It’s been a few years since discussions around a live-action adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto’s series, Naruto, began to sprout but the project hasn’t seemed to have progress much further since then. Thankfully, Michael Gracey, who is currently set to helm the production, has provided an update on the adaptation.
In his interview with Collider, Gracey reveals that the reason behind the seemingly slow progress on a Naruto film is partly because of the “many Hollywood adaptations” which fail to adapt anime or mangas properly. Gracey further clarifies his comments by revealing that this attitude isn’t a reactionary decision by studio executives, rather it is a careful decision on his part.
“If I was gonna do Naruto, I wanted to actually work with Kishimoto and get a script to a stage where he would look at it and be excited about realizing it,” Gracey explained, highlighting his decision to work closely with the series creator. “Because no one knows the world better than the person who created it.”
Simply put, Gracey is stating that they won’t move forward with the film until they have developed a script that he and Kishimoto can be excited about. It’s an admirable decision, considering the poor state that western anime and manga adaptations are in, and one that many fans are surely hoping will help deliver a strong a film.