[LAEM] God help us, they're still trying...

[DatDude]

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?id=33604

[poetic_assassin]

As long as it makes it to the big screen.

[DatDude]

Just in case the any newer board members are not aware of my stance on this movie.

I don't want to see it made. I know they won't be able to make money of it unless they water it down to the point were the real meaning it lost.

[chiefen]

Oh, for the bloody love of GOD. Can people stop being so goddamned negative.

[drinian]

Actually, it sounds like Richard Taylor has a pretty good idea of what he's talking about.

Like I've said before, the people involved with this film seem to truly care about it. Their "Evangelion" may not be the same as the "Evangelion" that each of us has decided exists, but I'm still happy to see it made.

And it can't be worse than Aeon Flux, right?

right?

[DatDude]

I don't know of a western director alive that could pull of EVA.

Stanley Kubrick could have done it, but he's gone now.

[Punio4]

Dont really care. I want to see it done, whatever the outcome. Of course, im hoping it will turn out good... if not, im gonna see it anyway. If it gets rated as the biggest piece of crap in the last 50 years, im still gonna watch it. Why?
Because it is NGE ;)

[drinian]

I guess another good example is the Chronicles of Narnia movie that's coming out this weekend. I'm going to see it, despite a tremendous number of reservations.

I know that C.S. Lewis' stepson was involved with the production, but he's a somewhat unusual person, and the literary executor of Lewis' estate, Walter Hooper, has been accused of some serious irregularities in the publication of posthumous work.

I know that Andrew Adamson directed the Shrek films, but I don't know if that will qualify him to take on something more serious.

I know that the trailer seems to focus on very different parts of the story than the book does, which may lead to an obfuscation of message.

Regardless, I'm willing to give it a chance and try to view it on its own merits as an independent work. It's not like it was any of my millions of dollars risked to produce it.

[rip3mwk]

I don't know of a western director alive that could pull of EVA.

Stanley Kubrick could have done it, but he's gone now.

I'm sorry but I see no way that Peter Jackson could not pull off the job in an amazing way - I am looking forward to King Kong more than anything aside from Battle Angel at this moment. The guy did a pretty nice job w/ LotR... all I'm proving is that there are more than a few western directors alive that could pull off EVA. All I know is that the Wachowski bros. better stay miles away from it.

[drinian]

I'm sorry but I see no way that Peter Jackson could not pull off the job in an amazing way - I am looking forward to King Kong more than anything aside from Battle Angel at this moment. The guy did a pretty nice job w/ LotR... all I'm proving is that there are more than a few western directors alive that could pull off EVA.

To be honest, I think that Peter Jackson, as a writer and director, is a complete hack. As a manager, visionary, and technician, he's a master. In a sense, he's a lot like George Lucas.

What I mean is that PJ could not have pulled off Lord of the Rings without an incredibly strong story, vividly written, to work from (and he even managed to screw that up at several crucial moments in the plot). It's pretty clear that he's without clue on the deeper meanings of the book. At a panel a year or two ago, he stated that he thought the major theme of the books was rooted in environmentalism -- the conflict between man and nature.

Kong is right up his alley, though, as it's a very simple adventure film. I just hope he learned his lesson on slow-motion sequences from LotR and will start shooting those on high-framerate film... they annoyed me to no end.

[ice reaper]

To be honest, I think that Peter Jackson, as a writer and director, is a complete hack. As a manager, visionary, and technician, he's a master. In a sense, he's a lot like George Lucas.

i'll drink to that.

[Winslow Leach]

To be honest, I think that Peter Jackson, as a writer and director, is a complete hack. As a manager, visionary, and technician, he's a master. In a sense, he's a lot like George Lucas.

I could not disagree more. Peter Jackson, to me, is one of the greatest directors still living and is the single greatest filmmaker of the baby boomer generation. As a young filmmaker, I have planned out my career quite similar to his (ie, to start making no budget indie horror films and then work your way up with each movie until I can take on something of as iconic as Lord of the Rings). Any person with a video camera can make their own shitty version of Lord of the Rings but it takes a genius like Jackson to visualize the whole book as beautifully as he did and make it as compelling and exciting. I think Peter Jackson would give Evangelion the same treatment if he's chosen as director.

I think Alfonso Cuaron, Shinji Higuchi and Ridley Scott are good bets too, especially Cuaron.

Stanley Kubrick could have done it, but he's gone now.

Aside from Kubrick, there's one other director whom I think could have made a perfect Eva film had he not bought the farm almost three years ago. That director is Kinji Fukasaku, the man who gave us such films as Battle Royale, the Jinji Naki Tatakai (Battle Without Honor and Humanity) yakuza movie series and the sci-fi apocalpyse epic Virus. He'd have made the perfect live action Evangelion film.

And I'm glad Richard Taylor thinks so highly of the series, it means he's less likely to fuck it up. Making a trilogy is a great idea too (in fact, long before ADV announced their project, I planned on doing it that way), but for it to work it would have to be shot three films as one megashoot ala Lord of the Rings.

[drinian]

[quote="Winslow Leach"]As a young filmmaker, I have planned out my career quite similar to his (ie, to start making no budget indie horror films and then work your way up with each movie until I can take on something of as iconic as Lord of the Rings).[\quote]
The only other PJ film I've seen is "Heavenly Creatures," and I wasn't too impressed.

Any person with a video camera can make their own shitty version of Lord of the Rings but it takes a genius like Jackson to visualize the whole book as beautifully as he did and make it as compelling and exciting. I think Peter Jackson would give Evangelion the same treatment if he's chosen as director.

I would argue that much of the visualization that was done was easy because Tolkien was such a detailed writer, and where he left out details the incredibly talented team at WETA was able to step in. I don't think PJ could have been much more than the manager for such a tremendously large project.

Let me give an ancedote about how the Millenium Falcon was designed. It originally looked a lot like the Corellian Corvette shown at the begining of Episode IV; George Lucas looked at his designer's drawings shortly before production and decided he didn't like them. Taking a first bite out of the hamburger in his hand, Lucas told the designers, "make it look like that." That's the job of a director in production design: oversight and choice of talented people.

Regardless of whether WETA can "visualize" the movie (and I'm sure they can), the fact of the matter is that the director also has to be able to understand the plot and themes of the story, and tell it in a coherent, deep, insightful manner. I haven't seen Peter Jackson do any storytelling that goes beneath the surface of a work in a meaningful way. He couldn't even be bothered to understand concepts in LOTR like the Elves properly -- Tolkien explained in detail that they were not capable of magic!

LOTR is ultimately about a battle between good and evil. It can be left at that and still be a perfectly good film. I don't think that's the case for Evangelion. Production design is ultimately only a secondary concern.

[reagen]

Hmmm, I used to be all negative. But, these times I'm trying to stay open-minded!!
Let it come out, we'll see what we have later!! If it's bad, DESTROY!!!

[Hexon.Arq]

Well, that just puts Taylor ahead of anyone else involved in the project in my "X who sounds like thay can be trusted" ranking... though even being miles ahead doesn't say much.

[jonneh]

Maybe slightly off topic, but does anyone know why Anno said no to directing this? Wonder if he's mad from all the idiots that bashed him & eva simply because they were too stupid to understand any of it. :P

I'm worried about this movie, as mostly everyone is, especially since Anno isn't even directing it. And I'm sure this will be one of those movies you either completely hate or love, but I'm really curious to see how it turns out.

[rip3mwk]

I believe that Anno is supposed to have very little to do with this, meaning he will not be directing. There is a rumor that he will be supervising a bit, but even that would be a bit unlikely.

[ThroneofDravaris]

Bah, what does Anno know about Eva anyway? Let’s get Amanda Winn Lee to direct it!

Seriously though, so far I haven’t seen anything that I found particularly discouraging in relation to this release. I mean, WETA couldn’t cock it up that badly, could they?

And even if they do, it will at the very least be entertaining when the internet breaks down a few hours after the first screening…

[Hexon.Arq]

Maybe slightly off topic, but does anyone know why Anno said no to directing this? Wonder if he's mad from all the idiots that bashed him & eva simply because they were too stupid to understand any of it. :P

He's tired of it, and were it not for the series entombing his name in Mt. Zion for all eternity (+ whatever revenues he gets from its continued success), he'd probably wish that you were, too.

[Carl Horn]

I think David Lynch or Terry Gilliam could do it. You need a sense of the strange and fantastic, that the world is revealed to be (or is being transformed into) something more than a human soul can bear. I'm thinking of what happens to much of EVA's cast as being something like what happens to Bruce Willis in 12 MONKEYS (a movie, by the way, that CLAMP really loved). The action scenes shouldn't be like a video game version of sci-fi; they should be to most SF film combat what the opening scene of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was to most war movies. Thrilling, but highly unsettling and fearful.