By Evelyn F.
Altheimer-Fain
I am sure you remember writer Ryoe Tsukimura poplar 2001
Japanese anime series Noir. Well, back in 2010, Starz
network announced that it was picking up Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena:
Warrior Princess, Legend of
the Seeker) live-action adaption of the animated series. After that announcement,
news of the Noir series had been practically non-existence. Then in back
March, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced
that the production of the live action series had been put “in a bit of holding
pattern with Noir. A couple reasons for the delay in the series was the
enormous size of the project, and many of Noir crew returned to work on the production of Spartacus:
Vengeance and its series finale Spartacus: War of the Damned.
While
no news can be sometimes good news, in the case of Starz’s Noir,
no news can be nerve racketing for the series growing fans. This includes the fans
who believed that Noir was back shelved in favor of another Tapert project Vlad
Dracula,
which is also in production. With hope for Noir debut fading
as summer 2012 came and went, its was with pleasant relief that in
August writers Cyrus Voris, and Ethan Reiff were signed on to
write the series and that the production of Noir was renewed
with a projected debut date set in the spring of 2013.
To date, there is still word on casting for Noir,
but twitter Lucy Lawless (Xena:
Warrior Princess, Spartacus) was asked whether
she would be cast in the series. She twitted, “I have a twinkle in my eye
and I am dancing . . ., but I plead the
5th”.
Okay,
so there is a hint of joy in this message, however, it is not conclusive enough
for fans to think that Lucy Lawless will have a spot in Noir.
I for one would like to see Lawless in a more dramatic series.
However, I cannot see her as one of the lead as either professional assassin Mireille Bouquet nor as Kirika Yumura. No doubt
the origins and named of the character will change, but from that anime series
both Bouguet
and Yumura
are young and very fast and athletic. After all, it took six stuntwomen standing
in for Lawless to pull off many of her high flying, jumping, and
kicking and rough tumbling action scenes. Not that Lawless did any of her
own action stunts, she did, but I cannot see her doing such stunts at after 13-years
away from her role as Xena.
If Lucy
Lawless
was to be cast in Noir, I personality see her as the major adversary and probably
Altena
the high priestess of the Soldats, an organization she believes that become corrupted with power
and greed. Her only goal is returning the Soldats to its original purpose by
reviving a deeply culvert group of assassins
known as the Noir.
What
is Noir about: Mireille Bouquet excels in her
profession as an assassin. However, when she replies to an email from a young girl
named Kirika Yumura, she is invited to take "a pilgrimage to the
past.” After the meeting, Mireille life becomes even more
dangerous, and she becomes haunted by melody played from within an old pocket watch. The melody invokes an elusive and dark memory
from her past.
Understanding
that Mireille
and Kirika are being hunted and haunted because of their mysterious
past, the two women join forces to find the answers to a thousand-year-old
organization, which has controlled the lives thousands of young women since medieval
time. As their search leads them around the world, the only clue Kirika
remembers about herself is the word Noir, which become their working code
and has its origins in an ancient faith that centered on two maidens who reign
over death.
The main characters in Noir are Altena,
Chloe, Kirika, and Mireille.
Along with Noir, Ryoe Tsukimura has written and collaborated
on such popular manga and animations as El Hazard:
The Wanderers (TV), Shrine of
the Morning Mist (TV), Tenchi
Muyo Movie 1: Tenchi in Love, Tenchi
Muyo! Mihoshi Special, UFO
Ultramaiden Valkyrie (TV), UFO
Ultramaiden Valkyrie 4: Banquet of Time, Dreams, and Galaxies (OAV), and
many more.
UPDATE: Here is my response to a commit about Lucy Lawless quote:
I assure you that I rewrote the quote as it was made ,and it was carried on various websites. However, that was two years ago, and it appears to that the little bit of tongue-n-cheek portion of it have been removed to contain only the last portion of the original. Believe me, I check my quotes well, this article is not misleading, only dated.
Nevertheless, back in Janurary of 2014 Starz announced that the live-action Noir series would not be moving forward.
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