Anime That I Think Would Make A Great Movie: Noir

RedWordSmith — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:34:36 +0000

At ACEN, I attended the Hollywood vs Otaku panel, and there was a lot of discussion on movies that might or might not make good (Hollywood?) movie adaptations. FWIW, I think that Noir would pretty much be a shoe-in for a great movie. Here’s my thinking:

The plot allows for as many (or, for that matter, as few) action sequences as budget allows. Car chase with explosions? No problem. Shoot-outs? Gotta have shoot-outs. A special effects team could have fun with a live-action Noir, but could churn out stuff that’s been done before without serious detriment to the film.
The environment of Noir is varied but not too exotic. Hollywood has plenty of experience depicting locations like abandoned construction, European streets, casinos, and green rolling fields.
The plot is fairly easy to follow. No one should be walking out of the theater wondering what just happened. At the same time, it’s not too predictable: people who don’t know anything about Noir already should be in for a few surprises.
Noir reaches the fan base: it was a very, very popular anime.
Although almost everyone at the panel agreed that the use of “A-list” actors and the tendency to cast for really good looks is a net bad, it’d be trivial to cast a famous actress with super-model looks as Mireille. (Side note: Silence tells me that he thinks Sarah Michelle Gellar [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] would be good for this role)
A touch of the mystical: Les Soldats is an almost perfect movie-villain organization. They’re weird, mysterious, religious, and utterly unlike any real organization around. And their favorite mode of attack consists of swarms of MIB.

FanCruft » Live Action

Anime That I Think Would Make A Great Movie: Noir