No, I don’t have news of an upcoming Space Pirate Captain Harlock film but now that I’ve shamelessly grabbed your attention just watch the following (it’s best if you click on the video to view it in a bigger size):
This fan-made trailer is by Miguel Mesas who as far as I can tell from his website is an independent filmmaker from Spain. Apparently he released this in March of 07 but I only just stumbled across it while browsing Youtube.
Now if this were a real movie there’d be things to nitpick about: Daiba is too old, El Capitán isn’t sexy enough and I can barely see his scar, Mime looks like she stepped out of The Ring, and so on, but because it’s from a fan I can easily forgive all that and see that it perfectly captures just how grandly dramatic the anime is. Not to mention that the CG is amazing. The Arcadia is simply beautiful, especially when it sails off around the Earth at the end – a shot lifted straight from the anime.
In fact this trailer is so good that it actually makes me want to see a Harlock live action even though news of anime adaptions or at least those done by Hollywood usually fill me with dread. Just look no further than the possibility of Keanu Reeves starring in Cowboy Bebop (please no! There’s a difference between being laid back and being as emotionless as a plank of wood) to see why.
Yet the 1978 Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series is already so cinematic that I’ve long thought about how well it would transfer to the big screen. From Captain Harlock who merely has to stand there to look iconic, to beautiful women who burn like paper and a soundtrack at times rousing and at others elegiac it’s a wonder a live action hasn’t been made already.
Well, the reason is probably because original creator Leiji Matsumoto is not about to give consent lightly. Or that’s what I would say except that didn’t stop Korean production company Eight Peaks from announcing in April of last year that it would be turning Harlock into a film… even though they didn’t have Matsumoto’s permission! Apparently they signed a deal with Genome Entertainment (which I’ve never even heard of and can’t even find any additional information on) but Matsumoto stepped up and said that this was all premature. Since I can’t find any mention of Harlock on Eight Peaks’ website I’m guessing the movie is not going to happen.
So the question remains: will we ever see a Harlock or for that matter any Leiji Matsumoto live action films? I’m sure we will. His stories might be old but I believe they have an enduring quality that makes them appealing even to people like me who weren’t around in the 70s and early 80s to watch this stuff when it aired. Let’s just hope that when it does happen it’ll be half as good as this fake trailer.
How about you, is there an anime or manga you’re dying to see adapted into a film or is the possibility of it being terrible too much to ignore?
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MONSTER, New Line Cinema now owns the rights I think. I’m excited about this because Urasawa’s manga/Madhouse anime is quite un-anime. I think it could work best as a mini-series, but I’m so scared they’ll do a terrible job.
I know Tobey Maguire owns the rights to ROBOTECH. I don’t know what to think. That’s just killing me.
As for Horror-Mime, I’m not sure how “no mouth” translates into live action without looking kinda scary…
But this is neato, as much as I’m deathly afraid of western remakes. If it did happen, who could you see playing the Captain?
Imagine what Evangelion live action would be like… …
@otou-san
I actually have no idea, I’m pretty bad with keeping actors straight and nobody I can think of really jumps to mind. I could see Cate Blanchett as either Queen Emeraldas or Queen Lafresia though.
From what I understand, the Harlock movie project was dropped because Leiji wanted too much creative control over it (from the perspective of the studio). Which leads me to believe, sadly, that we won’t see any Leijiverse live action until the Master passes away..
blanchett = lafresia, cool! or blanchett = maetel, but not emeraldas.
The fanfilm is awesome for a fanfilm. I had an interesting experience watching it: the first thing that struck me was the very Spanish (as in, Mother Spain Spanish) accent of the actors. Then when the song at about 1:35 kicked in, it totally had this Leiji flavor but I noticed immediately that it sounded really Mother Spain to me too. It kind of got me thinking about Harlock and a classic Spanish hero connection..
Anyway, that was great!
@animekritik
You’re probably right about us not getting a film until the sad day when Matsumoto’s gone. Especially considering that he seems to get into a lot of legal rights battles, like between him and Nishizaki over Yamato or his claim that Noriyuki Makihara plagiarized a song from Galaxy Express 999.
Interesting point about Spanish Harlock, I can definitely see what you’re saying. It somehow works really well in Spanish… maybe because Harlock has a lot of machisimo anyway.
Surprisingly this was a lot better than the Berserk short I saw the other day. I think they could definitely pull it off if Matsumoto wasn’t so controlling, but I don’t blame him though.
Wow, the trailer looks good even for a commercial-level-production, and it’s “only” fan-made. @_@
@ghostlightning – IS there any info about the Monster movie?
From what I can tell there was a full short live action move with Blue and green screen effects but it has been removed from the web but for the trailer .. Knowing the film companies in Japan they must have come down hard as if there was more it isn’t showing up but for this trailer and that would be just a waste to have just shot that much and done such great job with the CG work.. I would hope a fan made short film would not be push back as this was done with respect and you can see it in the effects and filming value but Matsumoto does have strong feeling for how his work is done or shown.. and yes i do not blame him one bit but this was not done with out thinking of his feelings I feel..
CC
I heard Dima Bilan is in this. I seen on wiki on his page.. for the real action movie.