'Your Name.' live-action Hollywood remake gets its director
The Hollywood live-action remake of Makoto Shinkai's anime hit film Your Name. now has a director.
In a recent report by Deadline, it stated that Lee Isaac Chung is the director of the upcoming film. Chung will also be rewriting the film's script based on a draft made by Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick), and not the one that was previously written by Academy-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Bird Box).
Chung is no stranger to the industry. He made his directorial debut with the 2007 film Munyurangabo. His most recent work is the film Minari which is inspired by his childhood living in a Korean-American family in Arkansas. He bagged the top two US awards in this year's Sundance Film Festival.
The website describes the remake: "Two teenagers discover they are magically and intermittently swapping bodies. When a disaster threatens to upend their lives, they must journey to meet and save their worlds."
A February 2019 report on Deadline stated that Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man) was previously said to be directing the Your Name. Hollywood remake. As of this time, there is still no word of when this film will be premiering in theaters. However, this is quite interesting to look forward to as Paramount Pictures and J. J. Abram's Bad Robot Productions is producing the film.
When the news of this Hollywood remake was previously announced, it received mixed comments as they say the movie is better off as is and not to be remade in any way.
Heisserer stated previously that the Japanese rights holders of Your Name. have requested a Westernized take on the original anime film. "They stated if they wanted a Japanese live-action version, they would just do it themselves," he said. "But they want to see it through the lens of a western viewpoint."
Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. is considered a fan favorite among millions of anime fans. It premiered in Japan in August 2016 and is the country's highest-grossing film of all time. It is also the second-highest-grossing Japanese film and the second highest-grossing anime film.
After Shinkai's massive success, he then released another romance fantasy anime film, Weathering with You, in 2019, which was also praised by audiences.