Berengaria

Looks like this topic will deserve its own thread:

from tv guide


Buffy's Spike Nails Villlainous New Role


James Marsters has been cast as the heavy in Twentieth Century Fox's live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga Dragonball, which is apparently about as popular over there as Harry Potter is, um, everywhere. Justin Chatwin — aka Tom Cruise's sulky son in War of the Worlds — has been tapped to play the good-guy lead, and X Files alum James Wong will direct the pic, which has been given a tentative release date of Aug. 15.

In related news, Marsters has just been signed to appear at every Comic-Con from now until doomsday. — Ben Katner

Berengaria

I haved also seen it reported in 2 places that James will not be green as the cartoon character is...but will look like a human. (in case you were worried about that. )

william_the_bloody

Im confused, live-action as in real people acting? or does that mean CGI?

baileycat

I think it means real actors. Not the CG (ie Beowolf) route. Although that would be cool too.

ROCKSTAR

Oh man, this is going to be tons of fun.

DBZ.... Wow, it's been a while.

Randall Flagg

From a casting notice with SPOILERS in the other descriptions:

CHUD.com - Cinematic Happenings Under Development

[LORD PICCOLO] An ancient being who despite his humanoid appearance, is from an alien race determined to take over the world. Piccolo is the cursed ruler of a demonic race who nearly destroyed Earth 2000 years ago, and with the coming of the eclipse and the possession of all seven Dragon Balls, he's prepared to free himself and do the job right this time. Crafty and smart, Piccolo has some disturbing news for Goku, namely that the boy is actually a Saiyan who's destined to join Piccolo as his right hand in destroying and enslaving the planet...LEAD

Hmmmm. humanOID. If he looked completely human they would just say human, I think. They may do something with James' appearance after all. But we'll see.

The character of Goku is based on the chinese legend of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. So Goku had a monkey tail, which was later explained as being a trait of the Saiyan race. Since both the producer and director are of Chinese descent, I can't imagine them not acknowledging this in some way.

But it says right there that they're both aliens, and if they haven't changed too much, they should still be two different races. My point is that I hope that they don't just give Goku a tail and have Piccolo be completely human in appearance for the whole movie. James is very good at acting with makeup. Not Ron Perlman-acting-in-makeup good, but then again, who is?

I haven't watched DBZ in years, but I WOULD be disappointed if they established that all of Piccolo's race was evil, since in the cartoon, he was more of the exception than the rule.

Here's one more thing to ponder- if they make a sequel, the only place to go after fighting Demon Piccolo is to have the other Saiyans arrive on Earth. But that casting notice leaves out several characters, so they're going to need allies. They might have no choice but to bring Piccolo back the way they did in the cartoon (Piccolo Jr hatching out of an egg) so it's not just about Goku.

Logically, even if they kill the evil Piccolo they have to bring him back unless they completely change the story. So we might get two see two sides of Piccolo a la Spike. I loved his relationship with Goku's son, and how the boy grew to love him, and despite every attempt not to, Piccolo grew to love him back.

Hey, and take a minute to imagine James regurgitating an egg the size of his head. Weird, huh? But if they stick to the story, that's what'll happen.

Berengaria

I love the way it emphasizes that James' part is a LEAD role.

baileycat

They mentioned the casting of Justin in this film up here on the entertainment shows because he's Canadian but no mention of James.

Jaime Bee

Buffy's Spike I love that part of the first article.

Berengaria

James said he called his son and said "I have good news and bad....they are making a movie out of DragonBall Z and I'm going to be in it"

Oh,that's great enthused his son..

Bad news is...I'm Piccolo!

Ooooh,THAT's not good,Dad,said his son. (because they both picture Piccolo as being a big,beefy guy) .


I'm sure with the power of movies...it will be all right though.

baileycat

That art is well.... amusing. Poor James. Hopefully some dignity will be spared.

Berengaria

Whatever...he'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

ROCKSTAR

Oh, that pciture!

True dat!

Look, DBZ was HUGE when I was a teenager. Huge as in people were obsessed and just didn't talk about anything else. We were laughing about it the other day after I told them the movie would be made.

But it's all in good fun. Piccolo was a bad guy at the beginning but then he turned good. It's going to cool seeing him be teh villain.

Berengaria

And, you know.....sequels.

(IF it's popular...but how can it not be? A summer "family entertainment" film...it will find an audience.

baileycat

Whatever, I guess. I don't think I'll be first in line to watch this one though. Not to diss the popularity of the genre but it's just not my thing. Hopefully it will be successful though and be liked by the fans. I know from experience that a fandom has their strong opinions on how a story should be told and they'll harp on anything that's off or doesn't align with their interpretations.