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Evangelion (stylized onscreen as EVANGELION: Part I - The End of the Beginning) is an upcoming American science fiction film co-written, edited, and directed by Chloé Zhao. The film serves as a live-action "reimagining" of the 1995-96 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion and its 1997 alternate ending follow up film The End of Evangelion. It features an ensemble cast, starring Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jessie Buckley, Jack Quaid, Ashton Sanders, Léa Seydoux, Ben Mendelsohn, and Will Yun Lee.

Evangelion is set to be released in North America by Columbia Pictures and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is set to be the first of a planned trilogy.

Premise

Years following the cataclysmic event known as the "Second Impact", humanity has placed their survival against the monstrous beings, dubbed "Archangels", in the hands of the gigantic mecha peacekeepers, named "Evangelion", piloted by young adults struggling with their mental health struggles. As the war against the creatures sees an end, along with the arrival of a new pilot, the pilots' mentality begins deteriorating leading them to finally face their inner demons.

— Legendary Pictures

Cast

Production

Earlier efforts

Development of a live-action film adaptation of Gainax's anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion was announced in May 2003 by ADV Films, who held worldwide rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia (prior to Netflix and GKIDS' acquisition in later years), and Universal Studios would be the American distributor. The film was to be produced by ADV, Gainax, and Weta Workshop Ltd.. Its release was projected to occur at any time ranging from as early as 2009 to as late as 2015. In December 2005, Fortune Magazine reported in an article about ADV Films that it had raised "about half of the $100 million to $120 million" needed to produce the film.^[1] It's not completely clear if this money was raised by ADV alone or if part of that amount was contributed by Gainax.

The project was long considered to be in "development hell", as a director had yet to become available or announced officially. In a panel discussion at Tekkoshocon on April 2, 2006 featuring Matt Greenfield and wife Tiffany Grant, many aspects of the project were revealed.^[2] Greenfield recalled that Weta approached ADV about a live-action Eva movie after completing work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but work was delayed by King Kong (2005) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). It was revealed that three described "A-list" directors and several celebrities had approached the project, rather than the other way around, and the slug script was written by a writer of several other well-known science fiction movies (though this is subject to be rewritten and tailored to the director's vision). Greenfield also reiterated his belief that they did not want to make the movie for profit, but because they wanted to do it and have it done it right, and promised effort toward a trilogy of Evangelion films (as opposed to trying to condense the story into one film and lose vast amounts of material). Early rumors included the existence of the "A-6 treatment"; short for Alpha-6, this supposed early script treatment was rumored to have primarily adaptated the first six episodes of the anime, akin to Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007). It received some controversy, as the episodes said to be adapted don't include the character Asuka Langley Soryu, who plays a major role in the anime overall.

Beyond these official announcements and some concept art produced by Weta, little or no more information about the film(s) had been made available. In 2005, Weta updated its official website, adding a section which featured all of its previously released Evangelion concept art labeled with the original Japanese character names as well as several references to Tokyo 3, cited as "New Tokyo".^[3]

Development

In January 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that Legendary Pictures purchased the live-action film production rights, splitting the distribution rights to Sony Pictures Releasing's Columbia Pictures domestically and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally. The film was reported as being in "active development". In April that same year, Chloé Zhao was hired as director, and was set to co-write with Hunter Schafer who impressed Zhao with her knowledge on the anime's lore and writing on the Euphoria TV special "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob" (2021).

Casting

Initially, several parties have stated that one of the goals of the production is to cast children of ages appropriate to their roles and then cast adults who will be able to work well with them. Tiffany Grant, who voiced Langley Soryu in the English dub of the anime, stated through interviews and self-published articles, that the film would feature a cast "mostly of European descent," as well as mentioning ADV's toying with the idea of giving the other English dub actors cameos in the film.^[4]. Not long after Grant's statements, concept art produced by Weta Workshop was released featuring character "slug names" such as "Kate Rose" (in lieu of Asuka Langley Soryu), "Ray" (Rei Ayanami), and "Susan Whitnall" (Misato Katsuragi). Richard Taylor, head of Effects and Creatures at Weta Workshop, publicly expressed his belief at the 2006 Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Brisbane that the film should have a predominantly Asian cast in order to work effectively in the international market.^[5]

In October 2022, Schafer, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, and Rachel Zegler were first announced as part of the cast, with Jessie Buckley, Jack Quaid, Ashton Sanders, Ben Mendelsohn, and Will Yun Lee were revealed throughout the rest of the month.

Filming

Principal photography commenced in Los Angeles, California in February 2023. Approximately 80% of filming was done on a soundstage.

Release

Evangelion is set to be released theatrically in North America by Columbia Pictures and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Future

In June 2023, Zhao stated that if Evangelion performed well, there were two sequels planned: Evangelion: Part II - There and Back Again and Evangelion: Part III - The Final Impact. Schafer jokingly inplied that lighthearted spinoffs as a possibility, akin to the numerous spinoff manga, games, and light novels of the original franchise.

Notes

References

External links

• Evangelion at IMDb
• eva.trivialbeing.net — Fan site collecting data on the live movie.
• The project page for the movie on Weta Workshop's website (only conceptual art is shown so far).