BLEACH is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (Shinigami, literally, "Death God") — a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper — from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. - Wikipedia
Jason Hoffs is the Head of Production for VIZ Productions. He has been working in the film industry for over two decades. He recently participated in an interview with
Deb Aoki to discuss how the live-action project came together. A process that began all the way back in 2008. He also used this opportunity as a way to alleviate concerns that many fans of
Bleach have about the Hollywood version.
Q: Now that Warner Brothers has acquired the rights to produce Bleach, what does that entail? What I mean is, what happens now? I know there's a lot of steps involved to make a big project like this come to fruition, but any idea when fans might expect to see this Bleach feature film? I understand that it's probably not possible for you to give us a firm release date at this early stage of the game, but can you give us some idea where things stand now?
Jason Hoffs: Our screenwriter, Dan Mazeau, will begin writing the film shortly, with the input of our director and the producing team. We hope to have a first screenplay later this year. We of course communicate with Kubo-sensei and the Shueisha team at key stages in the process.
Q: Was Bleach a project that VIZ Productions pitched to movie studios, or was it a situation where the producers approached VIZ Productions to get the rights? There was mention in the press release that a few folks involved with this project are big fans of Bleach.
Jason Hoffs: VIZ Productions teamed up with Masi Oka early in the process. Masi is a huge fan of Bleach, and a true otaku.
Early on, we had many discussions with Shueisha and Kubo-sensei about the creative direction of the film. Masi had worked with Pete Segal and his partner Michael Ewing on Get Smart, and Masi brought Bleach to Pete. The writer, Dan Mazeau had been on everybody's radar, so when he committed we were all thrilled. Once the team was assembled, we approached Warner Brothers.
Q: There's always some anxiety from fans when Japanese manga is adapted by Hollywood, that it will be... well, changed a lot from the original stories/characters/premise. Would you like to address this issue/concern from fans?
Jason Hoffs: Every creator, and every fan, has a picture of the property or a relationship with the property that is formed with the original medium. Creators and fans of manga are not alone in that regard. Any adaptation requires a change of format and of style.
In the case of manga, so much has to be condensed to squeeze the story into a feature film format. So even in the best of circumstances, it's a big challenge. Fans have been disappointed with recent manga and anime-based features. We have to learn from these examples, and keep working to do better.
We build a relationship between the creator, his/her team in Japan and the Hollywood creative team to create a basic common vision from the beginning of the process. There is an essence or quality in the original material that makes it attractive as a feature film, and the team tries to preserve and translate this essence into the film version.
Our greatest goal, and certainly the goal of the creator, is that the film should delight the fans. At the same time, the intention of the film version is to introduce a larger global audience to the property. It will always be a challenge to balance fidelity to the original work, while supporting the creativity and originality of the filmmakers in bringing their vision to the film.
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Warner Bros. has acquired live-action feature rights to Tite Kubo's manga and anime property "Bleach," which will be adapted by "Wrath of the Titans" scribe Dan Mazeau. Peter Segal ("Get Smart") will produce with an eye toward possibly directing. Segal's Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing will also produce along with Masi Oka and Viz Prods., a subsidiary of Viz Media, the English-language publisher of "Bleach." Jason Hoffs will produce for Viz, while Branon Coluccio will exec produce. WB exec Jon Berg will oversee the project for the studio. - Variety