Tomino doesn't want to see live action Gundam

[J-Lead]

I found this tidbit to be pretty interesting. Apparently, Tomino's not really into live action films these days, and subsequently, isn't really interested in seeing a live action Gundam film come into being.

Director Yoshiyuki Tomino: “Not Interested in Live Action Movie Work”

Director Yoshiyuki Tomino visited South Korea to participate in the first ever “Korean Contents Fair”. A former pupil of Director Osamu Tezuka, Tomino took charge of creating “Mobile Suit Gundam”. Although different from the pre-existing works, he created the new genre of “real robot animation”. Currently working as a songwriter and novelist as well as an animation supervisor, Tomino is known for works such as “Triton of the Sea“, “Yuusha Raideen” and “Densetsu Kyojin Ideon”. At a press conference at the Dream Square Business Tower in Seoul Ageiwa, he clarified his own reasons for “Gundam” series being has loved for such a long time as well as why he is against a live-action Gundam. There was a question and answer session.

Although live action adaptations of anime has become popular lately as seen with “Transformers”, do you have any plans for adapting Mobile Suit Gundam into a live-action film?

I had an interest in live action films several years before I was producing television shows. I wanted to make something like “Transformers” However, I thought that something like a live action movie wouldn’t last in those days since it would be restricted a lot by a sign of the times and fads. I’m not interested in live action films now because of that.

So apparently he's been doing animation for so long that he's "stuck" with that mentality and would much rather see Gundam stay animated than adapted into live action. In a way, he has a point (just look at G-Savior,) but I'm surprised he's not open to the possibility of a proper live action adaptation, especially since I think I remember him saying that he wasn't to fond of being limited to robot animation back in the day.

[Sleepneeded127]

i understand why he didnt do it when he was wanting it do to the tech stuff
but im still not sure that a Gundam live action can be done right just yet

as he said CGI SFx are very dated in how just a few years after they dont look as good as the current but animation stays the same

[Ryujin]

as he said CGI SFx are very dated in how just a few years after they dont look as good as the current but animation stays the same

Imho, this pretty much says it. From the wording in the article, it feels as if Tomino is not interested in live-action work primarily because of technical issues, especially with regards to what's currently possible with sfx. Reading between the lines, he'd probably be more open to the idea of live-action productions if he had some reassurance that the sfx department was capable of handling whatever he's envisioning.

It certainly doesn't stop him from doing an occasional live-action cameo.

[Skippy438]

It doesn't sound to me like it's a technological issue but more of a cultural one. Look how dated the animation in First Gundam looks, but specifically the character designs. Late 70's hair and costumes. Somehow, psychologically, the designs hold up more (though not much more) than if those same characters were portrayed by real people. Live action movies also have so many more opportunities for product placement which can cheapen the message of the film for the sake of making money for the production. Take the Transformers movie, nothing but brand new GM vehicles. They look shiny and new now, but what about 10 years from now? That's at least the idea I'm getting from that article.

[J-Lead]

Live action movies also have so many more opportunities for product placement which can cheapen the message of the film for the sake of making money for the production. Take the Transformers movie, nothing but brand new GM vehicles. They look shiny and new now, but what about 10 years from now? That's at least the idea I'm getting from that article.

Anime isn't exactly immune to it either (just look at Pizzabutt,) but product placement isn't always as much of a bad thing as people often make it out to be; it helps pay for the movie's production, and so long as the character isn't visibly holding a Coke in his hands while looking at the camera and smiling, or transforming into a 2009 Camaro, most of it can be ignored or overlooked. MGS4, as much as I loved it, is an example of really bad product placement, with things like Regain, Playboy, and such being actual useable items, complete with a mini-advertisement in the item description (and lets not get started on that commercial.) So long as they don't go that far with it, I don't see any significant problem.

[krullnar]

I personally think its funny how there isn't an ep of Code Geass with out their being a box or billboard with the pizzahut logo.

[Wingnut]

I personally think its funny how there isn't an ep of Code Geass with out their being a box or billboard with the pizzahut logo.

They're all gone on the [as] airing.

[Skippy438]

I guess what I was trying to say is that psychologically dated animation can hold up longer than dated cultural memes like hairstyles or clothing choice. Meaning a live action movie will date itself quicker than an animated one. Of course there are always exceptions.

[Dendrobium Stamen]

The whole "real life fads show their age" argument applies to all science-fiction, in all fairness; just look at an episode of the original Star Trek, or even The Next Generation for reference. Any vision of the future is constrained by what we believe the future will be - early 20th Century sci-fi is horrifyingly dated because modern technology has evolved diagonally to what people a hundred years ago expected the future to be.

To be honest, I don't see how an anime or CG-animated work is less vulnerable to this than a live-action film - the original Gundam series, for example, looks horribly dated in much of the visible technology (such as bridge consoles, etc) when compared to SEED or 00, and no doubt in 30 years those relatively modern series will look dated too.

As such, the only way to avoid looking dated in a generation's time is to set something in the past, since the past's been and gone and simply can't look dated by comparison, heh.

[Wingnut]

The whole "real life fads show their age" argument applies to all science-fiction, in all fairness; just look at an episode of the original Star Trek, or even The Next Generation for reference. Any vision of the future is constrained by what we believe the future will be - early 20th Century sci-fi is horrifyingly dated because modern technology has evolved diagonally to what people a hundred years ago expected the future to be.

To be honest, I don't see how an anime or CG-animated work is less vulnerable to this than a live-action film - the original Gundam series, for example, looks horribly dated in much of the visible technology (such as bridge consoles, etc) when compared to SEED or 00, and no doubt in 30 years those relatively modern series will look dated too.

As such, the only way to avoid looking dated in a generation's time is to set something in the past, since the past's been and gone and simply can't look dated by comparison, heh.

In short, Zeerust. "The particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic."

[thehod]

I dont blame Tomino on his thoughts of a live action Gundam especially after seeing Gsavior.

[Ryujin]

Speaking of live-action productions, here's a little peek at what might have been courtesy of an ANS interview with Syd Mead:

6. Around 1983 you worked on an American film design project based on an anime property that was eventually aborted for legal reasons. The (project?) was a film for Lions Gate based on adapting the mobile suit Gundam mecha for domestic audience film style. Can you tell us more on this project? Did you ever complete your original designs for Gundam?

No. I worked first on the ZAK character because for whatever reason, the director thought that would be more mechanically interesting as a demo. The character of GUNDAM was started after I drafted the ZAK character for computer vector plotting and modeling. (The computer being used at the time was a supercomputer CRAY.)

Lion’s Gate had failed to get license approval from Sunrise! The Sunrise New York office sent a cease and desist court order and the project was shelved, never to be resurrected. My job was to first, draft the ZAK character for plot input, and then I started on ‘de-kabuki-izng’ the GUNDAM character for the American market. I finished the head first, and was starting on the body when the project was discontinued.

13. Was Sunrise aware of the cancelled Gundam film from the early 1980's? Did you share these earlier designs with production staff?

I do not know. The subject never came up, I did not mention it and to my knowledge the staff guys did NOT know anything abut that incident. I had, however, produced a poster of the GUNDAM MOBILE SUIT for Bandai years before the TURN A project was launched. They all knew about that image, which was printed by permission in our second ‘Syd Mead’ book co-published with Kodansha. That title of that book is OBLAGON.

Said poster was of the Gundam Mk II, for the curious.

And I'm still looking for an image of the 'ZAK' & Gundam head that Syd came up with.

[Big B]

I think some things can be more easily digested as animation than live action. I think that you can take an animated or drawn work and run it live-action, but it has to be done well. X-Men was well done.

Secondly, it's going to have to be done where the mass market is going to like it. I know this may not fly with some people, but that's the truth. If it's not something that looks like a good, marketable product, the motivation to do it (let alone well) is much less. X-Men, while obviously ficticious, bases it's premise on a world where mutants exist, yet are subject to discrimination.

Something like Gundam has something more strikingly odd in a mobile suit. Making that scenario work in live-action needs to be handled well.
I 27, married, own a house, and I love robots. At the same time, I'm not just going to plunk down some cash to see something just because it's got a certain title. I'd much rather wait for a good Gundam movie, than have one now that was done poorly. Unfortunately, right now, I think we're more in a niche market, rather than mainstream, so the odds of seing a good Gundam or other mecha live-action is pushing it. If they do, I'm afraid of it turning out like G-Savior or Speed Racer and just being stupid.

[G-Slayer]

I 27, married, own a house, and I love robots. At the same time, I'm not just going to plunk down some cash to see something just because it's got a certain title. I'd much rather wait for a good Gundam movie, than have one now that was done poorly. Unfortunately, right now, I think we're more in a niche market, rather than mainstream, so the odds of seing a good Gundam or other mecha live-action is pushing it. If they do, I'm afraid of it turning out like G-Savior or Speed Racer and just being stupid.

True, but then it's possible that, from the way Tomino said it, his vision of a live-action Gundam wouldn't be another foreign production. I've seen the Death Note films--with an amazing CGI Ryuk--and looking back on that, it gives hope that a good Gundam flick is possible--if it's done by the right people.

[Dynames]

I can understand the guy not wanting a live action gundam, i have seen stuff from G Saviour and it isn't that good, plus not all live action adaptations have worked out well excluding transformers, if you guys have seen what the Dragonball movie looks like already you can see they screwed it up already.(though it still might have a chance)

[sushicake]

Ok I know why no one likes G-Saviour for one the movie was crap bad acting, bad set and just about everything was bad about it. The only thing good was the CG (for the time). For most part it's because of the B grade Canadian actors. IIRC at the time G-Saviour was made Sunrise had most of the rights to Gundam, and now I believe that Bandai has most of the rights to the name. So maybe this time if Bandai greenlights the project it may look better than Sunrises.

[Sume Gai]

Uh sushicake... I don't think you got the memo

Sunrise has all the rights to gundam and it is (and has been) a subsidiary of Bandai Visual