from Variety:

Emmy Rossum has booked the female lead in 20th Century Fox's "Dragonball," based on the popular Japanese manga.

Justin Chatwin stars as Goku, a warrior who protects the Earth from a stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe. James Marsters plays the film's villain, Lord Piccolo.

Rossum takes on the role of Bulma, whose father's Dragon Ball is stolen by Piccolo.

Story is based on Akira Toriyama's manga that has spawned graphic novels, a long-running TV series and more than 25 videogames.

Pic is shooting in Mexico and L.A.

Mexican newspapers report that they expect this to be a series of three pictures. Good for James!

Emmy Rossum being all enthusiastic about the training she's doing for the film. I imagine James is doing the same:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/24/emmy-r...lks-dragonball/

Where is it going to be filmed? She said outside the US? Wonder how long James will be filming? He's getting to travel a lot for roles

Can't believe they are making a live action film.

It's being filmed in Mexico. I'm not sure how long it will take...but it's going on now.


I understand your concern Jay. But I think this live action is going to be good. The actors they are assembling are good actors. So fingers crossed they make a good job of it. The Transformers movie that was out recently was an example of a successful attempt at converting a beloved animation into live action.

Yeah but with transformers it was different cus they are robots and here you need actors and having watched the whole show many fans other than myself are not exactly happy about this and dread the day it comes out next year. So I don't dislike the actors I just don't like that 20th Century Fox is possibly gonna make one of the best anime series look like a joke.

I understand that you and many others would prefer an animated film. But that's not on the table right now.
James Marsters turns down projects he doesn't like. So, the fact that he and Chow Yun Fat have signed on...is to me, an indication that this will not be dreck. So, if you can't get over that it's not animated, then I just suggest you skip this...but I hope that you'll read the reviews when they come out...and if they are not bad, give it a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised.


X-men isn't bad,is it? And Wolverine being played by a tall Hugh Jackman was not a lot of people's idea of that character. but I think he did a good job in the role.

Well there were plenty of animated movies but i'll check the trailer out of curiosity when it gets put up next year.

Fair enough.

My son is concerned that it is not anime. He is a fan. I think such things can be re-invisioned successfully provided the right creative people are involved. While it's not anime, look at BSG, I NEVER liked the original, refused to watch the new version for a year but finally did and I've enjoyed it. The new Doctor Who is just as good as the classic, if not better. It can be done

I can understand the purists who have loved this anime for years being skeptical. But I know James puts his heart and soul into every role,so I have hopes that this will be a fun and well done version.

Ive heard that the filming of this will take till the end of March. Which means when I see James at the Grand Slam he'll be pretty much fresh from the shoot. He'll probably have been told not to talk about the movie...but maybe we'll get some funny anecdotes from him.

Oh good and it gives him time to read the other Dresdan audio books during the strike I really want ALL the Dresdan books in audio, with JM I'm a greedy b*****d

I believe he already recorded the audiobook for that new company(his last trip to Cardiff he said he was doing that as soon as he got back. Still won't be out for awhile...April sometime,I think.

Yeah, I was .......frustrated that the book is clearly finished and could be on the shelves if JM has already recorded it, but I was thinking of the OTHER books we need filled in. I'm a greedy girl. I mean how cool if they could just come out with the missing books on audio also this year. That would be the only up side to the Buzzy ladies loosing the deal. Getting them fast.

Ah, I read today that there will be Dragonball figures released this year. So I'll have a little Piccolo to go places with my little Spike & Xander's.

You have a little Xander?

I won him at one of those "Once More With Feeling" midnight movie shows. I answered the trivia question "What is Xander's middle name?"


Naturally, I wanted the widdle Spike....but Xander and Giles were the only ones left...and I liked Xander's hard hat.

From a recent interview in TV Guide:

James: Oh,Dragonball is the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years. It's got a Shakespearian sense of good and evil. This movie has incredible action scenes with characters with unbelievable powers. It's going to be really visually exciting.

Hoy cinema reports about Dragonball filming:
http://blogs.hoycinema.com/movieland

-James Marsters no se despega de su novia, ya que lo acompaña constantemente a los sets


If I am not mistaken, this means Patricia is there and accompanies James constantly. It also sys he has the pointed ears but no turban.

translation is beyond me Is he green?

It says he is never seen without his girlfriend who accompanies him constantly.



Aw, I'm just glad for the silly old sod...I can remember days when he was single...and he's definitely happier now.



The rest of the article says he will have pointed ears and be bald. No turban in this movie...if he plays Piccolo Jr. in the sequel that's where that would come in.

No word on his color yet.

I thought the TV guide article said she was in Germany, or something? Glad they can spend time together. Hope his kids are getting to see some of the area. They should be getting to the age where traveling is good, yes? We started taking Michael out of the country when he was 7 or 8.

Thanks for info to a poster at CDS


Ah, one of the actresses is blogging and said it has been raining and raining but they are shooting anyway....that James has some rock-climbing scenes .

Raining and rock climbing sound dangerous

I'm sure he's loving it. He's been asked if he could do anything for fun what would it be...and he said hiking and rock climbing with an old friend of his who is a lobbyist for the Sierra Club.

Comingsoon site says No Dragonball movie this year....April 3,2009 seems to be the new date.


http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42587
_________________

Oh yeah, I think the old date was this fall. I thought that was kind of soon.

Better to take the time to do it well. Lots of CGI, I expect.


I hear that Wizard magazine will have the first big article with pictures. Should be out next month. That will probably be our first look at Piccolo.

Latest rumor from Movieland is that the April date isn't firm. That December might be the release date.


We can see that more companies have been added to the imdb site so it is plausible that we may get this earlier.
Meanwhile,although the Mexican filming is done, there is still some filming left to do in LA. Should be wrapped by the end of March, early April.

I wish someone had leaked pics? I'm dying to see what he'll look like?

Very soon, Padawan. A bunch of media were down there so those interviews/photos should start appearing any time now. Wizard magazine was there and they specifically said they had a Piccolo pic.

hee!

Rumor has it that his skin has a good "texture" ! Don't quite know what that means.

I just hope they don't bury him under a bunch of makeup. I wanta SEE him.

Still no pictures yet but from filmmusicmag:

20th Century Fox has confirmed to Film Music Weekly that Brian Tyler has been hired to score the studio's upcoming sci-fi action spectacle, Dragonball, for release in April, 2009. James Wong, who previously worked almost exclusively with the late Shirley Walker (Final Destination, Willard, Black Christmas), is directing and has adapted the screenplay from Akira Toriyama's comic about a young boy who sets out to gather all seven Dragon Balls to save the world from an evil despot. Justin Chatwin stars as the boy, Goku, and he is supported by a cast including Emmy Rossum, James Marsters, Yun-Fat Chow and Jamie Chung. Brian Tyler recently scored Fox's Aliens vs Predator - Requiem, and his other recent action credits include Rambo, War and Bangkok Dangerous.

I've seen a photo of the Piccolo costume.


I like it...seems kind of Samurai.

Can you PM me a link?

When do you leave?

Would if I could. Fox removes pictures from sites as soon as they go up. Its a brown leather,molded muscle top (very sexy) and I couldn't tell if its a Roman soldier skirt or the top of loose pants. But it is cool.

Leaving for Grand Slam on Friday. Take care of the place for me and I'll bring back lotsa pics and stories. I will be pumpng James for all he's worth. He will, no doubt, try to resist (divulging info) but old floppygob will be no match for my interrogation skills (I hope) .

A make-up artist divulged that in the 4-hour make-up sessions on Piccolo, there are 8 appliances and teeth applied. I wouldn't count on 'recognizing" James under all that. But I can tell you that James arms are pumped. He is going to be one mighty STRONG Piccolo.

8??? 4 hours.....ouch! on top of the actual filming. Poor man.

I think 2 of them might be movable antennae, if the anime is anything to go by.

Wow, it must have been had for him. He acts so much with his face. I guess this won't have much subtlety anyway tho.

Did you have a nice Mothers Days? My guys are pretty much .....not great at that kind of thing

Ah, my crew gave it a good try. Oldest daughter called from Seattle...but the connection wasn't good. Couldn't hear much of what she said. But points for trying.

My second daughter asked what she could get me. I told her that the comic book store kept a folder for me of any Spike/Angel comics and that she could "shop" in that folder. But when she tried to, the man said that he remembered me, but it was so long since I'd been in, he didn't keep a folder anymore. So, instead, she made me chocolate covered strawberries. Yum.

My son (who usually ignores the whole day) bought me season 1 of "How I Met Your Mother". I had missed this on tv, but its really a fun series. I watched 4 episodes yesterday...still got half to go.

And my darlin' hubby is trying his best to get the time off to go to Fangoria with me. So, he told me he'd get tickets to a Broadway show for us (but can't buy them until they approve the days off for him. So I don't know which one it will be. I'm hoping for Spam-a-lot, I guess.


Didn't go out. It feels so good being home after a long trip, I was happy just muching around the house.

Wow, that's nice.

It's nice of Ben to want to go...but he showed me the work schedule. Seems like even though they encouraged him to take some vacation time before he loses it...they didn't mean those 2 weeks...the staff will be away and they are expecting him to hold the fort (yet again ??? ) . So prospects are not that bright. But he will be having "the talk" today...and however it works out, I know he tried.


So, a bit of Dragonball news from Cinematical

http://www.dragonballmovieblog.net/wp-cont...os/up271955.jpg

Nice about Ben wanting to go. Dv has those, oh-yes-take-time-off-but-not-that-time blues also. Plus, no one else can really do Dv's work. He just has to move patients around. Oct will be bad cause we'll be gone , with travel time 23 days, I think.

Ben did manage to get one of the two weeks off...and James has cancelled Fangoria! So I'm out not only tickets, but photo ops, autographs and concert tix.



Don't know whether we'll still head up there or not.

I think this is the first official poster from Dragonball that we've seen. It seems to have come from a European Trade Show where trailers of future movies including DB were recently shown.


Do we recognize those eyes in the background??





btw Creation refunded the autograph,photo and concert tickets for me. I was just out the general admission tickets for Ben and 1. Not so bad.