In an interview conducted by ANN, Andy Cheng, action choreographer of MCU’s Shang-Chi: The Legend Of The Ten Rings, commented that the upcoming live action movie Knights Of The Zodiac based on anime series, Saint Seiya: Knights Of Zodiac, will have action sequences inspired by Andy’s works with Jackie Chan and Hollywood.

When asked about the type of action will be there in the Knights Of Zodiac movie, Andy simply expressed it by saying “Live-Action”. He further said that the series is converted into live-action for the first time so they have to maintain caution while bringing anime fights to life.

He also mentioned that the anime series being 35 years old was also a hassle as the action sequence of the 80’s-90’s do not fit with the current trend in the industry. So they had to update and bridge the gap between the two.

Furthermore, he stated that the anime is more inclined towards Asian theme despite most of its characters have origins outside Japan, and the Knights Of Zodiac live action movie is more U.S centric. So while creating an action sequence which is more in tune with the global audience led him to create an amalgamated version of Eastern fighting styles and Western fighting styles, famous in both the regions.

He said, the action sequence won’t exactly be like “Crouching Tiger” but it’ll have punches, although dissimilar to MMA fighting styles which are famous in west.

In addition, he said, each character will have their own unique fighting style and have a unique move.

He also mentions that he has watched other live action movies which were adapted from anime and has studied their action scenes as well. However, there was nothing to learn from them as the Saint Seiya series is older than these new adaptations. Furthermore, he focused on adapting the series to modern times so seeing other adaptations didn’t help him.

While speaking about the actors he was impressed by all of them and he was particularly in awe of Madison Iseman who performed her own stunts along with other actors.

He also added, that he was approached for the movie when he received the call for Shang-chi and since then has been part of it.

While speaking about Knights Of Zodiac, Andy was accompanied by Tomek Baginski, director of the movie. While speaking about the movie, Tomek mentioned that the Saint Seiya saga is comparable to MCU.

The project had been in development for years and suffered several production delays before finally shooting this year. Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken (10 Cloverfield Lane) wrote the most recent drafts.

The Japanese-American actor Mackenyu will be the leading actor “Pegasus Seiya” (Seiya), Madison Iseman will star in Saori (Sienna), Sean Bean is the recruiter of the Knights, and Seiya’s mentor Alman Kiddo; other actors include Famke Janssen, Nick Stahl, Diego Tinoco, and Mark Dacascos Et al.

The filming took place in Hungary and Croatia. According to production news, the shooting has already concluded.

Toei will be responsible for distribution in Japan, while Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will distribute the film everywhere else, except for China and Middle East countries.

While there is no confirmed release date, some fans believe that the “Saint Seiya” live-action movie won’t come out until 2023.

As is pretty typical with all announcements pertaining to live-action adaptations, anime fans remain skeptical about how well this version of “Saint Seiya” will turn out.

Source: ANN