One of the worst live-action movie adaptations of anime or manga in recent years was the thoroughly appalling Dragonball Evolution back in 2009. However, in an interesting move the writer that penned the script has issued a belated apology.
All this came about because of a new Dragon Ball book currently being written and they contacted Ben Ramsey, the scriptwriter for Dragonball Evolution, for an interview. He responded but in doing so also made a surprising apology.
“I knew that it would eventually come down to this one day. Dragonball Evolution marked a very painful creative point in my life. To have something with my name on it as the writer be so globally reviled is gut wrenching. To receive hate mail from all over the world is heartbreaking. I spent so many years trying to deflect the blame, but at the end of the day it all comes down to the written word on page and I take full responsibility for what was such a disappointment to so many fans. I did the best I could, but at the end of the day, I ‘dropped the dragon ball.’”
“I went into the project chasing after a big payday, not as a fan of the franchise but as a businessman taking on an assignment. I have learned that when you go into a creative endeavor without passion you come out with sub-optimal results, and sometimes flat out garbage. So I’m not blaming anyone for Dragonball but myself. As a fanboy of other series, I know what it’s like to have something you love and anticipate be so disappointing.”
“I hope I can make it up to you by creating something really cool and entertaining that you will like and that is also something I am passionate about. That’s the only work I do now.”
While it’s nice to know that someone somewhere feels responsible for the steaming mess that Dragonball Evolution became, it does feel a bit unfair to allow this poor chap to take all the blame.
This is because scriptwriters like Ramsey aren’t solely responsible for the direction or changes that happen in a movie. A lot of those decisions come from up on high from within whatever executive branch of the studio that is financing a film.
In this case it was 20th Century Fox that did the deed and it’s more likely that the executives involved had far more to do with how Dragonball Evolution turned out than Ramsey did.
Considering how immense the Dragon Ball franchise is, Evolution was a huge fumble on the part of 20th Century Fox. A fumble that has had wide reaching repercussions, as now fans have an entirely justified mistrust of Hollywood's expertise when it comes to anime and manga related intellectual properties.
At the very least, I hope that Ramsey doesn’t feel the need to selflessly fall on his sword over this, as it’s clear that he’s doing his best to make amends for what happened.
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