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Akira Toriyama, the man behindDragon Ball Z, once mentioned in a 2013 Q&A interview during the premiere ofDragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods,that he wanted Hollywood megastar Jackie Chan to take on the role of Goku in 2009’s live-action adaptation,Dragonball Evolution.The excerpts come to us via Kanzenshuu, a website that maintainsDragon BallTrivia.
Jackie Chan, who rose to prominence with his action-comedy flick –Police Story(1985),even said during a 1995 interview that he found the manga interesting and looked to make aDragon Ballmovie.
Akira Toriyama, who was involved withDragonball Evolutionas a co-screenwriter alongside director James Wong (Final Destination), did not expect the film to bomb at the box office; though he defended it.
Justin Chatwin eventually got to play Goku and the film was subjected to rave reviews with movie critics ripping it apart. On a meager budget of $30 million, the film managed to make $56 million and has a 15% RT score.
Read More:“He speaks very terrible english”: Jackie Chan Was Ironically Frustrated With Co-Star’s English Despite His Own Struggle With Language in $244M Movie
Akira Toriyama Wanted Jackie Chan For Goku InDragon Ball Evolution
Appearing on the Japanese Fuji TV’sMando Kobayashiprogram in March of 2013, Akira Toriyama sat down with a couple of guests to talk about his film,Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods,which was released the same month.
Host – Kendo Kobayashi asked him a series of questions, ranging from his past experiences and manga characters. He got to the part when he asked him about his favorite actor to play Goku.
He replied in textual format –
“If it were back when Jackie Chan was still young, I suppose I would have thought, ‘Nobody could play Goku but him.’”
Around the time of the release ofDragonball Evolution,Chan had his plate full as he had finishedRush Hour 3(2007) and was working onThe Forbidden Kingdom(2008) andKung Fu Panda(2008).
Read More:“It was all black in front of my eyes”: Bruce Lee Nearly Gave Jackie Chan a Deadly Concussion in $400M Movie
Jackie Chan Once Desired MakingDragon BallFilm
AfterAkira Toriyamaended the manga serialization of Dragon Ball (via Kanzenshuu), Dragon Ball Daizenshuu, which is a series of guidebooks that came out in 1995, interviewedJackie Chan.
Chan had just finishedDrunken Master IIin 1994 and was working onRumble in the Bronx(1995) andPolice Story 4: First Strike(1996), but he had time to give his views on how much he lovedDragon Ball.
“For a long time, I had heard from those around me that Dragon Ball was interesting. So I watched the anime, then read all of the Chinese editions of the manga. I guess the character I like most is of course Goku. There are so many fascinating scenes. It’s a work that I’d really like to make into a movie. To make it into a live-action movie I guess you’d need a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget.”
Also Read:“Every day I’m getting tired”: Jackie Chan’s Dream of Becoming James Bond Came at a Huge Cost in $104M Movie With Harry Potter Star That Pushed Him to the Limits
Jackie Chan is now 69, and unfortunately, missed that opportunity. But, he could very well be up for Master Roshi, should there ever be another live-action adaptation!
Dragon Ball Zcan be streamed on Hulu.
Source:Kanzenshuu,Daizenshuu Edition
Ojaswi Chaudhary
Articles Published :265
Extremely passionate about a great story since the little guy was 8. He has lived through nothing short of almost 300 of Hollywood’s finest pieces of work, and is now creating some of his own here at FandomWire. He loves to make time for a good book and a good meal.
