Prefer it or not, a live-action Naruto film appears to be coming from Hollywood after spending a few years in growth hell. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is at the moment hooked up to the undertaking, and whereas he may need the directing sauce wanted to tug off a flashy manga/anime adaptation, we’re understandably apprehensive about such a difficult transition regardless. Now, the film’s authentic author is making an attempt to calm followers down.
Leisure Weekly lately talked to scribe Tasha Huo, the showrunner for Netflix’s upcoming Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft animated sequence, and naturally, tried to extract new info concerning Naruto. To their shock (and everybody else’s), she really spoke at size in regards to the means of placing that film collectively to date.
Whereas Cretton is now a part of Hollywood’s ‘large leagues’ because of Shang-Chi’s cheap success in 2021 – simply as we had been beginning to exit the worst of the Covid pandemic – his background doing authentic work is intensive, and he is additionally discovered time to proceed to provide shorts and TV sequence after his Marvel film discovered an viewers. Huo praised that facet of his profession, saying “his personal writing and storytelling” is “very private and relatable” to viewers earlier than teasing the principle thought behind the Naruto film is to deal with the characters and what they undergo: “That is positively a film that comes at it from a love of who Naruto is and that character and his relationships.”
Amidst all of the flashy motion sequences and mythology-building, most Marvel Cinematic Universe followers admit {that a} large a part of Shang-Chi’s attraction was the connection between the protagonist and Xu Wenwu aka The (actual) Mandarin on the middle of all of it; actually stable household drama gluing the whole lot collectively, one thing that Avengers: Infinity Conflict and Endgame’s creatives actually understood and that a number of different Marvel flicks did not seize.
“After having fun with his different movies and understanding that his forte is in creating stable dramas about folks, I turned satisfied that there isn’t a different director for [Naruto]. In really assembly Destin, I additionally discovered him to be an open-minded director who was prepared to embrace my enter, and felt strongly that we might be capable of cooperate collectively within the manufacturing course of,” Huo added. Whereas Cretton is now additionally hooked up to Naruto as author, probably remodeling the script into one thing he is absolutely comfy with earlier than transferring into energetic pre-production, the actual fact he is absolutely embraced the earlier author’s enter is encouraging information and one thing that does not all the time occur with this kind of advanced manufacturing.
Nonetheless, there are lots of issues that might go incorrect with a big-budget anime adaptation arrange at Lionsgate. Netflix’s One Piece sequence was encouraging, however theatrical films are very totally different beasts, so we’re hoping that Cretton manages to navigate these waters with much less hassle than when he was hooked up to the now-cancelled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (not his fault).