practitioner onscreen would be a lot harder than most other onscreen violence where all you have to do is speed up and jumpcut some punches.

Given that fact, it would be nice if they had cast someone who actually practices some manner of martial arts who would be adept at truly selling the action the character was capable of showcasing in the original series, as I said before, without the use of blatantly obvious camera trickery or doubles. Even with camera trickery, I'm not sure that Cho is young and spy enough to sell it. At 50 something, for a Netflix series that will instantly be forgotten as soon as it drops, is he really gonna invest enough time and effort into learning how to sell a martial art, like Keanu studied multiple for in preperation for a blockbuster film when he was in his 30s? Keanu's getting older now too, and honestly I haven't seen any of the Wicks or much at all from him in the past decade, but I imagine he has the background and passion and body to approximate some impressive martial arts ability moreso than Cho (not that I expect him to be able to get his foot over his head). And Keanu certainly has a lot of other factors in his favor. But who knows, maybe Cho will surprise.

But since they were looking for diversity casting for the role, and since it's not like they were looking for a big name draw to begin with (I doubt Cho qualifies), that really woulda opened up the possibilities for finding an actual younger martial artist for the role beyond these two choices, as presumably there are a lot them out there photogenic/talented enough to be looking for their break.

ranran-001 wrote:

If all you ever saw of Keanu Reeves was Bill and Ted and that Francis Ford Coppola Dracula film, you'd be saying the same things about Keanu as you would be saying about Cho. You'd say things like "This guy is in dumb comedies, and his English accent was awful, why'd they pick him for Speed, this sounds stupid." The lead actor being a martial artist is not going to make the show better for it. IF it were the case, Steven Segal would have had an actual career. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, he lifts weights, but he isn't some MMA cage fighter, and yet he has been in plenty of action films. Same with Bill Paxton, who isn't exactly a military guy, yet he was a marine in Aliens. Cho's experience with martial arts is not going to make the show worse or better off. It's a non-issue.

Buddy, I've seen plenty a Keanu flick from Buddha to Point Break to Sweet November. And I didn't say Cho couldn't act the part as far as character.

But you are kidding if you think martial arts and action aren't a big part of Spike's character and Cowboy Bebop. Sure you could adapt it to be less so, and you could still make something good, but that would honestly suck in comparison to the anime we know, and frankly I'd skip it. So to many of us, who they've chosen to cast kinda tells us what they have in mind. Though the moment this project went from movie to TV show, already had us setting our expectations low in terms of what kind of scale this will cover.

Is Scarlett Johanson a martial artist? No. Is Jeremy Renner an expert bowman? No. Is Matt Damon a cage fighter? Does Harrison Ford punch white supremacists and nazis in his off time? No. All of them got opportunities to be in action films.

Martial arts expertise isn't required, so long as the action scenes are directed with skill and that Cho is able to do just enough in the scenes as required to make it look like he's in the thick of the action. They have trainers, choreographers, and stunt people for a reason.