QUOTE (EggBeast @ Jan 22 2009, 12:35 PM)
mmm... first off, I think it would be a very bad idea to base actor selection based off of how much like the original characters they look like. It's really difficult to find real people who look like highly-stylized anime characters, and that really limits the acting potential going just off of looks.
And secondly, have you never seen Fight Club? Brad Pitt pulls of some seriously crazy stuff in there! Getting the fighting scenes down wouldn't be a problem for him. Plus, I think he could get the character down great. Pitt always does a great job in action-packed, pseudo-philosophical movies, and Bebop would fit the bill perfectly. I'm not saying Brad Pitt would be the perfect actor for the job, but he'd definitely do a great job with it, and having such a famous actor on the movie would definitely get it more recognition, which I can only see as a good thing.
I'll agree you can't base it all on looks, but it has to be part of the equation. Otherwise we could end up with like... Steve Buscemi playing Jet or John Goodman for Spike.
Gross exagerations, but you catch my drift.
Anyway, You can't look at the fighting in Fight Club as a reference for deciding if Brad Pitt is good for the role of Spike. What they do in Fight Club is brawl. What we see in Cowboy Bebop is martial arts.
As for the looks, I threw that in there as a icing on the cake.
I don't think Brad Pitt is cut out for the role. From the roles that Pitt has played, you can divide them into two general sections: Serious Brad Pitt and Quirky Brad Pitt. We see the former in movies like Seven, Babel, Troy, Benjamin Button etc. And we see the latter in movies like Fight Club, Burn After Reading, Snatch, 12 monkeys, or the Ocean's movies.
Serious Pitt is just well... too serious... for the role of Spike, and his Quirky side...I could see him getting Spikes little quirks and mannerisms down, but there's a lot more to Spike than that.
Anywho, the only thing recognition does for a movie, specially when it's this kind of project, is determine how many critics will care enouhg to rip it a new one. It does nothing for the quality of the movie. Hell, it may even be harmful to the movie. With recognition comes higher expectations, not only from the audience bbut from the studios involved etc etc. And with those expectations comes the pressure to do something that pleases rather than something that's good.
I say this movie is better off staying as a little, barely noticeable speck in hollywood's radar.