"Voices of a Distant Star"
A great 30-minute sci-fi romance drama from Makoto Shinkai that could easily be expanded into a feature-length film. For it to work, however, you'd have to get Shinkai to sign off on it.
I can't imagine him selling the rights to it, only to have little to no control over the film process. The Japanese are pretty damn picky when it comes to their own works. If I remember correctly, Shinkai directed, wrote, did his own CG work, and even voice acted the main character himself. That's a lot of pressure for one man, right?
Well, that's the point. The only way to do "Voices" is to put him on quality control, making sure that the version that gets made is one he'd be proud of.
On another note, I just bought the
Giant Robo boxed set. Now that would be cool to see done in live-action. Actually, Giant Robo was originally live-action before it became anime, so the movie version I had in mind wouldn't be cheap-ass guy in a suit held up by visible wires as he "flies" over a toy city. No, if they could make Giant Robo as a spectacle that outdoes the visuals of the anime, while also expanding on the characters and showing more of the quiet moments between them, THAT would be something.
The hardest character to cast would be Ginrei. The woman would have to be sweet, sexy, kind, intelligent and lethal all at once.
Interestingly, I love Giant Robo, and I love Makoto Shinkai's work. But I love them for very different reasons. Shinkai's stuff ("Voices," "The Place Promised in Our Early Days") is subtle, quiet drama with very real characters. Giant Robo is WAY over the top, flashy, action-packed with larger-than-life chararacters.