RE: WIRED 2021: John Chok and André Nemec wanted to give their ‘Cowboy Bebop’ more soul

Few adaptations as warmly (and skeptically) as recent memories are predicted NetflixA remake of the live action of the classic anime fused with jazz from 1998, Cowboy Bebop. Since its English premiere in 2001, the story of an arragtag trio of award hunters and their loyal Corgi has offered Western viewers a sort of introductory drug to the wild and colorful world of anime. Showrunner André Nemec feels a duty to introduce Spike Spiegel and his cheerful gang to the world again through a 10-episode season that will premiere on November 19th.

“I think the real challenge from the beginning was being able to capture the tone of the anime. The way we achieved that was to deepen the work of the characters, “Nemec told WIRED employee Cecilia D’Anastasi at Wednesday’s RE: WIRED event. through full of fight scenes. “There was real depth and real pain in all these characters,” he explained, “and the pain we can identify with the souls of the characters.”

For John Chore, Spike is elegant but heartbreaking, giving his character a big dimension by playing his own role. “I felt like this guy was nice and fun and wrapped up, and to some extent that was internalized, but what I see now is that there’s a lot to deal with,” she says. “He’s dealing with things, and it’s a way to interpret or manage some of his trauma.”

This more succulent development of the characters is not only related to the protagonist’s journey, however. “Only one amazing guy confronts the story of a hero,” says Nemec, referring to Spike’s archenemy as Vicious (played in the live action series by Alex Hassell). “It was very, very important to us who Viscous was, why he was Vicious, what’s behind Viscous and who Spike Spiegel is for him? And Viscous Spike Spiegel is a bad guy. “

He is just as important and versatile as the characters in which these two rivals live. “What was immediately seen in the anime is that it is not a dystopian image of the future, despite a cataclysm at the end of the planet that sends us to colonize space,” Nemec said. “In fact, it’s multiculturalism and in that multiculturalism we rebuild our society in nostalgia for the world we’ve come to.” Hence the presence of retro tech and ham sandwiches.

The failure to accurately capture this multicultural aspect has been a point of tension for Chor, who has often been concerned with integrating into stereotyped Asian roles. “When I started, I never wanted to do an Asian accent,” he says. “And the reason is because it was the code to make a jester or comic book character laugh.” But his thinking has changed. “At this point in my career, I’d like to play with a accent that I had as a child, which was a Korean accent,” he says, “and portray that with love and honor.”