John Cho Talks ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and Hints at What Fans Can Expect from the Netflix Series
Netflix’s live-action take on the beloved anime is shaping up to be surprisingly decent.
I was very much on team “why is this being made?” when it was announced, but the more information that comes out the more I’m willing to try it. Dare I say I may even be looking forward to it. The original anime series director Shinichiro Watanabe is a consultant on the series and there are many elements that show they care about this and really want fans invested.
via Netflix
John Cho put his body on the line to bring Spike to life, tearing his ACL doing stunts which shut down production for a bit. The actor was not familiar with the anime series before picking up the script – he signed up based on the live-action script. He recently spoke with Vulture about the series.
The first thing I read and fell in love with was our episode-one script, which I thought was really brilliant, and I thought, what the hell is this? And then I investigated the anime and just thought this was the most unique piece of entertainment I had seen in a long time: the combination of genres, characters, the music.
When I watched the anime, I was like, I wish I could have invented this. This is tremendous. It’s really interesting and smart and funny, and it’s all the things I wanna make. All the characters are coming from places of loss, and there are a lot of defense mechanisms to deal with that sense of loss that informs the whole show.
Speaking of music, Cho insisted that the anime’s amazing composer signed on to the live-action series. She did all of her work remotely – and I can’t wait to hear it. The fact that we’re getting more of Yoko Kanno’s jazz-inspired music is what makes me most excited about this whole thing.
[Yoko Kanno] was in Japan the whole time. I made sure that she was locked in before saying yes. I didn’t think the show should go forward without her involvement. [She is] too integral to the show. Our iteration minus her would suffer too much.
The band got back together last year remotely to record a new take on the anime’s famous theme song – complete with replicated Faye shadow dancing. I wonder if they were already working on the score for the live-action at this point and this video was just a fun bonus for fans made during the recording sessions.
via Netflix
Cho also confirmed something that I was hoping for – that this isn’t a remake. It’s the characters in new situations that are written for live-action.
I was like, we’re not gonna just remake each episode, are we? I didn’t want to re-stage everything exactly frame by frame. I didn’t want to do that artistically, and I also thought that that was a recipe for encouraging unflattering comparisons. How could you do it better? You can’t. You have to do something a little different. I guess that’s the tightrope you’re walking, which thankfully isn’t my job. But it touches on me.
via Netflix
The cast includes John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, and Daniella Pineda Faye Valentine, and Ein. They’ve done a really good job at translating the look of the ship and its crew based on what Netflix has shown so far. There’s no Ed in the cast listings or the photos, so it’s uncertain if the noodley appendaged hacker will be a part of this. She didn’t show up until episode 9 of the anime – maybe she’ll be a surprise late in the season that they’re keeping secret for now.
“Cowboy Bebop is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka cowboys, all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.”
Cowboy Bebop premieres on Netflix on November 19th.
