Live-action adaptations of anime series are becoming quite a trend in Hollywood – from the big-screen adaptation of Ghost in the Shell to Netflix’s upcoming Death Note. With both of those projects meeting quite a bit of backlash, its safe to say that fans were a little hesitant about the news of a potential live-action Cowboy Bebop series.
While an argument can be made for the series’ success in today’s day and age, it actually isn’t the first time that a live-action version of Cowboy Bebop has been a possibility. 20th Century Fox initially had plans to develop a live-action film adaptation of Cowboy Bebop back in 2008 – and had none other than Keanu Reeves was rumored to star.
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The possibility of Reeves’ casting was first reported by First Showing, with the star expected to play Spike Spiegel. As the main protagonist of Bebop, Spike is a man haunted by his time as a member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, who later goes on to join a group of bounty hunters. First Showing’s initial report stated that the budget for the film – which was slated for a 2010 release – would be “insane” with Reeves on board.
Obviously, this version of the film still has yet to become any sort of reality. While crew members on the original Bebop, such as Shinichiro Watanabe, Kenji Uchida, and Keiko Nobumoto, were set to be associate producers the film, the project never fully got off the ground. After projected budget issues reportedly caused a complete rewrite of the script, the live-action Bebop film was essentially placed into ‘development hell.’
Its safe to say that Reeves’ name is no longer attached to the project, although the former Matrix star has certainly reestablished himself with projects such as John Wick. Still, all these years later, fans can’t help but still wonder what a Reeves-led adaptation of Bebop would have ended up looking like.
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