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James Marsters Interview

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

DBTheMovie has a newly translated interview from Japan’s Jump Square (which the previous set of scans originated from).

What is the difference between the original and the live-action movie ?

JM: Definitely the story of this movie is different from the original. But it’s a necessary change because we need to condense the long story of the original for a movie. For example, some characters in the original don’t appear in the movie. And we try to give it a more gritty and graphic (realistic) feeling.

Though there are differences between the two, I think it is all right if the core part of Dragonball remains. I let my son watch the anime’s Dragonball, DBZ and DBGT since he was eight years old. At first, I thought it was too violent, but I realized this is the best show for training to become a true man. True men need not to flaunt themselves. Their calm, gentle and modest but when it comes to the crunch they don’t hesitate to kill the enemy, and I think that’s what Goku is.

Goku is a real man. I know my son received such a message and applied it to his own life. My son doesn’t use violence to others, but he isn’t afraid of his own anger. I think it’s an important thing.

How many hours does it take to apply the make-up?

JM: It takes about four hours. Luckily, my make-up artist is very chatty, we have a lot of chat during the make up.

Please tell us the most remarkable scene in the movie, especially action scenes!

JM: It is the last battle after all! I like playing the battle scene. When I worked for a TV show for seven years, every Friday I fought till sun rise, I felt I would never have such a good time again until now. In addition, I have never gotten terribly hurt (laugh).

Do you talk with other co-stars as well?

JM: When I have a problem, I have a talk with Justin [Chatwin]. At first, we worried about the costumes. We thought it should reflect the spirit of the original, we persisted this thought to the producers. We didn’t want to make our characters beautiful and safe. I talked with Justin, and he agreed with me. So did the director.

What do you care about in acting for this movie?

JM: That’s a good question. Speaking of Piccolo, one word comes into my mind, it’s “loneliness”. Piccolo is always floating in the air in the beautiful landscape, but he never even admires the landscape, he is only thinking or musing and staring at his feet. I think that is a characteristic of piccolo more than anything else. Maybe it must be a characteristic for revenge. He hates himself and blames the people who has trapped him. His desire to kill not only them but their family, furthermore to destroy the city and the planet they live and protect. To get revenge is everything to him. Everything.

How was shooting in Durango?

JM: The desert of Durango is very cold at night (laugh). I was luckily wearing armor, but Goku was freezing at the beginning of shooting. The local people are very kind and get along with us. Besides they love to party very much! If I didn’t have work, I would be willing to join them. They are drinking and singing songs until 4:30 a.m. But I need to sleep for the shooting the next day, after all so I changed the hotel to get away from the partying people.

Finally, please give us a message to our readers in Japan.

JM: Japan is beautiful. Thank you for giving Dragonball to us! It’s an important show to us all and I want you to watch it, especially the young people. I thank the show for a lot of good times with my son. I’ll do my best to meet the high expectations the fans have.

 

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Posted in James Marsters, Uncategorized | Comments (48) »

Cast and Crew talk Dragonball

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

Some of the cast and crew of Dragonball are speaking up about the film. First Dragonball Film recieved a message from Screenwriter Ben Ramsey:

I haven’t read the leaked script so I don’t know if it was one of my drafts or not. Plus I am not at liberty to comment on it one way or the other.

I have not seen the whole film yet but what I’ve seen looks incredible. It was an absolute honor to be a part of Dragonball history. I am big fan of James Wong’s work and I am confident that he made a movie that will thrill die-hard fans and non-fans alike.

I’d like to thank all the fans for their support and for helping to promote the movie. With your help Goku, Roshi, Bulma, Yamchi, Chi Chi and Piccolo will rule the Universe in 2009.

Kamehameha!

Ben

They also received a message from camera operator Casey Hotchkiss:

Working on Dragonball was a great experience. Jim Wong is incredible. He knows what he wants and won’t quit until he gets his shots.

 Media Blvd interviewed Texas Battle in which he mentions Dragonball:

As far as Dragon Ball, all you’ve got to do is say Dragon Ball and there it is. It’s supposed to be one of the biggest adaptation movies over sees in Asia, as well as in the States. It’s a huge budget, and from Twentieth Century Fox. I’ve been in their movies since I started my career. We’re looking for that to blow up, and definitely there’s going to be sequels, and a trilogy if everything goes right. I’m looking forward to it. I play a character named Carey Fuller, and me and Goku, who is played by Justin Chatwin are going to get into it a little bit, because I don’t like him and he tries to steal my girlfriend, Chi Chi. And I’m not going to go out without a fight.

And lastly, Dragonball Live  got in touch with storyboard artist Dan Fraga:

Did you inform yourself and get inspiration on the anime to create your story board ? Were you inspired by Akira Toriyama’s style ?

Before being asked to work on Dragon Ball, I was already a fan of the Anime. I had maybe around 20 issues of the manga, but it was in Japanese, so I really could only look at the pictures. The first time I had ever heard of Dragon Ball was in 1993 when a fellow comic book artist showed me the Anime on a VHS tape. It was a bootleg from Japan. What inspired me most about Dragon Ball Z was the level of energy and dynamics that was put into the action sequences. If anything, that’s what I tried to bring with me to my work on the film.

A lot of rumours are saying that the film will be a PG, Will it definately be a PG and not a PG 13 ? or even an R rated movie ? In our opinion an PG13 or R rated movie is more appropriate for the dragon ball universe ?

While I can’t comment on the Rating of the Dragon Ball film, I will comment on that I’d personally prefer an R rating. My first job on a film was on The Transporter 2. Originally, we filmed an R rated movie, and unfortunately, Luc and Fox wanted more “butts in seats” so it was brought down to PG-13. I really feel that the film suffered because of it. As far as Dragon Ball is concerned, I think that Jim directed an incredible film. I’m sure if his intended cut makes it to the screen, you’ll be happy.

Concerning the fights, Did the production team manage to reproduce what you had in mind on screen ? Does your storyboard come close to the anime’s famous battles ? We are afraid that the dragon ball fight’s will be filmed in a very traditional way. With your work on the storyboards, have you tried to create something never seen before ?

I think our action department did an incredible job. They all worked very hard to stay true to the spirit of Dragon Ball. As I said before, I’m a fan of the anime and worked very hard on bringing kind of energy that to my work.

Visit Dragonball Live for the rest of the interview.

 

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Posted in Cast, Crew | Comments (24) »

Jumps SQ August Issue! UPDATE w/ Translations

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

DBthemovie has new, very sexy, scans from Jumps SQ’s August issue. 

Some very interesting things going on here. Chow’s scarf is very reminiscent of a turtle neck, and I think the shirt he’s wearing speaks for itself. Chatwin’s blue Gi is a nice homage to Goku’s original outfit. 

Translations courtesy of dbthemovie: 

Justin Chatwin (Goku)

I am very honored to be able to play Goku. When I am playing gentle and loving Goku, I feel as if I am given energy from him. In the movie, I have a lot of great action scenes. After the movie is finished post production, I’ll get to see my Kamehameha appear on the screen, and I get very excited when I imagine that.

Chow Yun-Fat (Master Roshi)

On my career as an actor, it is my first time to play a manga character. Dragonball is read all over the world, have many hard core fans. I hope they won’t be disappointed by my acting (laugh). But to be honest with you, I’m totally satisfied with my performance as Master Roshi.

Emmy Rossum (Bulma)

It is a very exciting thing for me to play Bulma, because I’m a big fan of her myself. She’s intelligent, motivated and has a short temper like a teenager. I really want to make all the fans of her happy.

Joon Park (Yamcha)

I like Dragonball very much because I read it when I was child, so when I got to audition I begged the director to “Please give me any small part, like a man carrying sandbags behind the screen.” (laugh) Furthermore, there is Chow Yun-Fat who is my hero from when I was child. This is a dream role for me

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