Cowboy Bebop
Director Shinichiro Watanabe's Bebop main title sequence--clearly inspired by animator Herbert Klynn's splashy split-screen titles from I Spy and It Takes a Thief--was justly praised by the A.V. Club for being one of "22 TV Opening-Credit Sequences That Fit Their Shows Perfectly." The Bebop titles were accompanied by the coolest original theme ever written for TV, "Tank!" by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts.
So the Jewfro'd Spike Spiegel might be played in live-action form by that great Jewish actor Keanu Reeves? Oh Lord. I'm taking that casting possibility as seriously as the "Cher to play Catwoman in next Batman film" item from a British paper. (Those U.K. rags are as trustworthy a source as Fux News. What's next? "Streisand to play Harley Quinn"?)
A live-action Bebop flick is an inane idea. If it gets greenlit, whoever Fox or producer Erwin Stoff will get to direct the flick will probably look for all sorts of ways to botch it, like not hiring Kanno--whose music was such an integral part of the original show--or cramming in dialogue where there shouldn't be dialogue. Part of the beauty of the show was its minimal dialogue. (I can't stand anime, but I dug Bebop, and the music and dialogue--or lack of it during some episodes--were why I enjoyed it when it first aired on Adult Swim. Speaking of which, maybe I ought to check out some Bebop eps from my DVD collection that I haven't watched yet. I never finished watching the entire series.)
The only director whom I think could pull off a live-action Bebop is Peter Yates, who has a knack for exciting action sequences with no dialogue (Bullitt, Breaking Away), but he's not exactly an A-lister anymore, I doubt any of the present-day Hollywood suits have ever seen his work and I'm not sure if Yates would be interested in anime-based material.
By the way, Selma Blair would be perfect as Faye Valentine. She's got the stems to play Faye.
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