'Slam Dunk' creator Takehiko Inoue on bringing comics to big screen
Manga artist-filmmaker Takehiko Inoue / Courtesy of SMF Holdings
By Kwak Yeon-soo
It was an extraordinary challenge for Takehiko Inoue, the creator of the all-time favorite manga, “Slam Dunk,” to turn the basketball-themed sports story into the animated film, “The First Slam Dunk.”
The original comic, which sold more than 170 million copies worldwide, is the seventh best-selling manga series in history.
Inoue revealed that he had received many offers to adapt his anime into a movie more than 10 years ago. However, he initially declined them all because he wasn't satisfied with the pilots sent to him. Then in 2014, he finally approved the film adaptation of “Slam Dunk.”
“The pilot video I received in 2014 contained the spirit of the creator. The animator's enthusiasm and devotion appealed to me rather than the computer-generated imagery and the quality of the video. So I decided to give it a go,” he said in a written interview released by the production company, SMF Holdings.
Inoue decided to get involved in the filmmaking process as well to help with the project and make his manga readers happy.
“Although I am a novice in film production, I was able to say with confidence that 'I will direct' thanks to my rich experience as a manga artist,” he said.
New technologies have allowed him to recreate the vivid movements of court players. The animators adjusted the frames in such a way that they can create subtle and realistic expressions, such as how the characters sprint, pass the ball, dribble and shoot.
“Honestly, I was concerned about how subtly we can express the characters' movements. But I realized that the production team learned how to play basketball so as to have a better understanding. Those efforts enabled us to create the nuances you see on the big screen,” he said.
A poster for the film, "The First Slam Dunk" / Courtesy of SMF Holdings
The film version has another story arc compared with the original comic, according to Inoue. The film, “The First Slam Dunk,” excluded comical elements and instead focused on the drama.
“In the case of manga, comical scenes can be inserted (in a small frame between big frames), but in the film, the size of the screen is constant, so even if a comical scene is inserted in a small scale, it is not so visible. My priority was to pursue the drama that the basketball competition brings,” he said.
In the film, he also changed the main protagonist from Hanamichi Sakuragi (Kang Baek-ho in the Korean-version comic books and TV series) to Ryota Miyagi (Song Tae-seop), one of Sakuragi's teammates.
“If I were to make 'Slam Dunk' again, I would write it from another character's perspective. I have always wanted to add more of a narrative to Ryota's character,” he said. The animated film features many details about Ryota's family.
“The First Slam Dunk,” which premiered in Japan on Dec. 3, surpassed James Cameron's “Avatar: The Way of Water” in Japan. In Korea, the film hit local theaters on Wednesday.