Anime does not often translate well to live action movies/TV shows but that does not stop filmmakers from trying. The most recent adaptation will be Kite (the anime pronounces it “key tay”); an extremely violent story of an orphaned girl who becomes an assassin. At the panel, it was revealed that the movie will be a more mainstream version though they plan to keep the graphic violence. One of the film’s producers, Brian Cox, said, “There are lots of things in that anime that we couldn’t do”. He was referring to the sex and certain action scenes. However, Cox went on to say that they wanted to “stay true to the feel of the anime…the tone.” The cast and crew on the panel all seemed to be familiar with the anime and enjoyed the source material. At least they did their homework.
From left to right: India Eisley, Callan McAuliffe, Ralph Ziman, Moises Cosio, and Brian Cox
Now how do you make animated characters seem real and fleshed out? Director, Ralph Ziman, recalled that he, “liked the script…liked the way the actors breathed life into these characters.” Ziman felt the actors made these characters feel like real people. The star of the film, India Eisley, did extensive training for three months to prep for the action sequences. She might have had an advantage being that her dad is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She mentioned he helped out a little too. She said she enjoyed training in general and she “enjoyed the weapons training more than anything”. During a Q&A, one of the audience members wondered if the petite Eisley was able to handle the stunts. The director joked that she “knocked a couple stuntmen’s teeth out”. He then went on to tell a startling tale of how Eisley jumped off a moving bus when she was not supposed to but, fortunately, it turned out all right.
Eisley mentioned how her brother was worried about her doing the film but was relieved to learn not all of the content in the anime would be included. Eisley’s trainer gave her a copy of the anime and Eisley made sure to watch it because she “wanted to be familiar with it” but she also wanted to make full use of the script. Due to the violence, this will probably be an R rated film, but Cox felt it would not be a hard R rating. The film should be finished by early December and they are looking into US distribution by Christmas.
The film was shot during a grueling six day a week schedule in Johannesburg, South Africa. Even though the city is a bit run down, it was perfect for this film and they were able to incorporate a lot of streets and rundown areas. They mainly chose the location for monetary reasons, but once they got there, they were blown away. Cox recalled that it looks like, “Mad Max in reality.” Ziman added how the city was a melting pot of cultures and styles. Eisley pointed out that it “looks like it could be anywhere.” The film is set in a world not too dissimilar from our world today; a dystopian near future. The trailer definitely had that feel to it. The look is high contrast yet de-saturated colors. Eisley’s character wears colored wigs which radiate on the screen. One other item belonging to the character that fans might wonder about are the earrings. Yes, the earrings will be featured and they have included a back story for them.
The trailer/clips had gorgeous cinematography! The overall color scheme was dark tones, de-saturated but with some key vibrant colors (mainly her wigs). The action looked really good! The fx was bloody awesome; one particular scene involved a hand being shot. Her look is NOT like the anime at all. I felt it had more of an Alias vibe with the colored wigs. They wanted to avoid the school girl look because the actress already looks young. Ziman felt the wigs gave her more varied looks and ways to hide (she is an assassin after all). It was not a nod to French graphic novels.
Back to the violence because that is a big part of this story, Ziman mentioned the “comic book violence was definitely inspired by the anime.” Cox added that the “violence was enhanced by visual fx”. The trailer/clips showed some awesome violence and fx! I have watched and enjoyed the anime, and was impressed by the live action trailer/scenes. Why did this particular anime get chosen for a real life reboot? Cox explained it well by saying the anime “seemed like the most outrageous property and that was what was attractive about it”. Cox also said that he is generally a fan of the author’s work (Yasuomi Umetsu).
The Professional is a successful film and Hanna did pretty well at the box office (including world wide box office numbers). Colombiana does not quite count (though there are many similarities) because she is an adult for a majority of the film. Maybe audiences enjoy the little female assassin story line. American audiences do like violence in their action movies and Kite appears ready to deliver. Will fans of the anime be disappointed yet again by another adaptation? It is hard to say. As I said, I watched the anime (I own it actually), enjoyed it, and I was rather impressed by the live action trailer so I will definitely be checking it out when it comes to theaters.
Currently there is no official web page for the film but the panel mentioned that it should be up by the end of the year. There is a Japanese site currently available (if you can read Japanese).
The film, by the way, also stars Samuel L. Jackson!
