‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ actor John Cho takes on the role of iconic character Spike Spiegel for the live-action Netflix remake of the iconic anime ‘Cowboy Bebop.’ He follows in the footsteps of Japanese voice actor Kōichi Yamadera and English dub performer Steve Blum for the original versions.
He described taking on the role as “scary as hell” ahead of its release, considering the massive fanbase. Cho discusses learning about the anime in an interview released by Netflix.
“I first learned about Cowboy Bebop through the very boring route of having it come through my agents, who sent me the script,” he said. “I had not heard of it before. I read the script for the first episode, and I was so impressed by it I said, “I have to look at the source material,” so I watched the anime. My mind was just blown. I was so impressed. The world is completely unique, completely inventive, funny, and high-stakes. I was fascinated by the setup and all the influences they were pulling from. This show is unlike anything I’ve personally seen in anime, and now live-action.”
Cho said, “It was scary as hell. None of us want to mess anything up, because people love this world and these characters so much. But at the end of the day, our excitement overrode our fear. I feel like visually it’s a very faithful adaptation. In terms of the characters, I feel like the goal was to keep viewers connected to the anime but also give them some surprises as well. The entire creative team balanced giving everyone what they liked about the original material, while throwing in things that no one will expect.”
“I think they did a really great job. We go deeper into the characters’ pasts, and they get more backstory. I will say that the music in this show is such an important piece, and when I heard the original anime composer Yoko Kanno was attached to our adaptation, it was a deal sealer for me,” he continued.
Netflix released their remake of ‘Cowboy Bebop’ on November 19th.
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