Dan said:
I don't think it's particularly obscure.
Battle Angel Alita is
pretty obscure. It's not like he's wearing a
Naruto or
Dragonball t-shirt as how those are 'trendy' nowadays and everyone is aware of them.
Though indeed, that doesn't prove that he's competent with the material. He could have just picked it up because he is working on it and wanted some representation. But the fact that he's aware of it is at least worth something.
Erigu said:
I've read a bunch of interviews and been following Kishiro's blog for a good decade. The guy obviously knows very little about the series.
Again, how could he be a "huge fan" who spent "the better part of 15 years" working on that adaptation and not even know about the existence of nine books of the series until the writer mentioned them?
Because, surprising as it may be, not all fans of a series are die-hard obsessive types. Going from what we know from interviews, I imagine this is how it worked out: del Toro, likely a fan of literary and graphic works, brings
Alita to the attention of James Cameron. His first impression is he likes it. He tells Landau, who as producer, means his extent of interest in the series is that 'hey, if my boy Director here likes it, I like it!' to look into it. Landau hires a screenwriter, Laeta Kalogridis, who, as it is (hopefully) the job of a screenwriter to delve deep into the original material of the work they are writing, collaborates with Cameron on the script as they both dive into the world of
Alita and come up with something reflective of the work. Landau doesn't care much about the extent of what they're doing, as long as they're
doing it. His job is to hype things up and move things along and set things up. That is why in his interview, it shows off that he doesn't know much about
Alita, because frankly, I don't think he does, nor cares to. But that doesn't matter.
So why does Cameron not go onscreen and proclaim to the world the virtues and wonders of the manga and prove that his interest is more than just precursory? Because first, he has
Avatar on the plate and would rather talk about the wonderful world of Pandora and nature and dancing with wolves. Should Cameron actually get to the point where he's done with
Avatar and actually starts up
Alita in earnest, I expect more interviews on what his vision for it and what he took from the material. At that point, you are free to engage in your fanboi ranting should his responses not meet your expectations.
Second, who in the mainstream really wants to listen to an analysis and discussion of some random Japanese comic in an interview with Cameron? If they did, the interviewers would have brushed up on it and asked Cameron directly about such aspects.
As for Kishiro's silence and lack of updates on the matter, Cameron holds the right to the movie adaptation. And like most movie adaptations, those who hold the rights are allowed (to the despair of fans sometimes) to twist and tweak the content as they see fit. Sure, it'd be nice if Cameron worked closely with Yukito Kishiro and hashed out a story that's reflective and amazingly representative of the original work, but he doesn't have to. But that doesn't also mean he can't successfully capture such essence to some level by his own. He hasn't even started real work on the movie yet, so why would he bother to hash out and tweak a script that he's not going to even use for another 5-7 years? Once
Alita actually starts up in earnest, it is also possible he'll forward a copy and some ideas to Kishiro at that time and see what he thinks, but to expect the author to work closely with him now when Cameron is busy with the
Avatar craze is a bit unlogical.
In summary, wait until
Alita actually starts filming (if it ever does), then commence the bitter rage.
