Stephen Chow Kinda Talks Dragon Ball Z Movie
Dragonball: Evolution (2009) Movie — By Nix on November 15, 2007
I will admit that I was very doubtful when it was mentioned here that Stephen Chow would be “producing” the upcoming live-action Dragon Ball Z movie. After all, Wes Craven “presents” and supposedly produces a lot of movies, but, you know, he doesn’t, really. And considering how little Chow actually had to do with “producing” the Japanese movie “Shaolin Girl”, well, I was doubtful, let’s just say that. Now, Chow has recently talked to CRIenglish.com about his involvement in the movie, and, well, I’m still doubtful. Listen to what he says, and what he doesn’t say, and judge for yourself if he’s really doing anything beyond putting his name on a product simply to help it sell to the Asian market.
Says Chow about his involvement (or lack thereof):
“I have been a Dragonball fan for a long time,” Stephen Chow told a reporter with the Oriental Morning Post, “the airy and unstrained story leaves much room for creation.”
Chow also explained why he would not take up the job of the movie’s director, “I only direct original movies composed by myself. This is my principle.”
Chow is recommending Zhang Yuqi, leading actress in his new sci-fi film “CJ7″, play the role of Goku’s girlfriend in the film.
So, um, his “involvement” with the film begins and ends with him recommending an actress to play the female lead? Um, okay. Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it, right?
The girl Chow is talking about is Kitty Zhang Yuqi, below.
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14 Comments
Oh boy. This film adaptation really does not look promising. First of all, Goku’s GIRLFRIEND?! He doesn’t have one, he simply marries a girl because of a promise he hastily made when they were kids. I guess it’s been a while since Stephen Chow read the series. And I know the filmmakers need to change things from the manga but really, what’s the point of making a live adaptation?
He didnt direct it like it says.. The only involvement he had was choosein a female lead. I think chow woulda did a hella better job if he directed. Expecially in the fight scenees
Dude, cynical much? haha…seriously, why so doubtful? Negativity GALORE! haha…so what? Dragon Ball was not THAT great anyway, let ‘em make it…the proof is in the movie haha…we’ll see…when the time comes…who knows what kind of fans it will garner? Hey, I was doubtful about the Transformers movie…and it seems to have “TRANSLATED” well onto movie screens…so F— the anime and manga…if you’re just a fan of those, than just stick to those things…but the medium of Film allows for us to Experience it in a NEW way…sad to say but the anime has lost its luster OVER time…and though I like the premise…this may actually be an enthusiastic RE-ENTRY into the series again? Renewed interest is perhaps the main motivation…with all these new anime/manga out now…it’s hard to remember the original ones that brought the promise of Excitement and Fun? Now isn’t that what this boils down to in the end? Don’t be so “religious” or “fanatical” about it…”it’s just a movie”….haha…my dad tells me that A LOT…!!! haha…PUheast!
all i can say is there are so many people bagging this movie before theres even a teaser trailer out.
if it a flop well fair enough, but I’m sure the movie will be quit good even if they do change a 1 thing or 100 things
nuff said
i wonder what the japanese creators are thinking right now.
@mugen6
Toriyama: What can i say?… I was drunk!!
@topic
But seriously what harm can it do? If it plops, it plops just shut the f*** up and enjoy the madness.
To those Stephen Chow fans, it seems that he’ll be too preoccupied on this other movie to care about this DB movie, in other words he actually will not be participating much more, which really figures, since none of his proposed actors got selected by Hollywood.
i love dragon ball. i’m happy at last the movie about dragon ball will be release soon. but this is far from what i want it to be. i grew up with dragon ball. when i saw the photo .. it make me sad. really sad.
I agree Eric Choi but when Videl comes to Gohan’s house and wants to know how to fly and starts arguing with Chi-Chi Chi-Chi says “Goku and I’ve been dating since we were kids”. Also the movie’s probably not going to follow the same storyline as the series.
stephen chow is the maaaan yeeeaaaa.. dbz rules
Look, Stephen Chow doesn’t have anything to do with this movie. Fox just put him on the staff list to cheat fans into the cinemas.
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/f/2009-02-19/23122383039.shtml
(translation){{{
Stephen Chow was said to be dissatisfied with having no actual power as producer; Refuses to advertise “Dragonball”
Sina Entertainment
According to “Apple Daily”, Hollywood live action movie “Dragonball Evolution” has already entered countdown for release. The movie had been anticipated by Asian moviegoers because it was based on a Japanese manga, produced by Stephen Chow, and starred by Chow Yun-Fat. However during the promotion in Taiwan and Korea no sign of Stephen Chow the producer was seen, only Yun-Fat was there to manage the scene. Some sources state that Stephen had repeatedly suggested revising the script, but they were all ignored, making him feel looked down upon and so refused to attend any promotion activities in protest.
The Fox sponsored, Stephen Chow produced, James Wong directed, Chow Yun-Fat and Justin Chatwin starred manga live action movie “Dragonball” will start screening next month, and Yun-Fat has already began his Asian promotion tour, but no sign of Stephen the producer was seen. Some US sources state that when the film began shooting, Stephen already had conflicts with the filmakers, so he was very unhappy with them.
Stephen is producer only in name and has no actually power, so he refused to do promotion
It was said that after Fox bought the rights to the Japanese manga “Dragonball”, they had invited Stephen to be director, but he was busy with filming CJ7, so he only agreed to be producer, and Fox turned to James Wong to direct. At the start of filming, Stephen was really ethusiastic at the thought of cooperating with Yun-Fat, seen especially in his numerous suggestions to casting, scripting, make design and special effects during the planning. But these suggestions were all rejected by Fox executives, causing Stephen who enjoyed high prestige in the Hong Kong cinema industry to lose face. Since his first job as a Hollywood producer was only in name but has no actually power in decisions, Stephen decided no to attend any of the promotional activities for the movie in protest.
Stephen admitted that his suggestions had not been accepted, and did not have an actual role
A reported phoned Stephen to confirm, and he replied: “I am not able to attend the promotional activities because of the timing, and that promotion is not my job, so I already have other work scheduled”. Regarding the rumours of him being producer without actual decision powers, Stephen said: “A movie has many types of producer, and I was the kind of advisory type of producer. Except for giving a few suggestions, I did not have an actual role”. When asked if his suggestions were not accepted, he replied: “It’s true they did not accept my decisions. Maybe they thought those weren’t suitable, so they didn’t use them. They have their own reasons for not accepting, but I won’t mind, since it’s the movie company who makes the decisions”. When the matter of “Dragonball” author Toriyama Akira being dissatisfied that the movie isn’t true to the original story, Stephen said: “Sorry, no comment”.
Movie was criticized for lacking the original spirit
Ever since this movie adapted from the famous Japanese manga “Dragonball” began filming, it was criticized for lacking the original spirit, and even Toriyama Akira couldn’t help to point out the movie did not look like his work at all.
The make did not fit the original
Kamesennin, the teacher of the main character Gokuu and played by Chow Yun-Fat, was bald, had a white beard, wears sunglasses, and looks strange in the original manga, but none of these traits were found on Yun-Fat.
Background was way off from the original
The original manga talks of Son Gokuu growing up in the mountains meeting the scientist girl Bulma, and then going off on the journey to seek the Dragonballs. But in the movie the Goku played by Justin Chatwin was a high school student who was told by his dying grandfather to gather the Dragonballs.
Artistic design had failed
The “Dragonball” manga and anime was loved by fans because of Toriyama Akira’s colourful universe and interesting character designs, but the artistic design in the movie was dark and the camera leaned towards being grim, just like some regular Hollywood film.
}}}