Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung has spoken about his take on the live-action adaptation of Your Name.
Your Name, released back in 2016, is considered one of the best anime movies of all time (our own Your Name review gives the movie the full 5 stars). Chung was set to helm a live-action remake in 2020, but departed the project in 2021.
“That was a situation in which I just loved all the people so much,” Chung told Empire magazine.
“I like the animated film,” he added, “but what I didn’t realise is how hard it is to adapt a Japanese animated movie and to try to do that for America. That was the goal that Toho had put before us. But it’s really hard to do.”
But, despite lots of hard work, it just didn’t work out. “During the pandemic I worked on that script for many months,” Chung said, “and ultimately came to a place where I realised I had written something I just couldn’t even shoot.”
Your Name follows two high schoolers who begin swapping bodies, even though they’ve never met. Raya and the Last Dragon Carlos López Estrada is now set to helm the live-action adaptation, which will follow a Native American woman and a man from Chicago. J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot is producing, with Toho distributing in Japan and Paramount internationally and in the US.
While you wait for the live-action Your Name, check out our guide to the best anime to watch now to fill out your watchlist, or try our roundup of the best anime on Netflix.