Evangelion Live Action Movie
With the original 1995-96 Evangelion anime series being so successful, audiences quickly wanted a live action adaptation. A movie that could bring in adult themes to challenge and entertain viewers while simultaneously creating realistic God-tier cyborgs alongside real actors and actresses clad in plug suits to take over the live-screen was a no-brainer to producers and directors alike.
GAINAX and WETA
The studio that created the anime, GAINAX, along with ADV Films, the licensing and distribution company of the series, approached WETA Workshop, a special effects and props company which created the Lord of The Rings movies, about creating an Evangelion live-action movie in 2002. By 2003, the movie, which was to be directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki (series’ creator Anno’s protege), was officially underway, which had even been announced to the public.
Process Interruptions
However, the process quickly became muddled. Although the artists at WETA created lots of initial concept art for the movie out of excitement, almost nothing ever came of their work. Drawings detailing character designs, NERV military control room, and the Angels were all hashed out. Rumors swirled wildly around the production, including rumors that they wouldn’t approve any directors (Michael Bay was reportedly rumored to be in the running) or scripts, and often argued about the characters and who they would approach to play the teenagers, as time went on faster than they had anticipated, and real children grow up quicker than their animated counter-parts. There was also fear of white-washing the movie, which was a constant battle between trying to appeal to Western Audiences and sticking to the original concept and setting of the animated series.
Name of multiple main characters were also reportedly changed in order to appeal to Western audiences, such as:
- “Kate Rose” in place of “Asuka Langley”
- “Ray” in place of “Rei Ayanami”
- “Susan Whitnall” “Misato Katsuragi”
At the time Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings were big and popular franchises, and there were far-fetched rumors that Daniel Radcliff could possibly play Shinji Ikari, and Emma Watson play as Asuka Langley Soryu.
One more possibility for the long pause in the wait for production to start on the project again, could be due to the anime crash in the 2010s. Many of those involved actually had to focus more-so on other anime-centric projects, and thus, the live-action movie fell wayward of many people’s goals.
Hideaki Anno’s New Vision
Eventually, however, Hideaki Anno, the creator of the anime series, decided to create four animated movies that would go through the TV series, but with a different ending. In order to work with complete artistic freedom on these movies, Anno did something that would halt the live action movie plans entirely: he created his own studio, taking away the most important tools needed to make a live action movie from the previous studio and the effects company by taking with him the majority of the team that had helped create the original series including its assistant director, story boarder, musical composer, and illustrator.
Legal Action
Live action complications only dragged on from the time Anno set out to work on his own animated films. Leading ADV to eventually sue GAINAX over specific rights including the live-action Evangelion film in 2011. The North American Distribution company, which had, by contract, received the rights to make multiple live-action films, TV series, and straight to video projects, claimed that the Japanese animation company refused to give them the rights to the copyrights, which had been paid for by that time. GAINAX, apparently, had wanted to change the agreement, well after fees and other monies had been paid. At this point, according to ADV, it was too late for negotiations. Since then, there have been multiple lawsuits and legal action, only making the live action movie seem even further out of reach.
New Collaborations
In 2018, Netflix got the rights to launch the Neon Genesis Evangelion series on its streaming platform. This included not only the 26 episode Evangelion anime series, but also the rights to stream two films: The End of Evangelion & Evangelion: Death (True) 2.
This got fans excited that perhaps a newly re-found popularity for the series could spark interest in the live action movie they had been waiting for. Creators have since implied that although there could be a new concept for a live action movie, the original work is dead and gone.
Creators also believe that a live action would be tough to get a large enough audience for, as it’s not as mainstream as other anime-turned-movies, such as Detective Pikachu. Though some writers and creators, like Richard Taylor, who runs the WETA workshop, still cling to the possibility of a live action movie, whenever that happens, it will be something entirely different from the one they had planned nearly twenty years ago.