LEGIONS of Dragonball fans had gone frantic when news came out that their well-loved Goku will soon be made into a full-length live action movie. As threads of exchanges in the world wide web got longer, one issue weighed most than the others… What will they do to Goku’s hair? Fans obviously wanted to see that unique signature-styled spiked coif that made Goku such a worldwide manga phenomenon.
Created for television by Akira Toriyama, Dragonball has spawned best selling graphic novels and videogames. The television series has exploded into a global phenomenon that has generated more than four billion dollars in merchandising sales. Considered as the gold standard of anime-based video games, it now has more than 25 different games and over ten million units sold since May 2002. The series is 500 episodes strong and has posted top ratings in Europe, Asia and in the U.S. As such, the challenges in adapting Dragonball for the big screen were formidable, starting with creating a story that would satisfy the hardcore fans and introduce the world to non-fans.
Turning a beloved global property into a motion picture is no easy task, and it took years after 20th Century Fox acquired the rights of the graphic novel series to make it happen. Its big-screen adaptation finally began to come together when filmmaker James Wong, whose works in the science fiction/fantasy genre is unmatched, took an interest in the property. Wong and screenwriter Ben Ramsey worked to hit the right combination of the fantastic and relatable. “I believe that the appeal of Dragonball, beyond its super-cool action, is the richly creative world that Toriyama invented,” says Ramsey.
Wong and Ramsey took note of the fact that Dragonball is set in a multi-cultural environment, where future and past become one. It is a world where “race place no significant role.” To that end, the casting process for the film is, as Wong puts it, “color blind.”
Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise’s son in “War of the Worlds”) landed the role of Goku after an exhaustive worldwide search. Goku is a high school student whose innocence and guilelessness are left behind when he begins his hero’s journey. “The character has a great arc – from nerd to the planet’s savior,” says Wong.
Goku’s transformative journey is all well and good, as are his martial arts skills, but a subject of equal scrutiny was the character’s…hair. “That was my first question to James (Wong),” says Chatwin with a laugh. “What are you going to do with the hair? It’s so important that even the hair has an arc!” Indeed, Goku’s hairstyle evolves through the film into its signature, spiky “do.”
Joining Goku’s adventures are Emmy Rossum (“The Day After Tomorrow”) who plays Bulma, a beautiful woman intent on retrieving the mystical Dragonballs for her own reasons; Jamie Chung (“Samurai Girl”) is Chi Chi, a young martial artist who captures Goku’s eye; and screen legend Chow Yun-Fat (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is Roshi, the Master who guides Goku on the young man’s epic quest to save the Earth from the forces of darkness.
Playing Goku’s nemesis are James Marsters (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) who takes on the role of Lord Piccolo, whose return could signal the Earth’s destruction; international performing sensation Joon Park is Yamcha, a charismatic “bad boy” whose schemes could thwart the heroes’ journey; popular Japanese actress Eriko (“Heroes”) is Mai, an assassin who works with Piccolo; Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters”) is Sifu Norris, a Master and contemporary of Roshi’s; and Randall Duk Kim (“The Matrix Revolutions”) is Goku’s grandfather Gohan, whose lessons for Goku begins to prepare the young man for the monumental tasks that lie ahead.
Emmy Rossum appreciated the challenges of playing such a multi-faceted character whose hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners attitude begins to change after she joins Goku and Roshi on their search for the Dragonballs. “Bulma comes to realize that life is about much more than her personal quest,” says Rossum. “The character in the manga and now our film is so alive, funny and spunky. She’s anything but ordinary. In the manga, Bulma sports a blue bob, which became her signature look. Rossum recalls that the filmmakers tried different ways to capture that coloring and style, including dyes, hair extensions and wigs, but ultimately went in a more realistic direction. Nevertheless, there are traces of blue and purple laced throughout the character’s wardrobe.” A bonus for the actress was learning to ride Bulma’s speedster, which the production created from a Harley motorcycle.
One of today’s brightest and most appealing young stars, Chung brought much more to Chi Chi than martial abilities. She has the sparkling energy necessary to fully capture the two sides of the character. “Chi Chi is the ‘It Girl’ – the most popular girl in high school,” says Chung. “She comes from a wealthy family, and everyone expects certain things from her. But she has a second life – a secret life – marked by her passion to fight. She comes off like the girl next door, but when she turns it on, she kicks butt!”
Working with Piccolo is Mai, an exotic beauty tainted by malevolence. Her weapons of choice are throwing knives known as shiruken. Japanese-born actress Eriko, who came to “DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION” after wrapping a recurring role on “Heroes,” says she enjoyed playing a “strong, tough woman on a mission.” James Wong adds that Eriko gives the role a “special quality and toughness.”
Inspired by the manga, the filmmakers had produced a movie mix of action, humor and character relationships for the new movie. “Huge action set pieces, state of the art visual effects, and elaborate martial arts sequences would be key elements of “Dragonball: Evolution,” as well as the exploration of the characters, their rich histories, and their evolving relationships,” says Wong.
Fantastic action adventure explodes when “Dragonball: Evolution” opens in cinemas across the nation from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
