It was announced a while ago that a Western live-action adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name was in the works. Since then, the film has changed directors but we weren’t given the reason why until now.
Lee Isaac Chung opened up about why he had taken himself off of the project. At first, he was excited to bring Shinkai’s work to life. Plus, he was a big fan of the original 2016 anime film. Despite that, it appeared that adapting an anime film into a live-action movie posed a greater challenge than he had anticipated.
Chung said the following:
What I didn’t realize 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. During the pandemic, I worked on that script for many months and ultimately came to a place where I realized I had written something I just couldn’t even shoot.
Chung had previously directed other films and TV series such as Minari, The Mandalorian, and Twisters.
Production for Your Name is still ongoing and Carlos Lopez is the new director in charge of seeing it through. Lopez has previously directed Raya and The Last Dragon.
Source: CBR
