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Berserk, Baki, Barefoot Gen Pitched to Hollywood

Producer Northrop Davis confirmed at the Saturday grand opening of the New People cultural entertainment center in San Francisco that he pitched the Berserk, Baki The Grappler, and Barefoot Gen manga to studios in Hollywood. Davis has already sold a pitch based on Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) science-fiction action manga to 20th Century Fox — possibly for James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens, Avatar) to direct. Davis and a Japanese partner also acquired the adaptation rights to the Train Man romantic comedy franchise. To a question posed by panel moderator Patrick Macias about projects that Davis has developed or is currently developing, Davis responded with the following:

We were involved with [Kentarō Miura's fantasy adventure story] Berserk, and it almost happened, but that is not quite there. Train Man has been a very [long] two-year, ongoing negotiation — very complicated. Phil Rosenthal, who created [the American television series] Everybody Loves Raymond, wants to remake the show in the United States. Phil wants to really adhere to the wonderful work that the Japanese creators did on that. And, also, we're involved in [Keisuke Itagaki's fighting tournament story] Grappler Baki.

And one that is really close to our hearts is Barefoot Gen. We're really, really trying to find someone to make Barefoot Gen because we feel that it is incredibly important to bring the message that that conveys to the world. [Creator Keiji] Nakazawa has given us permission to work on that. For those of you who don't know, that's the atomic bomb project, where [the author] was in the atomic bomb fallout, survived it, and went on to create a wonderful series. If you've never seen it, you should read it.

In addition to his producing duties, Northrop sold his own original screenplay and lectured on manga and anime at the University of California, Irvine. He also moderated and appeared at industry panels in Anime Expo.