As expected Hong Kong based Agog Films Productions to advantage of all the media attention of the San Diego Comic Con to announce that they had chosen two directors for their giant robot epic, "Future Fighters". The multi-national production will now be under the direction of Korean film maker Nelson Shin, who served as director/producer of the 1986 animated "Transformers" movie, and Hong Kong director Ken Siu, who is best known for his work on "The Forbidden Kingdom", "Fearless" and "Rush Hour".
Here is some background info on Nelson Shin from Wikipedia:
Nelson Shin (b. 1939; Korean name: Shin Neung-kyun(신능균)) is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985.
In the 1970s, Shin worked as an animator at the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, where he worked on the Pink Panther films. He is also credited with creating the glowing lightsaber blade used by Jedi Knights in the first Star Wars movie released and other subsequent Star Wars films.
Much of the animation Shin's studio has produced has been for American television series. Some of Akom's credits are: The Simpsons, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Invasion America and Arthur. Shin's most well-known accomplishment is his direction of the television series The Transformers and Transformers: The Movie. Akom's lead animator is Kim Jun-bok.
Beginning in 1999, Shin worked on the animated feature film Empress Chung. The film was largely animated in North Korea, and in August 2005 became the first movie ever to open simultaneously in North and South Korea.
In 2009 he was elected president of the International Animated Film Association, a post he is to hold until 2012.
It was also announced that Japanese action star Rina Takeda has joined the international cast along with Ray Park (The Phantom Menace), Eriko Satô (Cutie Honey), Lisa Sa (Lisa Cheng)(Chinese model, athlete and gymnast) and Yasaki “David” Kurata (Blood: The Last Vampire).
The 3D effects for "Future Fighters" will be handled by New Zealand based WETA Digital, who also handled the effects for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "King Kong", "District 9", the Korean monster film "The Host", "Avatar" and the upcoming "Planet of the Apes" reboot "Rise of the Apes".
The film is heavily inspired by the two Japanese animated series "Macross" (Robotech) and "Patlabor" as producer Guy Orlebar explains, "This Macross story is basically a love‐triangle between the main three characters set against a war between humans and big green aliens who battle in these fantastic robotic fighters. The robots, or mecha — the Japanese word for mechanical designs — are treated as little more than part of the background, and instead it’s the human drama between the three characters that takes centre stage — something which is also very similar to the Japanese TV show, and two of Mamoru Oshii’s animated feature films, Patlabor, where the robots in that show are really nothing more than fancy police patrol cars but still looked so cool and made the show so distinctive."
Sounds like my kind of movie!
You can view a copy of the press release that Agog Films Productions let fly at Comic Con - Here
And here are a few stills along with some concept art from "Future Fighters":
Over the past five years Asian cinema has become a hot bed of creativity with each new film aspiring to push the envelope in regards to special effects and action. In China, particularly, film makers have taken every opportunity to try and match the level of production seen in Japan and especially here in Hollywood.
To do this, Chinese film companies have lured in outside talent, both in front of, and behind the camera, to try and play 'catch-up' with the 'big boys' in the fantasy film biz.
A prime example of this is the effects heavy, "Empires of the Deep", which boasts both cast and crew from Europe, America, and of course, China.
Now, producer Guy Orlebar is following in the same footsteps to produce his 3D giant robot epic, "Future Fighters", signing big name talent from the United States, Japan, and let us not forget, China as well.
On a side note, EikoSato (photo above) has made our "Top Ten Hottest Women" list both in 2008 and 2009!
So far, the film's cast boasts Ray Park (The Phantom Menace), ErikoSatô (Cutie Honey), Lisa Sa (Lisa Cheng)(Chinese model, athlete and gymnast) and Yasaki “David” Kurata (Blood: The Last Vampire).
Like most of us, Orlebar grew up watching Japanese robot cartoons like, "Macross" and "Transformers" and these shows heavily influenced the development of "Future Fighters".
The film maker explains, "I’m an Eighties kid, and a huge fan of the animated Transformers show and all the fantastic mecha, particularly giant robot, shows that were being shown in Japan at that time. Shows like Macross (known as Robotech in the US), Patlabor, GUNDAM, of course — loads more. But we’d never really seen any of these types of stories coming out of Hollywood before. Okay there’d been a few. I’m not sure how many people remember Robot Jox [directed by Stuart Gordon] or the English language live‐action Gundam G‐Saviour. But it wasn’t until Steven Spielberg, against all conventional Hollywood wisdom, decided to big‐up his live action Transformers with director Michael Bay, that Hollywood finally sat up and took notice, especially because as we all know Transformers as well as Transformers 2 did phenomenally well. Personally, I preferred Korean director Nelson Shin’s 1986 animated theatrical version of Transformers in terms of style and emotion and coolness… but I was only 8 at the time which probably helped! (laughs)"
"Anyway, I totally respect Misters Spielberg and Bay for reviving the franchise and making Transformers go mainstream. It may not be the Transformers I grew up with, but it’s great that it’s going strong, and has ushered in an entire new generation of Transformer fans. So Future Fighters is our contribution to expanding the giant robot genre. Other examples that this genre is now taking off include Spiderman Tobey Maguire’s recently announced Robotech live‐action adaptation, and the live‐action adaptation of Voltron, another Eighties anime shown also in the West."
Which of the numerous Japanese giant robot anime shows impressed the film maker the most?
"One of the strongest influences to the story of Future Fighters is the original Japanese animated TV show, Macross, which as I mentioned earlier US readers will probably know as the first Robotech installment." Orlebar adds. "And which Transformers fans will know from the original Jet Fire toy, which I did have as a kid. This Macross story is basically a love‐triangle between the main three characters set against a war between humans and big green aliens who battle in these fantastic robotic fighters. The robots, or mecha — the Japanese word for mechanical designs — are treated as little more than part of the background, and instead it’s the human drama between the three characters that takes centre stage — something which is also very similar to the Japanese TV show, and two of MamoruOshii’s animated feature films, Patlabor, where the robots in that show are really nothing more than fancy police patrol cars but still looked so cool and made the show so distinctive."
"So, apart from the big green aliens in Macross, I really liked this concept of putting human relationships first and keeping the mecha secondary. But, and this is true for all Japanese mecha shows, the mechanical designs have to be unique and original, and utterly distinctive. I read in an article by Spielberg how all his best characters are instantly recognizable from their silhouette only… just think of Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones. Very good advice for designing memorable characters or imagery."
Though giant robot anime is the basis for "Future Fighter", Orlebar also drew inspiration from the work of classic sci fi novelists.
"In my teens I read Arthur C. Clarke’s sequels to 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2010, 2061 and, er, what was the most recent one? 3001. In 2010, or maybe 2061, Clarke writes about some of the fantastic moons around Jupiter. I don’t want to give too much away here, but anyway they’re not just rocks, and they definitely both feature in some of the key visuals for Future Fighters. And there’s a whole bunch of other stuff out there too which I learned about and which have been discovered only in the past few years. Really fascinating."
"… One of the great things about [Clarke's] novels is they are all steeped in science and realism. That’s also something I want to achieve with Future Fighters: bringing the science back to science fiction. Honestly, there’s no sound in space, and (unless you’re spinning around) there’s no such thing as artificial gravity in a spaceship. The challenge, and what we’re aiming to achieve with Future Fighters, is to keep it real without losing any of the great action, pace and excitement of a fabulous sci‐fi adventure. Imagine like a cross between the first Star Wars film and Stanley Kubrik’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey. That’s what we’re aiming for."
Looks like Orlebar's head is in the right place. So, I suppose your wondering how the film maker is going to tie all this together for "Future Fighter"? Well, maybe this plot synopsis will shed some light on the subject?:
It is the 22nd Century. After bringing irreversible destruction to our planet’s habitable environment in their relentless plunder of resources, the Earth’s leading mega-conglomerates lead humanity into space to colonise the night skies and forge a new future, leaving behind the barren Earth as a ruined, radioactive wasteland, with humankind seemingly destined never to return. For the past fifty years the colonies living amongst the planets of our solar system have been at peace.
But now, out of the ashes of the scorched Earth a new evil emerges, threatening to engulf the entire free solar system into a terrible darkness. Now, never before has the fate of all humankind lain in the hands of so few — a small clutch of brave mercantile militia soldiers, and their sophisticated interstellar fighting machines, stationed at a military garrison outpost orbiting the planet Jupiter and its moons. Pitted against impossible odds, they must fight… for the future. But they will soon unwittingly and devastatingly discover that, in space, the blackest darkness is in the hearts of men.
Countless fighter craft explode, battleships are ripped apart, moons shatter, love is lost and found, and whole atmospheres ignite in huge planet-sized fireballs in this exciting new, big-budget, CG-heavy, sci-fi epic [...], which features never-before-imagined non-stop zero-G action stretching from the serene azure Neptune-filled skies of the exotic, geyser-filled moon Triton, to the heights of the colossal Olympus Mons on Mars, through the volcanic, hellish landscape of Jupiter’s Io and icy depths of the subterranean oceans on Europa, crashing through the rings of Saturn and methane rain and lakes of its moon Titan, and down into the ubiquitous, ravaging Giant Red Eye storm of Jupiter itself!
Also on board for "Future Fighter" are action director Dee Dee Ku (Matrix 2&3, Kill Bill 1&2, The Mummy 3), 3D cinematographer Henry Chung, composer Robert Ellis-Geiger, and actors Reuben Langdon (Avatar, Spiderman 2, Pirates Of The Caribbean 3) and KazuyaShimizu (Azumi, Big Man Japan, Returner).
Amazingly, the film has been moving forward, quite effectively, without a director, which according to Orlebar, will be announced before this years San Diego Comic Con.
We will have to wait and see if "Future Fighter" can stand out among all of the giant robot films due to be released over the next few years including "Gaiking", "Robotech", "Voltron", "Battletech", "Transformers 3" and the Korean produced "Taekwon V".
Here is the teaser trailer and some production/behind-the-scenes images from "Future Fighters":
Written By: Ken Hulsey
