Attack on Titan

I don't recall them mentioning a country by name. They just said she's the last descendant of a group of people that came from a land called Asia. I'm not complaining mind you, I just find it funny that in a situation where the filmmakers would actually be justified in going for a mostly white cast they go in the other direction.

Isn't this being made by the Japanese? They're making the cast all Asian for the exact some reasons Hollywood normally makes characters white: It fits with the demographic they're trying to appeal to (98% of Japan is ethnically Japanese, and most of the rest are Asian), plus most of the actors they have to choose from are Japanese anyway.

The setting is Japanese, all of the characters are Japanese too.

Technically, in the source material, Mikasa is the only real Asian character, but obviously things will change for the Japanese live-action film.

Also, I wonder if the film will include any first-person segments? Sort of like this:

No. The setting is not Japanese. It is distinctly European-ish. And the characters are explicitly not Japanese nor Asians, except for Mikasa. So, yeah, Race Lift. This is part of the reason I think this is one series Hollywood could actually do right.

edited 22nd Nov '14 6:02:01 AM by Heatth

I'm talking about the live action movie (from Japan), which is what this thread is for. Levi was replaced by Kushizama or something or other.

The link I've posted in this thread earlier (and it's the 8th post in the thread, the first one with a link FFS): "And in case the spot where it's being filmed wasn't enough of a hint, these new posters revealing the cast in costume show it won't be set in the manga/anime's medieval-ish world."

tl;dr: it's not a Race Lift, it's an Alternate Universe.

Character comparisons: Movie v. Manga v. Anime

edited 22nd Nov '14 7:23:38 AM by entropy13

So they actually changed the setting and the characters? Sorry, I didn't notice. Still a Race Lift, though. Alternate unvierse or not, changing the characters to suit a different race is still the trope. Changing Tetsuo's name to Tavris in the potential Akira movie doesn't mean they didn't Race Lift the character. It just means they changed the name to suit the lift. It is the same thing here.

edited 22nd Nov '14 8:52:36 AM by Heatth

Should have worded it better. As you see in the image in the Race Lift page, they didn't do any changes on the setting (or even the main plot and the characterizations), except the race. In Alternate Universe, you have extensive changes. So you didn't just turn them from Caucasian to Asian, you turned them to Japanese that are actually in the "AD" timeline of our plane of existence and not some other plane of existence, but in a post-apocalyptic future of sorts.

edited 22nd Nov '14 9:10:15 AM by entropy13

Mikasa was the only explicitly Asian character in the original I can think of but that's to be expected. The non-Japanese population in Japan is extremely tiny so it's really improbable that they would've been able to cast this movie truer to the text than they did.

Also is there really a significant difference between Alternate Universe and Race Lift?

Yes. The Avatar movie (which is the image in the Race Lift page) is just that, Race Lift. In the case of this movie, they're heavily implied to be in a post-apocalyptic "AD timeline" of our world. In other words the possible wall would be more akin to what they tried building against the Kaiju in Pacific Rim than the walls in the manga/anime. The source material is decidedly medieval in "flavour" as well, so with that in mind 2070s would probably not be medieval in our timeline. And is thus an Alternate Universe.

Of course there is a theory that the manga/anime are technically "in the future" too, but it's probably centuries ahead, after humanity lost much of their tech (and it's one of the more flimsy theories out there because of that).

edited 23rd Nov '14 7:16:18 PM by entropy13

Correct me if I'm wrong but one of the flashbacks in attack on Titan shows humans fighting Titans with MB Ts.

Not this again. Where the hell are people pulling this tank thing from? Just try and show me the page!

Thinking back to who should be cast should an American adaptation happen, Rinko Kukuchi could be Mikasa, Patrick Stewart could be Pixis, and Emily Blunt could be Annie. Already mentioned Tom Cruise as Levi.

Still not sure who would be Eren, Armin, Jean, Sasha, or Hange. Any suggestions?

Here is a pretty good wishlist for actors. I really like Amanda Seyfried as Annie.

edited 26th Nov '14 2:43:20 AM by 32ndfreeze

I dunno, she doesn't have Annie's nose, that's crucial.

That is a good list. Some are so close it is scary (it is almost like Patrick was cosplaying).

Yes! I would love a movie with that cast. It's kind of creepy how much they look like the characters.

Thats pretty much spot-on casting.

I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't jumped on it already.

Then I would probably kill myself, knowing that I have the singular worst job in the entire nerd kingdom.

edited 26th Nov '14 1:08:34 PM by Mattonymy

Huh, that's actually a pretty good wish list.

James Marden would be a good choice if Tom Cruise is unavailable.

While all those cast choices look right, I'm not sure about their actual acting. I've never seen Logan Lerman try to play The Berserker, for example, and Amanda Seyfried is usually in happier roles. I'd definitely be interested in seeing them try, though. I always like seeing actors put outside of their typecasting. Nina Dobrev as a Genki Girl could be hilarious.

Is the fear of it becoming like Dragon Ball Evolution or The Last Airbender unjustified? Will it come out well?

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it might be justified to be fearful of this turning out like Dragonball Evolution and The Last Airbender. But on the other hand, we should wait until the movie comes out and actually watch it to judge it.

@ the casting list

Give Amanda a prosthetic nose.