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Dragonball's Cast Grows Again: Chow Yun-Fat and Emmy Rossum

by Alex Billington
December 19, 2007
Source: Hollywood Reporter

The live-action Dragon Ball Z movie, titled just Dragonball, has expanded its cast to include two more unique additions: Chow Yun-Fat and Emmy Rossum. Justin Chatwin stars as the main character Goku and is joined by James Marsters as Piccolo and Jamie Chung as Chi-Chi. Chow Yun-Fat will play Master Roshi. The film is an epic sci-fi adventure that follows Goku, a warrior alien who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe and controlling mystical objects known as Dragon Balls. Of all movies I thought I'd take an interest in, Dragonball never crossed my mind.

The film is currently shooting in Mexico City and Los Angeles under the direction of James Wong (Final Destination, Jet Li's The One, Final Destination 3). The script was also written by Wong and the film is being produced by Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow.

The original Japanese anime Dragon Ball Z series first debuted in 1989. The first run of the English Version of the show began airing in September 1996 on the WB and now runs almost every day on the Cartoon Network. In the movie, a young boy named Goku seeks out upon his grandfather's dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls (of which he has one) in order to prevent Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world. Master Roshi, played by Chow Yun-Fat, is Goku's mentor, helping him achieve the highest state of fighting and spiritual powers.

Could this actually end up being something good? I was expecting nothing but a PG-rated live-action kids film, but with this impressive cast it sounds like they're going all out and making something fans of all ages will enjoy. Dragonball is currently set to hit theaters on August 15th, 2008.

Dragon Ball Z

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web:

Stephen

I actually use to watch and love this show, they have been talking about doing a live action for years now and it looks like it is gonna be good.
Heckle

What is next? Jack Black as Pokemon?!!
bam

this will either be VERY good or completely bomb and be real shitty. i hope they at least go for a hard pg-13 is this is some pg crap it will definitely suck. ive always been a fan of dragonball-dragonballgt and if any one has ever seen any episode it is pretty "battle intense" you could say
sbones

wow, a live-action movie for dragon ball z?? i didn't expect that. i'm curious as to how this will turn out!
Nathan

GODDAMMIT NOOOO!!! F***in' Robbie from War of the Worlds as Goku! Friggin' Spike from Buffy as Piccolo! Stop raping my childhood, Fox!! Surely the great Chow Yun-Fat can find a project better suited to his talents than this!
Evan

Master Roshi was a pimp and Chow will surely bring him justice.
Los

why in the hell would Chow do this movie? we need an old pervey type for this not him. Does anyone else thinks it sucks that they are calling it dragon ball Z but they are using the story arc from dragon ball when goku was still a child running around with a damn tail..
sbones

I think the article says the movie is going to be called Dragonball. "The live-action Dragon Ball Z movie, titled just Dragonball..."
The Dude

This will absolutely suck...man i hate when they do live action anime...i think only speed racer will be good. Where the heck is it being shot? I live in Mexico City and had no freakin idea of it. I hope they don't blow this great series
avizzle da nizzle

Would you rather have them not make a DB movie? The only way it will bomb is if fans of the series don't give it half a chance. I will be at the 1st showing on the 1st day to show my support for DB!
Suprmario

With the stuff they can do with prostetics and cg animation this could turn out alright. Unless of course they get a crappy director that butchers it.
horng

holly sh**!!!!! wat are they doing?!cant they see master roshi is short and skinny old man?!did Chow Yun-Fat really fit the fan vision for master roshi?!for me, H*LL NO!!!!DA**!!!!OH come on!!if cant find the suitable character, pls dont do it!!!dont broken the dragon ball story in fan's heart!!!!
dragon ball z guru..

Justin chatwin man come on...... JUSTIN CHATWIN! WTF!! Ive seen every episode of dragonball and dragonballz about 20 to 30 times. I spent a good 8 years of my life locked in my house wathcing dragonballz, and the fact that i might not go see this says it all...
The Super Saiyan

hmmm....i'm a great fan of dbz and i'll be racing to watch this movie....just hope they don't mess it up. and what happened to krillin? he'd better show up soon...
andree ward

bu i hope after this they bring a new additoin to dragonball bu cause every child in nassau ball they need to bring it back on tv i dont no why yall stop yall was doing a wonderfull job it breaks my heart to see a good effort go to waste.
victoria

I think this movie will be great I mean Chow yun-fat and James marsters are awesome. And I don't care what anyone says but I think Justin Chatwin will be a great Goku he may not be asian or a martial artist but but he does have the right look I mean hello look at his silly grin. My only complaint is Jamie Chung being casted as Chi-chi what the hell were they thinking.
The Dude

Seriously...why didnt they do it by CG...just look at the videogames they look awesome...i mean ...WTF....none of the actors look like their characters...even with make up...im a huge fan and it just like one guy said earlier it's like raping your childhood ....................................................................................... >.<"!!!!
scot

wow..this is interesting..but the cg version pawns hard any time..
Master Chief (Spartan-117)

wicked, lol KAMEHAMEHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the fatman

how am i the last to know of this im so upset you guys suck for not telling me well ill be at the 1st show but i do have my doubts
mascott

oi chatwin would make an awsome goku. he's still a teenager, it would be stupid if some body builder was cast. justin chatwin'll play the CHARACTER well, and i'm sure he'll measure up in body size. transformers was attacked with all different kinds of critism, and look at it now!
slash

please gosh dont mess it up!!! The cast is awesome:D
monkeydluffy

i think it will be good i don't know i really like dbz i'm just gonna watch it cause of the awsome serise i will watch it all right
Articus20

i think the guy that plays unger from the new longest yard would pull off a better lookin master roshi i also dont know how i feel about the other cast but i saw a picture of chatwin and goku together and i could see why they may have picked him i think you just got to look at this movie as being someones on vision of dragonball but that will be realy hard i think people who never saw the show may like it cause people who have probably wont be able to look at it with out passin judgement on it like i know i will but i want to go into with a freash mind maybe it wont turn out so bad
1 DB fan

All the same, the Japanese are going on with their all out boycott against this movie From what I heard, nearly all the hits for "Dragonball" and "boycott" in Japanese has something to do with this
Jack

You better not screw this movie up or I am going to freak out.
anime-adik

if this will be in live action. This will be VERY HARD TO DO because of the graphics. If they cant make this thing work they better not let this movie out. They will just ruin the Dragon Ball anime for sure.
skeptic

I smell another "mortal kombat" movie in the works.
Sean

Oh C'mon ppl, this won't be that bad. The trailer hasn't even came out yet and everywhere I go there's nothing but shit-talk and disappointment in this film. I mean what's so bad? Chatwin as Goku? Chow Yun-Fat as Roshi? Emmy Rossum as Bulma? Jamie Chung as Chi Chi? Think about this in your mind and picture this movie starting out with Chatwin being insanely large, Rossum as Bulma" Wow your huge, how long have you been working Out?" Chatwin; " Oh I've been this way since I landed here on earth 17 years ago." Rossum" HOLY SHIT!!! YOUR AN ALIEN?!?! Chatwin; " I guess so, I mean that's what my Grandpa told me LOL. WTF?!?! How dumb would that be, besides I think it's great he won't be that buffed up because in Dragonball he was skinny, not anorexic but not huge either. And the thing with Krillin not being in the movie; if you've actually watched Dragonball then you'll know that Krillin was DEAD during the whole King Piccolo saga, and that's the saga that will be most focused on in this film. Yes, there's the High-School thing problem with fans too, probably the biggest of all! The Goku being in High-School thing and having two big bullies(Carey Fuller and Agundas) who will be played by Texas Battle and Richard Blake takes place at the beginning of the movie and is said to have very small parts; like only 10-15 minutes. So in my opinion not a big deal, but these crazy fuckin-fans are goin nuts and sayin this movie will ruin the whole "great feeling" that the series has or some shit? Listen dumbasses, there was a Dragonball live action movie made back in the 80's and it's literally the biggest piece of shit movie that has ever graced any and all theaters and television sets. Just take a chill pill, wait for a trailer or something to come out and then you can make all the assumptions you want. Just stop fighting over this, it's so childish and pathetic. By the way, remember how everyone was talking how shitty the Transformers movie was gonna be? And look at it now...It is no doubt one of the best movies I have ever seen and probably has the best CGI in any movie ever made. If you can't agree to that then you have no taste in great action-packed films. ps: The trailer is said to come out either March 7 or March 14th. So all you haters and especially fans need to stay tuned for that.
malax

King Piccolo saga? damn no super saiyan, vegeta and gohan going beserk?
mifuu

Some people just have to defend everything crappy that Hollywood does to classic stories...
Anonymus

Whos gona play Vegeta,Gohan, Krillin, yamcha or Tien?
malax

vegata, gohan and krillin are out of the picture, because the movie is gonna focus the piccolo saga, according to Sean. But why focus on one saga? are they planning to do more saga's?(if this works out) i hope so, cause the storyline i like to see on the bigscreen is trunks/andriod/cell saga! but then again, i probably won't be around by then.
CHickita

i want jet li for vegita nd jakie chan for goku i guest this better be good
HBK

Jet li as Vegeta n Jackie chan as Goku would be great,really great...N i'm really watching forward to watch tis piece of crap u all r talking abt...
KEK

wow, Sean on comment 29 takes the cake for Least Informed Opinion award. As it stands now, this film is going straight to DVD, and if they push for a theatrical release, it'll bomb worse than Baghdad. For reasons all-too-known (pandering to idiots who know nothing about DBZ except that it's "one of those weird Japanese cartoons, right?") they've removed Tien, Krillin, and Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, Oolong and Puar, and half a dozen other characters. Not only did they remove the existing essential characters, but they farted out a few anime-ish names and put them in the cast. Hmm, Goku is a high school student now? I don't remember him ever even going to school... funny. So now it's like, Emo-ball Z with the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The screenshots look like shit, the makeup is retarded. Bulma's hair != blue, she looks more like Chi-chi. The dude they're using to play Goku belongs in an NSync video... killing himself with a hammer. And they should have cast Woody Allen as Roshi; Chow-Yun Fat is many things, but a creepy old pervert he is not.
lISA age 16

sorry yh im a hard dragonball z fan who is not white or asian but i always imagine that if there was going to be a dragonball live action or wateva i always imagine him being japanese or at least aisan because....... he is!! And before ANYONE OF U HU says "BUT HE IS AN ALIEN" must think agen because yes he is from another planet but hello he has asian features IF U CAN'T SEE WAT IM SEEING then i fink u got the wrong show because a pale skin man wiv black hair and martial art suit is defo asian( japanese etc) But the film is a go ahead so theres is nothing that we can do is there? i dont think i i would go and see the movie…..soz but i hope it flops. Making Justin Chatwin as Goku is like making Denzel Washington as BATMAN!!! see wat im saying! PLEASE DONT RUIN THE ANIME SERIES!!! - oh it to late to say now just hope..........
Paul

Hey all you Moaning pricks do you think anything you say or do is going to make the movie director reissue his cast?. You must be kidding!. I Love dragonball,dragonball z, GT was OK but you moaning Fan Boys get over it a real manga lover would just say choice wait till it comes out watch it, if then its ass well moan as much as you want Vin Diesel as Freezer would have been cool for a Namek Saga but seen as how this movie revovles around dragonball no Super Sayins maybe A nice Big Ape though?
PWO

Real dragonball fans would be able to see this flick's heading right for disaster and will boycott it
Kacey

Come on GOKU IN HIGH SCHOOL???????????????????? WTF GOKU IS THE DUMBEST GUY IN THE PLANET- ANY REAL DRAGON BALL FAN WILL NO THAT - THIS MOVIE IS DESTINED FOR FALIURE - BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT
Bruser

There's news that even Kageyama Hironobu himself criticized Chow Yunfat as not being a good Kamesennin during an interview in Hong Kong.
TylerWells

Why do this racist hollywood bastards always ruin good anime and why are they always portraying asians as supporting or evil characters. Why not give the main roles to the asians for once goddamit. This movie is blatantly racist towards asians so we must act now and boycott this racist Dragonball movie. Sign the petition and boycott the movie now if you care. http://www.petitiononline.com/dblam444/petition.html
http://google jkjkhardcore

don't boycott this movie, PIRATE THE HELL OUT OF it, cuz they aren't going to stop, they won't stop till with nuke them with a kamaha wave to the stone age these greedy sick hollywood elite jerks trying to milk us for our money, don't support this crap, if you want donate your money to the person who made DRAGONBALL Akira Toriyama, but for the love of god don't support hollywood or they'll keep botching up animes that were good and force feed us crap. Kenshin is going to be played by Tiger woods, bruce lee is going to be played as mr. rogers, and genghis khan as john wayne(oh wait they already tried that). I'll be uploading this movie from a nice pirated source do NOT SEE this garbage.