A step backward in the 'Dragonball Evolution'-ary chain

By Aaron Wilder

Let me color my review for you a little. Until this week, I knew nothing about the "Dragonball" series. I didn't know Bulma from Yamcha (I had to look that up). After a little research, I know next to nothing. That being said, I am judging "Dragonball Evolution" purely on its merits as a film. Or its lack of merits.

Goku is an average teenager, except that he's an incredible martial artist. Goku's grandfather gives him an orange orb for his birthday, a Dragon Ball, and explains there are six more just like it. Whoever has all seven balls can have any wish granted to them. Goku soon learns that an angry green man by the name of Piccolo wants all the balls to destroy the earth (or rule over it, he never clarifies). He then teams up with an eccentric (read: perverted) martial arts master, a technologically-advanced girl and a Chinese surfer dude to stop Piccolo before he can destroy/enslave the world.

There's not a lot to like about this movie. The story moves along at an almost manic pace, jumping from location to location before you can come to grips with what's going on. This was likely employed to distract from the glaring plot holes. The writers often use Piccolo's undefined powers as a crutch to push the story forward. Can he create monster-like henchmen from his blood? Sure! Can he destroy entire villages with fire and move entire bodies of water? You bet! Does he use any of this power in the final confrontation with Goku? No, because it's not convenient anymore. I appreciate them not relying entirely upon special effects during the action sequences, but fight scenes were often too short and too poorly edited to enjoy.

The cast provides an uneven performance, from "making an effort" to "collecting a paycheck." Goku and the perverted martial arts master, Roshi, do their best with the ridiculous script they've been given. Bulma, the aforementioned technophile, and Yamcha, the beach bum, take different approaches at grating on your nerves, but both are successful in the end. Piccolo and his nameless sidekick may as well be props for all the moments they get.

The movie does have one thing going for it. As it's rated PG, this is the perfect opportunity for younger audiences, notoriously more forgiving of bad movies, to experience some martial arts moments. Those looking for an interesting story or strong performances will have to look elsewhere.

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Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung Dragonball Evolution

MoviesOnline sat down with Emmy Rossum and Jamie Chung at the Los Angeles Press Day for their new film, “Dragonball Evolution,” directed by James Wong. Based on the popular Japanese manga created by Akira Toriyama, the film also stars Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat, James Marsters, Joon Park, Eriko, Ernie Hudson, and Randall Duk Kim.

Emmy Rossum plays Bulma, a beautiful woman intent on retrieving the mystical Dragonballs. She’s a gifted young actress and an accomplished musician. Nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004 for her starring performance as Christine in the film "The Phantom of the Opera," she won the National Board of Review's Best Female Breakthrough Performance Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association's Best Young Actress Award in 2005. She starred in the action film "Poseidon," in the blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow," in the Clint Eastwood-directed drama "Mystic River," and in the independent feature "Songcatcher," the latter winning the Special Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble at Sundance in 2001. Rossum's performance in "Songcatcher" earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance. Her television credits include guest starring appearances on "Law and Order," and "The Practice."

In 2007, Rossum recorded her first album for Geffen records, "Inside Out." Using her classically trained voice as the primary instrument, she wrote and recorded all her own songs. Rossum is working on her second album in between film roles.

Jamie Chung, who plays the young martial artist Chi Chi, had the lead in the hit ABC Family original mini-series "Samurai Girl." The show revolved around Heaven (Chung), the adopted daughter of wealthy parents, who strives to balance a normal life with the Samurai traditions of her ancestors. She recently completed production on the independent film "Burning Palms," directed by Christopher Landen. Set in Los Angeles, the film interlaces five stories in which each character is pulled toward a comically dark fate.

Chung completed production on the remake of the 1983 horror movie "The House on Sorority Row." The film also stars Carrie Fisher, and is currently scheduled for an October 2009 release. Additionally, Chung recently wrapped Disney's television film "The Princess Protection Program," opposite Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. Chung also appeared in the hit movie comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." Her other television credits include a leading role on "ER," a guest-starring stint on "CSI: NY," and recurring appearances on "Greek."

Emmy Rossum and Jamie Chung are fabulous people and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us about their new movie, “Dragonball Evolution”:

Q: Jamie and Emmy, can you talk about your training for this?

Jamie: Samurai Girl was the perfect foundation to prepare me for the conditioning and physical challenges that 87Eleven, which is the stunt group that trained us [to fight] brought. It was a whole different level. We’re talking cable show training to motion picture training, and it was very different and it required a month prior to filming. We trained every day -- physical conditioning, martial arts, wire-works, fight choreography -- and the days that I wasn’t filming while we were on location, it was physical training

Emmy: This completely kicked my ass. I had never done anything like this before. I grew up loving Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, it’s kind of a little bit embarrassing to say. Anything with him is awesome. And I’ve always kind of wanted to do a film like that and I always wanted to play a tougher, more independent, woman character and this was the perfect opportunity to shoot three guns, learn how to ride a motorcycle and dye part of my hair blue. So, in addition to all the training that we did as a team, which was pretty rigorous thinking back on it, I can only imagine it’s kind of like how women describe childbirth. Like it’s really awful when you’re doing it -- hold on, I’m going somewhere with this, I just thought of this over lunch – but two years later you’re like, “Oh, it was amazing, it’s great.” When you’re in it, it’s really awful, but also fun, because we were doing it as a team and it’s like group childbirth.

Q: Do either of you have a dance background that helped you with the fight choreography?

Jamie: I’m sorry, I don’t dance.

Emmy: I was a ballerina when I was little. A lot of it is kind of similar to a dance in that it’s a choreographed motion. Stunt guys have a thing they call the box, which is kind of like a ballet move when you’re in first position. Your hands are like eight inches from you bellybutton, there’s like a box that you’re not supposed to hit out of when actors are fighting each other, and that’s so they don’t hurt each other. So there is a lot of coordination and dance combinations that come in handy, kind of coordinated and rehearsed in a similar kind of way, but when actors get all method and really emotional in fight scenes, people bust their lips and break their toes and all of a sudden the box is like a whole big circle.

Jamie: It’s muscle memory so it’s repetition, repetition, and you get familiar with the movements and it’s lots of training and it’s to look sharp, but I’m not a very good dancer, no.

Emmy: That’s actually not true, she can dance. She was also the best fighter.

Jamie: I just don’t dance

Emmy: She does dance, give her a beer, she’ll dance.

Jamie: Karaoke and dancing

Q: What is your take on the manga anime characters?

Emmy: I loved the manga because it was a little more R rated, and I thought that the character of Bulma – the relationship between Bulma and Roshi always was very funny, and I really enjoyed that in my studies of her. And I think we kind of took everything we could from the manga and understand that some things are going to be changed just by virtue of the fact that you’re a live actor playing it live action. It can’t be exactly like the manga, but you try to bring the spirit and the energy of the characters, and the back story that you learn from the manga, and you bring it to this story, which is really an introduction of those characters.

Jamie: And then make it PG.

Emmy: And then don’t make it naked.

Q: You have some great costumes and also some serious hair in this. Did you enjoy that?

Emmy: It’s actually really good padding for any kind of somersaults or kicks to the head. It was fun for whipping your head around. I got kind of a whiplash.

Jamie: It was fun to look pretty and then fight real tough.

“Dragonball: Evolution” opens in theaters on April 10th.



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James Marsters on Dragonball

Lord Piccolo has a long history with Dragonball. The live-action origin film Dragonball: Evolution is only a mere introduction to the villain. Played by James Marsters, he tries to thwart the heroes from obtaining the Dragon Balls, but there’s going to be a whole lot more to Lord Piccolo.

James Marsters Talks Dragonball Evolution

“Part of the challenge was to realize that the Lord Piccolo that we see in the first film is the same person as the Piccolo that will be transformed into, which is the more recognizable one for fans who are more familiar with Dragonball Z,” James Marsters. “There’s a younger version that we’re going to get to, but as an actor, it was to realize that it was the same person in both sides of it, that he’s going to transform his body but his mind is pretty much the same.”

It may be an all too familiar story at this point, but Marsters is one of those actors who finds a way to like the villain he plays. “For me, it was taking Piccolo, the wonderful guy, and this is what I love about Piccolo, is that he’s not a nice person, he’s not trying to make friends, but he’ll never let you down because he’s living up to his own code. I always thought that was a really wonderful character because of that, and just to take that character and say, ‘Well, what would make me so angry that I’d want to destroy every human being on earth?’ To know that everybody has buttons. You can do something to anybody and they’ll get that mad. What happened to him? So hopefully it’s really the same character as we go through the next phase in the other movies.”

Dragonball

Perhaps Marsters thought too much about Piccolo. At a certain point, he cost himself epic time in the makeup chair. “The first time we did the make-up, it took 14 hours and it was nobody’s fault but my own because I was really married to the idea that my character be old and decrepit and ugly. I told them that when my girlfriend comes into Durango, I want her to run for the hills, and then she did, which was not so great. In the Manga and in the Anime, he is so old that he needs a walking stick and it’s only at the end of the season of Dragonball that he throws off the cloak and you see he’s all cut and then he starts to fight and it’s a big surprise. The difference that we’ve done is we don’t do the fake out. We just reveal him from the first shot as being powerful, but other than that, it’s kind of the same as the Manga. That was so funny because I kept saying uglier, uglier, more lines, more age, more uglier and finally after 14 hours the make-up artist just slapped me upside the head and said, ‘I’m done! Go to set!’ That was it. But then we got Edward French to come in and do the make-up and he got it down to 4 hours and I shut up. I let him do his job.”

Best known to genre fans as Spike from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Marsters embraced a different sort of monster. “Piccolo is less tortured than Spike. Piccolo is asexual. Spike was always kind of confident except for his love life. That kind of mixed him up a little bit, but Piccolo just does not have that side to him. He’s not male or female. He’s Namek so some of the same colors as the darker aspects of Spike enjoying hurting people, being really angry, stuff like that, but just take all the sex away.”

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Dragonball Evolution Sequel?

Dragonball Evolution star Justin Chatwin talks the future of the manga franchise...

The film hasn't even hit Irish cinemas but it seems there might be more of Goku and company for the silver screen.

Speaking to MTV Splash Page, Dragonball Evolution star Justin Chatwin has revealed that a script for a potential sequel has already been written:

"I know they've written a second one and it's pretty far out there," Chatwin said. He added, "The second one really goes to some different places that I've never seen in any comic book adaptation."

Based on the popular Japanese manga, the live action adventure centres on a team of warriors, each of whom possesses special abilities. Together, they protect Earth from a force bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name.

The film opens in irish theatres April 10th.

Emmy Rossum of 'Dragonball: Evolution'

At 22, Emmy Rossum stars in "Dragonball: Evolution," the live-action take on the famous Japanese cartoon; it opens April 10. She has appeared in "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Poseidon" and is a singer as well; her 2007 album, "Inside Out," was released by Geffen Records.



Do people ever mess up and call you, like, Rummy Epson?

In school they used to call me Emmy Possum. I prefer Emmy Awesome. I mean, Emmy isn't that common of a name. My real name is actually Emmanuelle. But I go by Emmy because it's easy for people to pronounce.

How in the world did you end up at Perez Hilton's birthday party the other night?

We had some friends in common. He's a nice guy, actually! He invited me to his birthday dinner the night before. He's very funny.

So he's not evil, mean and frightening?

Not to me, at least. Knock wood!

That's beautiful.

Really, I think it's for entertainment reasons. Entertainment has stretched in different ways for people to express themselves -- people are expanding, your favorite musicians are on Twitter. Even Gerry Butler, from "Phantom of the Opera" and "300," is on Twitter! It's a different world. There's a big sense of immediacy in journalism and entertainment too.

How will you join this brave new world?

I'm somewhat involved with all of it. But I don't know, we were down in Mexico shooting "Dragonball," and I didn't have Internet or BlackBerry during the day. There's almost a sense of calm you get.

When you were a little girl, by which I mean, littler girl, as you are very young, did you ever dream that you would star in a movie as the inventor of Dragon Radar?

I used to watch the kids cartoon on the weekends! So I was familiar with the universe. I never read the manga or saw the anime, so when I auditioned, I started watching the shows online and watched a lot of the anime as well. It's interesting when you're taking a character from anime, which in my opinion is one of the most human forms of entertainment. I got to shoot five guns and drive a motorcycle and dye half my hair blue. It was so fun to be out of corsets.

But you do have anime eyes, so that is handy.

People tell me that. I don't know if that means that I'm bug-eyed?

No! So the April Details magazine shoot of you has been out for a while now. Do you feel OK with it?

Am I OK with it? Yeah, I really was excited to shoot with the photographer. I feel OK with myself, and I'm not being inappropriate for my age. They made me feel so comfortable. It's not really a sexy shoot. It's sexual. Though I was confused as to why I was holding a trumpet.

That is very strange.

I know. But I thought: artistic value! It's like trusting a director -- you have to trust your photographer. They're the captain of the ship.

That's wise, usually.


Oh my Emmy Rossum. She's really wonderful! and I really like her. Well, Bulma is really a hot babe in Manga so I think Emmy fits in her character. ^^

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Sequel Already Has A Script

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Sequel Already Has A Script
Published by Silas Lesnick

'Dragonball Evolution'With volume after volume of the original manga and hundreds of episodes of multiple anime series, it’s no surprise that next week’s “Dragonball Evolution” only touches the tip of the iceberg in regards to the epic mythology of “Dragonball.” What is a surprise, however, is that a sequel has already been penned.

“I know they’ve written a second one and it’s pretty far out there,” actor Justin Chatwin told MTV News. Chatwin plays Goku, the hero of the tale, who seeks to recover the powerful “Dragonballs” and protect the world from the evil Lord Piccolo, played by “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum James Marsters.

“The second one really goes to some different places that I’ve never seen in any comic book adaptation,” said Chatwin.

Chatwin admits that he hasn’t read the sequel script firsthand, but that he’s been told a lot about it and that he and co-star Emmy Rossum (Bulma) would jump at the chance to return for more.

Likewise, Marsters is not only ready for a second chapter, but would like to see the franchise continue indefinitely. A die-hard fan of the anime, Marsters has every intention of fulfilling the arc of Piccolo in live-action.

“We’re going to get to ‘Dragonball Z’ later,” said Marsters, “where Piccolo becomes youthful and he’s going to become the Piccolo that most people recognize.”

Director James Wong was a tad more cautious and wants to reminds fans that, even though a sequel may have already been written (he would neither confirm nor deny the script’s existence), the litmus test is really going to come down to next weekend’s box office. Then again, if “Star Trek” is doing it, maybe the premature sequel is the next big thing.

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Twilight Star Sought for Dragonball Reborn Movie?

RecoSwaVa found this post about Robert Pattinson being courted for the Dragonball sequel. I wondered if this was an April Fool's article, but the date is not 4/1. If it is true, its still probably not gonna happen--even though he's got the fly-away hair for it already...

“20th Century Fox is fast tracking the sequel to it’s as yet seen hit “Dragonball Evolution”. The film, which has earned a collective $21M in 8 Asian markets over the last three weeks; reportedly half its initial budget, opens worldwide on April 10th.

Reborn, the illusive subtitle to the sequel, is based on the popular manga turned animated series created by Akira Toriyama. James Wong is set to direct from a script he penned. Stephen Chow is once again set to produce and the entire cast, including Justin Chatwin as the films iconic hero, and Chow Yun-Fat as his mentor, are set to return.

The studio is also looking to expand that roster and are currently courting Twilight star Robert Pattinson to play the films villain. The film is expected to begin principle photography in Montreal this July, with a tentitive release date of Spring 2010.“

Edward VS Son Goku? wahahaha! It will be cool!

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James Marsters Talks Dragonball Evolution

James Marsters is best known for his performances on television, playing iconic villains like Spike on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” and Brainiac on “Smallville.” But now the actor is taking his villainous act to the big screen as Lord Piccolo in “Dragonball Evolution,” a live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series created by Akira Toriyama.

The film, which opens in theatres April 10, follows the story of Goku, played by Justin Chatwin (“War of the Worlds”), who must use his martial arts skills to collect all the dragonballs on Earth in order to stop Lord Piccolo, a prison escapee seeking revenge on those who imprisoned him. Along with Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) and Bulma (Emmy Rossum, “The Day After Tomorrow”), Goku must learn the secrets of his past and tame the beast within him in order to save mankind.

CBR News visited the set of “Dragonball Evolution” in Mexico last year and sat down with Marsters to talk about the film, playing a villain, his love for comics and his passion for the original “Dragonball” series.

CBR: You play Piccolo, the villain of “Dragonball Evolution.” What was it like for you playing this role?

James Marsters: Yes I do. I get to make trouble for Goku. When I first got cast, I thought I was not right for Piccolo, but I got to give it to the director, Jim Wong. I understand why he cast me now. Now I feel like there’s not another human being that could do the role. I thought I was Yamcha, who was a shorter character that comes in later. But I lost weight and Jim’s going to sell me tall so everything’s going to be good.

James Marsters stars in "Dragonball Evolution"

Your character in the movie is over two-thousand-years-old.

I play a character that was in prison for two thousand years with no mirrors. I play a character who was beautiful, powerful and sexy and he gets put into prison. The prison has no mirrors, he’s in prison for two-thousand-years, he breaks out, looks into a mirror and he’s old and decrepit. He hates the sheriff who put him into prison and he wants to kill the sheriff, the sheriff’s family and kill the whole town that the sheriff was trying to protect. That’s where Piccolo is, except the whole town in this instance is the Earth. But for that to work for me, I had to look in the mirror and think of myself as ugly and decrepit. I wanted make-up that my girlfriend would not want to kiss. Which I got and which is really frustrating. But the transformation will happen later in this series of movies and the character will become quite beautiful I think. But that’s not now, yet. In the cartoon, the guy’s got an old stick, he looks like a hunched over decrepit old man. But it’s just a lure to get Goku in closer and slaughter him.

Is your tongue actually blue?

That was my idea, man. We went through all sorts of dyes. I hate it when there’s pink on the sides of the mouth, lining of the eye or tongue. So I tried to take that out. Ed is one of the people who did Danny DeVito’s make-up in “Batman Returns” for the Penguin. So he did the make-up for that. They were looking for stuff to use. I don’t know what he puts in there but it works.

Were you a fan of the “Dragonball” anime series or comics?

I’ve seen every episode. Well, 98% of the episodes. Some of them are hard to find. I’ve been a fan for five years. I’ve got a son who will kill me, even if he has to grow up first, he will kill me if I get this wrong.

What do you want the fans to know about this film that they might not expect?

I want them to know that the cast, the crew, the writers and everyone understand that this is important. A lot of us are “Dragonball Z” fans. Just speaking personally, I’m a fan because it helped me raise my son to understand his aggression and his anger is not a bad thing. It’s like a dragon that you have to ride. You can’t kill your own dragon. You can’t chop off your own balls. At the same time, you can’t let your dragon run you around the world out of control. “Dragonball” helps to teach your boys that being a real man is being kind of a goofy man sometimes, being a mellow man, being a kind man, being a gentleman and that has nothing to do with being weak.

James Marsters stars in "Dragonball Evolution"

Goku is a great role model because he’s basically a karate bum, like the stunt guys. They’re cracking jokes, they have no need to strut and prove themselves as men but if they need to, they’re triple times deadly. That is a good role model and it’s helped me explain to my son how to become a man. So at the core, for me, that’s why it’s important. I think that’s why the unapologetic violence of “Dragonball Z” is important. I think it’s important not to shy away from that because Goku is fighting for the right reasons.

How is Piccolo different than other villains that you’ve played in the past?

Piccolo is totally asexual, so that’s a huge difference right off the top. Piccolo, as far as I can tell, has no sense of humor, which is another big difference. I don’t think I want Piccolo to have much of a sense of humor. I don’t think he’s a very humorous person at all. I think of solitude when I think Piccolo.

Is it important for you to humanize your character or do you embrace the idea of being a super-villain?

No. I’m playing this guy as a prison guy. He’s spent a long time in prison and he meets this little pup that thinks he’s going to stop him from getting his dragonballs. You got to be kidding me? He thinks he wants a fistfight? I’ve been in prison for two thousand years; I’m going to pants you bro.

So this isn’t a guy who thinks he’s a villain?

NO HE’S NOT A VILLAIN! Piccolo was working with the Mystics. He was thinking that he was doing the job. He did one thing that the Mystics didn’t agree with and instead of talking about it, they threw him in jail. And it wasn’t just like a nice jail; it was like where no molecule on your body moves for two thousand years. Now I think that’s kind of harsh punishment, don’t you? Who are these Mystics anyways? Are they really justified? Screw them! Have they run the Earth so damn well anyways? So I don’t think that Piccolo’s evil, he’s just really mad.

When you play a character like this, do you try to really get into the character’s mindset? Do you become Piccolo?

James Marsters stars in "Dragonball Evolution"

Yeah. Someone said, “How you doing, funny face?” I said, “Don’t you talk to me like that. When I’m a Demon God, I don’t take it well.” I kind of felt bad about it later that night but I was in character. I’m enough of a method actor where I don’t want to hear any jokes or stuff like that because EVERYBODY HERE RIGHT NOW TO ME IS VERMON. I’m sorry but it’s true. Somebody said, “Do you want to do an interview in character?” I was like, “I don’t know how that’s going to go?”

Do you have reservations about taking on too many bad guy roles? Are you worried about typecasting?

Do I want to show my soft side? No. I like cool work. I suppose it would be best to show radically different sides of myself all the time but I feel like this is another really good role in a very interesting project. And I don’t really feel like I’m re-doing Spike. Spike was very sexual, first of all. He was very funny. They’re both kind of loners but it stops there. Spike was never interested in just blowing up the Earth. Piccolo would like to kill everyone. I have no control over how people perceive it. I know what it feels like inside and it feels fresh to me.

You’ve said in the past that you thought “Dragonball” was very Shakespearian. Can you expand on that?

In Shakespeare, there are really no villains or heroes, there’d just be people behaving in a villainous manner or a heroic manner. And it depends on which chapter of their life you happen to climb in on as to where they fit in the story. And I think that “Dragonball” has the same kind of universe where people start really evil and get redeemed in a fairly realistic way. Not like they’re all butter and cookies all of the sudden. But they do switch sides and they do realize certain things. I think that that takes it away from white hats and black hats stapled on characters, I think that’s less interesting. I think, from what I’ve seen in anime that certainly seems to be true a lot. I think it’s more interesting and I can’t really think of a lot of Western writers besides Shakespeare that do that. All of Asian art does it and so does Shakespeare.

Are you a comics fan yourself?

Yeah, I am. I actually wrote a comic book for Dark Horse. A Spike and Dru comic book, but they changed it with the artwork from a romance to a gothic, twisted thing. I had to tell Juliet Landau why she was portrayed like this. IT’S A ROMANCE OKAY. IF THEY WOULD HAD JUST DONE IT THE WAY I TOLD THEM TO DO IT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY GREAT. But in a romance, all the guys have to do is want the woman and have to want to be the guy. And all the girls reading it have to want the guy and want to be the woman. That’s how romance works, there are no questions on this one. It takes the fuel out of it if you make the woman a ghoul. Plus, I was embarrassed in front of the lovely Juliet Landau for God’s sake. I’m supposed to take care of her.

But yeah, I love comic books. I had boxes of them when I was growing up and I got back into them later on with Frank Miller’s “Daredevil” series. Then I just read everything that Frank Miller ever wrote. Then I got into, who did “Batman: Year One?” Mazzucchelli? I got into him for a while. “Swamp Thing” circa mid-late ‘90s. Was that Alan Moore? That was awesome stuff. And “New Mutants,” I remember liking a lot. I don’t know that I read that much now just because I have to read so many scripts. But graphic novels compared to movies are cheap, three bucks!

Finally, would you be interested in going back to work on “Smallville” if they asked you?

If they keep treating me like a real prince like they do, they’re so nice to me, why not? And all the actors are real nice.

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Directing Dragonball: James Wong Talks 'Evolution'

Director James Wong may have helped teenagers cheat death twice in the Final Destination franchise but arguably, nothing is scarier than adapting a pop culture phenomenon like Dragonball into a feature film such as Dragonball Evolution. In the works since 2002, the script has received numerous treatments although it wasn’t until Wong became attached to the project that things truly began shaping up.

“At one point, Stephen Chow was going to direct the movie and somehow that didn’t work out,” recalls Wong. “20th Century Fox called me and asked if I was interested in looking at a script. I wasn’t a lifelong fan of Dragonball because I didn’t know much about it. I said I would look at it and the script they sent me was interesting, but it was really when they sent me the manga from the Toriyama that it intrigued me. I thought the manga was fun, inventive, and amazing.”

Nonetheless, condensing all of Dragonball’s rich material into one cohesive story was not an easy process.

“This movie is really about a teenage boy’s journey into becoming the person he was meant to be, or the hero he needs to be the save the world,” reveals Wong. “As we have Goku in the movie, he’s about to turn 18-years-old and he’s been trained all his life by his grandfather. He doesn’t know much about his past; he’s supposed to learn about all that when he turns 18. For a present, his father gives him a dragonball, which he discovers is one of only seven in the world.

"By itself, each dragonball doesn’t do anything but if you get them all together, the legend is they will grant the holder one perfect wish. Goku gets this crazy gift on his birthday, but is trying to be a normal teenager. He’s interested in a girl too but what happens is his grandfather is killed by Piccolo, who is also looking for the dragonballs. We discover in Earth’s history, Piccolo was a warrior who came from another planet to conqueror us. In the past, he was captured by these mystics and entombed. Piccolo, Goku, and his band are in a race to get these dragonballs because something is going to happen when the blood moon eclipses the sun in a few short days.”

Casting really spread their net to find the perfect actor to embody the heroic lead character and they were ultimately wowed by Canadian Justin Chatwin.

“For the part of Goku, we looked all over the world,” says Wong. “We read lots of people from different ethnic backgrounds. In the Dragonball manga, the world was representational of ours, but what was interesting was culturally, there was no sense of one place. I thought it would be cool to have a movie where race didn’t really matter and there was a feeling of a multi cultural world. The most important thing about Goku was his genuineness, a sort of openness he has, and a feeling he is without guile. When Justin came in, you got a sense that no matter what, this was a really good person. There’s an innocence about him no matter what he’s talking about or how he’s behaving.”

Playing Goku’s mentor Master Goshi is none other than Chow Yun-Fat and Wong made sure to capitalize on his mad martial arts skills.

“We had Jonathan Eusebio as our fight co-coordinator,” notes Wong. “He and his team trained our actors. Chow knows his own abilities and would embellish the fights Jonathan choreographed. For instance, Chow would say ‘I like what you are doing, but I can do it better this way.’ That is how he put his signature on the fights.”

None of the other actors shied away from any physical demands either.

“As soon as we cast anybody, we sent them into training,” reports Wong. “Jonathan and his gang worked on lots of stuff including X-Men, and a bunch of Bourne Identity and Supremacy stuff. When we talked about this movie, certainly Dragonball has its own style, but it was important to have a sense of fun and incorporate different fighting techniques. However, we also wanted to incorporate some dance or hip hop moves. It’s not to make it dance-like, but to add a little fun into the fight. There’s a part where Goku is avoiding the bullies at a party and he actually slides on his head. That’s more of a hip hop move so it’s a mixture of stuff with the criteria for it being fun.”

Ironically, Chatwin never displayed any extraordinary fighting prowess in his previous films, War of the Worlds or The Invisible.

“Justin did great,” notes Wong. “He also had a great stunt double whose name was Jackson [Spidell]. This guy was amazing. Justin really trained hard and you could tell his body was changing as we got into production. He was on a special diet and working out all the time. If anyone of us wants to get in shape, we have to be actors.”

Dragonball Evolution promises plenty of action, special effects, and good old fashion fun, yet nailing all those elements can be extremely challenging.

“It didn’t seem like we had an easy day on this movie at all,” concludes Wong. “The one I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, because there was so much CGI involved, was the end sequence. There’s so much against screen when you shoot it, that you’re worried if it’s going to look good. Also for the actors, you are fighting against green screen and there are lots of wires.”

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Dragonball Evolution Official Trailer

DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION TRIVIAS!

* According to James Marsters, his role of Piccolo is a complex, Shakespearean one: "He used to be a force of good, but he was imprisoned, making him very angry, and then he escapes... The cool thing is anybody who's seen Dragon Ball knows that Lord Piccolo transforms into THE Piccolo, and that is a whole other ball of wax; heroic wouldn't be the wrong term, but it's a long journey."

* It was suggested to give the entire cast special wigs of different colours, to keep the essence of the "Dragon Ball" animé, but James Wong vetoed this idea to make the film more realistic. However, Emmy Rossum had a blue streak dyed in her hair and Justin Chatwin had his hair touched to make it spiky so that their respective characters possessed a classic yet distinctive look.

* James Kyson Lee auditioned for the role for Yamcha.

* Ron Perlman was offered the role of Piccolo, but turned it down to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) instead.

* Producer Stephen Chow is a big fan of Dragon Ball, and signed on to the film immediately. He was deeply interested in being the director, but decided to just serve as producer because he believes in directing only his own original stories.

* The cities in the film have been designed to be futuristic, as seen in the cartoon, but there will also be Oriental and Aztec influences in the designs. This is due to the film being set in Asia but being shot in America and Mexico.

* During the early days of filming pictures were released to a Mexican newspaper called "Record". In that paper a full run down of what Dragonball was to be about as well as information on its director James Wong were given. However the pictures labeled as "the Director" and "actors" were nothing more than simple extras, in fact the picture of the supposed director was that of a chubby, white, blond haired extra, a huge contrast to James Wong who is of course a slim, Asian man.

* Stephen Chow, James Marsters and Jamie Chung are big fans of "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986).

* According to the film's make-up expert Ed French, it took four hours to apply the prosthetics to James Marsters to change him into Piccolo. At first it took 17 hours, but Marsters had difficulty breathing and Piccolo's look also seemed overdone, so some prosthetics were removed, thus shortening the time to 4 hours.

* The film was mostly shot in an abandoned jeans factory in Durango, Mexico with blue and green screens.

* Director James Wong personally asked Japanese pop musician Ayumi Hamasaki if she could compose and sing the film's theme song. Since Dragon Ball was created in Japan, he felt that the song should be by a Japanese singer and in Japanese. Wong was so impressed with Hamasaki's song "Rule" that he ensured that the song would appear for all international releases of the film.

* James Marsters discussed the look of Piccolo during the Grand Slam 2008 convention. He said the producers wanted to make Piccolo "more beautiful" than James wanted him to be. Since the producers weren't around when filming started, James and the make up artist changed the character's look to make him ugly, which would reflect Piccolo's rage from being imprisoned for so long. James said, "It would be better to be fired than mess up Piccolo."

* Tom Welling was considered for the role of Goku.

* 'Dragonball Evolution' was one of the films that Fox Studios owned the rights to for years but hadn't green-lit production for, but due to the Writer's Strike of 2007-2008 was finally pushed into production (this was also the case for The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)).

* Justin Chatwin considers it an honour to play Son Goku: "He is a very important and epic character. He is always seeing the positive side of things, does good things, and always tries to help and take care of the weak, not only pursuing his power. He is a dependable and loving man as well as a boy."

* To prepare for his role as Son Goku, Justin Chatwin read all the Dragon Ball comics and "The Journey to the West," the Chinese literary classic which inspired the Dragon Ball saga; he practised martial arts and acrobatics; and to get into Goku's character (a likeable child-man), he told jokes to fellow cast members between filming breaks to increase the rapport between them/their characters.

* Jamie Chung wanted to play Bulma and auditioned for the role, but she admitted that Emmy Rossum was the perfect choice for Bulma.

* To prepare for her role as Bulma, Emmy Rossum watched "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986) and read the "Dragon Ball" comics.

* Joon Park admitted he didn't think he was going to get the role of Yamcha "because I'm god in Korea, but a shit in the US." He auditioned for the role in nothing but a hat and shorts, but as soon as director James Wong took a look at him Park landed the role.

* "Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama is a big fan of Jackie Chan and very much tried to cast him in the film as Master Roshi who at one point in the saga had taken the alias of Jackie Chun), but Chan was unavailable due to conflicts with other films.

* Bulma is dressed in black and purple clothes; the very colours worn by her son Trunks in "Dragon Ball Z: Doragon bôru zetto" (1989).

* While filming a fight between Son Goku and Mai, Eriko Tamura accidentally injured Justin Chatwin by striking his face a little harder than intended. She apologized over and over, but eventually they both laughed it off and went on filming; Chatwin claims that this incident enabled the fight to very powerful and intense, which fit the tone of the film.

* When Bulma's capsule converts into a cycle, the famous sound from "Transformers" (1984) (another fan favourite alongside "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986) in Japan) is heard.

* Since Bulma and Yamcha develop a relationship, it was important for Emmy Rossum that she establish a good bond with Joon Park, so they spent a lot of time together getting to know each other; when Rossum learned Park was a musician, the two of them traded favourite songs between them to enjoy. Rossum learned two things: "Because everyone's taste in music is so personal, I've found music a very good way to get to know someone," and that Park loves classic rock.

* The film's title was originally going to be simply "Dragonball" in homage to the title of the original series, but the word "Evolution" was added to show that this would be a more different and advanced version of the saga.

* In "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986), Goku was an 11-year-old, but in order to make the film's story more plausible and dramatic he was made a teenager. Any "Saiyan" characteristics will be seen in sequels.

* The filmmakers decided to keep the number of characters in the film to an absolute minimum for a tighter story and better characterization. Therefore, sentient animals like Oolong and Puar were removed for realism, and fan-favourites like Tien and Krillin were removed for better focus on the core characters.

* Goku is famous for wearing orange robes, but in the film he wears the traditional dark robes a martial arts student would wear in Japan, thus keeping some realism.

* According to James Marsters, his characterisation of Lord Piccolo is based on loneliness and revenge: "Piccolo is floating in the air in the beautiful landscape, but he never even admires the landscape; he is only thinking or musing and staring at his feet. I think that is a characteristic of Piccolo more than anything else. Maybe it must be a characteristic for revenge. He hates himself and blames the people who trapped him; his desire is to kill not only them but their family, furthermore to destroy the city and the planet they live and protect. To get revenge is everything to him. Everything."

* James Marsters considered a double role in the film as Kami the Earth Guardian (Piccolo's alternate persona). However, he felt Piccolo would be a more interesting and challenging character standing by himself.

* Goku is seen in a poster wearing a sweatshirt with Japanese characters on them. These characters (actually the same one repeated over and over) are the Japanese character "kame", which means "turtle". This was the symbol any student of Master Roshi (who is also known as the Turtle Hermit) would wear.

* To commemorate the North American release of the film, the TOEI Animation company will re-release "Dragon Ball Z: Doragon bôru zetto" (1989) on April 5 2009. However, the series was considerably revised: it was renamed "Dragon Ball Kai," has been compressed into a hundred episodes (DBZ was 200 episodes long), and utilises the latest animation/digital technology developed.

* For the desert shots of a travelling Bulma to be perfect, Emmy Rossum had to ride the motorcycle in 4-foot sand drifts at a speed of 40 mph. It was an arduous experience ("40mph over bumpy sand dunes that is enough to make anyone a little queasy"), especially since filming would start at sunrise, and the bike would stall a few times and had to be dug out often; however, the cast and crew would assist in each other and put everyone at ease for filming to continue well.

* Stephen Chow wanted Yuqi Zhang to play Chi-Chi.

* Goku is instructed by Roshi to carry all of Roshi's luggage on his back, while keeping up with Bulma's vehicle. This is similar to an event in the "Dragon Ball" comics where Master Roshi instructs Goku and Krillin to train wearing 50-pound turtle shells on their backs.

* Music composer Brian Tyler recorded the film's score with an 82-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at 20th Century Fox's Newman Scoring Stage.


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Dragonball Sequels Exclusive

Dragonball Sequels Exclusive
by Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK

IGN recently spoke to James Marsters and Justin Chatwin -- who play Lord Piccolo and Goku in Dragonball Evolution -- and the pair spilled the beans on the future of the movie franchise.

Firstly, Marsters told us why he hopes the film is successful enough to get a sequel and how many DB movies he'd like to see: "I hope [the movie does well] because my character only really gets interesting in the second film, I mean he's interesting now! But his journey is really developed in the script for the second movie."

He went on: "All I know is I've been signed to three movies, but I would like to make five -- seven of them. You could just pretty much paint by numbers using the wealth of source material to easily get the seven films. There's that much there."

Meanwhile, Chatwin is also obviously thinking about Dragonball as a series of movies, with the actor seeing Evolution as an introduction piece to the wider universe.



Marsters as Lord Piccolo and Chatwin as Goku.

He said: "There's a whole generation of kids waiting to be introduced to Dragonball, so this first movie is really important for that. I mean the main plot is the battle between Piccolo and Goku, but this first film still serves to introduce the characters and where they're from and what they're deals are. And so to cover that ground really takes up most of the first movie."

He goes on: "I know what they have in store for the second one and it's really cool! It's more in the vein of the Dragonball saga... it goes into other places, there's other characters, other fighters and there's a lot of action that is just really awesome.

"It actually goes more into Dragon Ball Z land and it's just really exciting. It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball. I cant really say more than that, but it made me think this is a cool franchise to be a part off because there's so much we haven't shown yet."

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Miniscule Dragonall Evolution Budget Revealed

How much did Dragonball Evolution REALLY cost? Not so much.

A newspaper in Chile ran an article on Dragonball: Evolution, and in it the budget of the movie was unveiled. According to the paper, the production budget was only 45 million, much less than the previous $100 million estimates. What this means is the film has already made about half its budget back in Asia alone.

There’s really no doubt now that the film will be profitable, and so sequels are a definite possibility. IGN spoke with Justin Chatwin (Goku) and James Marsters (Piccolo) who were incredibly enthusiastic about the idea… Marsters even wants 6 more films!

He went on: “All I know is I’ve been signed to three movies, but I would like to make five — seven of them. You could just pretty much paint by numbers using the wealth of source material to easily get the seven films. There’s that much there.”

Meanwhile, Chatwin is also obviously thinking about Dragonball as a series of movies, with the actor seeing Evolution as an introduction piece to the wider universe.

He said: “There’s a whole generation of kids waiting to be introduced to Dragonball, so this first movie is really important for that. I mean the main plot is the battle between Piccolo and Goku, but this first film still serves to introduce the characters and where they’re from and what they’re deals are. And so to cover that ground really takes up most of the first movie.”

He goes on: “I know what they have in store for the second one and it’s really cool! It’s more in the vein of the Dragonball saga… it goes into other places, there’s other characters, other fighters and there’s a lot of action that is just really awesome.

“It actually goes more into Dragon Ball Z land and it’s just really exciting. It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball. I cant really say more than that, but it made me think this is a cool franchise to be a part off because there’s so much we haven’t shown yet.”

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Chow Yun-Fat Talks Dragonball Evolution

Best known for his work in John Woo’s “Hard-Boiled” and “The Killer” as well as Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” international superstar Chow Yun-Fat is no stranger to action films. Chow is set to demonstrate his skills once again in the role of Master Yoshi in the live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama's popular "Dragonball" manga and anime series, “Dragonball Evolution." The film, which opens in theaters April 10, features Chow’s Roshi as the mentor to Goku, played by Justin Chatwin (“War of the Worlds”). Master Roshi learns that Goku is the grandson of his long-time friend Gohan (Randall Duk Kim, “The Matrix Reloaded”) and trains him for the ultimate battle with Lord Piccolo (James Marsters, “Angel”), to prevent the villain from collecting the powerful Dragonballs and destroying Earth.

CBR News had the opportunity to visit the set of “Dragonball Evolution” in Mexico last year, and sat down with Chow to talk about his career, comic book movies and the process of brining “Dragonball” to the big screen.

Publish Post

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Dragonball Evolution: James Marsters and Justin Chatwin want sequels

THERE'S been a lot of negativity levelled at upcoming movie Dragonball Evolution. I've seen the trailer and thought it looked like great fantasy fun but Fox's adaptation of the manga, anime and video game franchise seems to have irritated hardcore fans.

I'm not a hardcore fan by any means, so I'm just judging what I see in the trailer and then what little I know of the source material. And I can't really imagine this could be made into some hyper-realistic, darkly gritty epic like The Dark Knight.

Despite fans claiming Fox has dropped the dragonball, so to speak, the stars of the film are hoping people like it enough to warrant further instalments.

James Marsters, who plays evil Lord Piccolo, said: "I hope [the movie does well] because my character only really gets interesting in the second film, I mean, he's interesting now but his journey is really developed in the script for the second movie.

Speaking to IGN, Marsters (pictured left as Lord Piccolo) said: "I've been signed to three movies, but I would like to make seven of them.

"You could just pretty much paint by numbers using the wealth of source material to easily get the seven films. There's that much there."

Co-star Justin Chatwin, who plays Goku, said: "There's a whole generation of kids waiting to be introduced to Dragonball, so this first movie is really important for that.

"I mean the main plot is the battle between Piccolo and Goku, but this first film still serves to introduce the characters and where they're from and what their deals are. And so to cover that ground really takes up most of the first movie."

He continued: "I know what they have in store for the second one and it's really cool! It's more in the vein of the Dragonball saga... it goes into other places, there's other characters, other fighters and there's a lot of action that is just really awesome.

"It actually goes more into Dragon Ball Z land and it's just really exciting. It goes into the whole legend of Dragonball. I cant really say more than that, but it made me think this is a cool franchise to be a part off because there's so much we haven't shown yet."

The film has already opened in Asia. It's released in the Uk on April 8 and in the US on April 10.

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Dragonball Evolution Famous Quotes

Master Roshi: In an ancient time, Earth was nearly destroyed. Not by man, but by Gods from the sky.

Master Roshi: Seven mystics banded together to fight the invaders. They created the Dragon Balls.

Master Roshi: Now the signs have appeared again, the evil has returned. Only one chosen warrior has the power to defeat this threat.

Lord Piccolo: With this Dragon Ball, I take my vengeance... upon the Earth.

Goku: We have to find the Dragon balls before the eclipse.

Goku: Kamehameha!

Goku: I'm not ready for this.

Master Roshi: You are the only one who can do it.

Bulma: Lets go.

Goku: We'll go, but we go together.

Goku: [after Bulma's briefcase turns into a motorcycle] Cool!

Grandpa Gohan: [battling Mai] Hah! Come on!
[Piccolo enters]

Grandpa Gohan: Piccolo...

Lord Piccolo: [looking around Gohan's home] It's not here...
[Goku is fighting with Master Roshi]

Bulma: STOP! You both need to stop!
[Goku fires a chi blast at Roshi, but Roshi ducks and Bulma is hit]

Goku: Sorry!

Chi Chi: [confronting a duplicate of herself] Who the hell are YOU?

Bulma: [about Roshi] Why are we wasting our time with this guy? Let's just go.

Master Roshi: But...

Goku: We'll go...
[looking at Roshi]

Goku: all THREE of us.
[Goku creates a chi wave which opens every locker in the school]

Chi Chi: Did you do that?
[presenting the Four-Star Dragon Ball]

Grandpa Gohan: There are only six others in the world, each with stars of one to seven. Besides you, Goku, this is my greatest treasure.
[Goku trashes Fuller and his gang]

Goku: Oh, about your car...
[smashes the car]

Bulma: I'm not a Piccolo, you twit, whatever that is! And if I'd killed your grandfather I'd have finished you off already!

Master Roshi: If I die, tell my turtle he's gay!

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Dragonball Evolution Cast

Justin Chatwin ... Goku

Yun-Fat Chow ... Master Roshi

Emmy Rossum ... Bulma

Jamie Chung ... Chi Chi

James Marsters ... Lord Piccolo

Joon Park ... Yamcha

Eriko Tamura ... Mai

Randall Duk Kim ... Grandpa Gohan

Ernie Hudson ... Sifu Norris

Texas Battle ... Carey Fuller

Megumi Seki ... Seki

Ian Whyte ... Oozaru

Richard Blake ... Agundes

Jon Valera ... Moreno

Rafael Valdez ... Butler

Mike Wilson ... Hildenbrand

Freddy Bouciegues ... Palmer

Shavon Kirksey ... Emi

Julian Sedgwick ... Mr. Kingery

Luis Arrieta ... Weaver

Gabriela de la Garza ... Avatar

Rich E. Cordobes ... Referee

James Wong Directs 'Dragonball Evolution'

From action thriller director James Wong who helmed “Final Destination” movies and introduced breathtaking action in “The One” comes “Dragonball Evolution” - the exciting action adventure about a boy named Goku (Justin Chatwin) who embarks on a thrilling and dangerous journey of self-discovery as he endeavors to save the world from obliteration. Based on the massively popular Japanese Manga (comic books), the film is set to be a gripping tale of a young hero who is challenged at every turn trying to defeat the evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) and find the mysterious dragon balls and save the planet.

Director James Wong was well aware from the outset that in taking on the challenge of Dragonball, he was beginning a journey as monumental as the one facing his own fictional hero, Goku. The Japanese Manga is well loved around the globe and fans are eagerly anticipating the film. They are unlikely, however, to be disappointed. And audiences who have never read the comic books or seen the video games or animated TV series are certain to be equally enthralled by this action packed rollercoaster – fascinating because of the Asian flavor and mythology at its core. Complete with sensational battles, martial arts and dazzling visual effects, the film is fast paced and riveting with richly drawn characters.

Q: What attracted you to the movie? There are so many Dragonball fans, it must be quite a challenge.

A: “Well, it is dangerous in many ways and it’s scaring the hell out of me to do it. At the same time, I felt like it was a wonderful challenge and opportunity. I learned a lot about the Manga because I had no previous knowledge of it, except that my kids loved watching the Dragonball Z cartoon. I read the Mangas and I really fell in love with them. Obviously the fans of the Mangas already love the story and I hope they love this film too.”

Q: How did you approach this epic story?

A: “We started with all the major characters that were in the Manga, of course, and we took as much material that could be translated into a movie as we could. The Manga is so spectacular and so amazing. The worlds the characters embody are extraordinary and so it was difficult to translate everything into a film. I included what I thought were the most important elements - the characters and the fun and the tone.”

Q: The original series starts when Goku is a small child; he is a teenager when we meet him in the film. Why did you decide to change that?

A: “I think it was a good way to start the movie for several reasons. We wanted Goku to have a love interest for one thing. When I read the manga, I really felt it would bring in a wider audience with older teens as well as younger kids. Also I think that focusing on Goku as a teenager allowed the character a lot more depth and a wider range of emotions that we could explore.”

Q: Would you talk about the overall appeal of the film and how this stands out from the other sci-fi action films?

A: “I would say the most important things about Dragonball are really the tone, the fun and the characters. It’s, sci-fi action, comic action and there is plenty of that, but I think at the end of the day it’s not about the action. It’s really about the people we meet. Dragonball is a charming, fun adventure. There are great fight scenes and there are fantastic visuals. And it is really all about Goku, a great, wonderful, guileless character who transforms into a hero. We are involved with his journey as he becomes a hero. The characters are what will essentially make Dragonball special. You are going to love them.”

Q: There are Asians in the cast, yet Goku, the main character is white American. Is there a specific reason that you cast him?

A: “I think I’m pretty sensitive to racial issues and I don’t have any sort of prejudice against Asian actors. I am Asian myself. I’m Chinese. But when I read the manga, I really didn’t think Goku was Asian. I didn’t think he had to be any particular race or ethnicity. He is drawn with crazy hair and ultimately he’s an alien. He’s not human. When we cast the part, I was looking at every kind of actor. Some of the characters drawn in the manga are definitely Asian like Master Roshi, but with Goku I never thought that by casting Justin I was doing something that was contrary to the manga.”

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