Anime Revolution

An article has surfaced on the Sci Fi website regarding the live action Evangelion.

Taylor Pursuing Neon Genesis

Oscar-winning visual-effects supervisor Richard Taylor told SCI FI Wire that he is actively chasing his dream of realizing a live-action big-screen version of the cult-favorite Japanese anime series Neon Genesis: Evangelion. The series, set in 2015, centers on four seemingly ordinary Japanese teenagers destined to save what’s left of Earth and its population after a supposed meteorite disaster and the arrival of an alien species called the Angels.

“I’ve just been to Japan pursuing this,” Taylor said in an interview while promoting his latest project, King Kong. “I think that is the great untold story to the world. It is sublime. It is arguably some of the most beautiful and poignant animation ever created, and a huge percentage of the pop culture world now know it, but only through a live-action feature film will it transcend that and receive the recognition for the art piece that it is.”

Taylor added: “Now actually achieving it as a live-action feature film is extremely difficult to imagine. Technologically, sure, it’s doable. But at an esoteric, universe level, it is an unbelievably impacting and dramatic story concept. [It's got] pseudo-religious overtones, and all these wonderful motifs are woven into it. It’s something that you can generate over 26 hours of animation, but trying to encapsulate that down into a feature film would be a massive challenge. But we’ve got the endorsement of GAINAX, the original creators, and with the right director I think it could be a very beautiful movie. I think it’s a story worthy of telling. And that’s my big pursuit at the moment. I’ve put an awful lot of energy into it.”

Currently, the rights to Neon Genesis: Evangelion are owned by John Ledford and ADV, America’s largest distributor of anime. Taylor said that his hope is that his company, New Zealand F/X house Weta Workshop, might assume some role in co-producing Neon Genesis as a feature. “We’ll throw our hearts into it regardless,” Taylor said. “We’ll be blessed just to work on it. But it would be an opportunity for us to look at it at a different level if [Weta were involved in the production].”

It seems that Richard Taylor is a fan of the original show, which can only mean good things. The sad thing is that this movie is taking forever. At this rate, the movie will be released after 2015.

Source: Anime On DVD

December 9th, 2005 at 2:28 am | Anime News | Subscribe to comments | Respond? | Trackback?