The man that brought Piccolo to life in Dragonball Evolution was asked a question about his role in the film. He answered by stating what DragonBall the anime means to him, how he got the role, how he had to perform his own stunts in the movie and even goes to mention that he would have preferred in they started with DBZ and confesses the movie did not turn out as good as he hoped.
(6:30 in for Dragonball portion)