The upcoming Your Name live-action remake has found a new director – Carlos López Estrada.
According to Variety, the filmmaker has been tapped for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular animated movie and is also currently writing the script.
The initial screenplay was penned by Arrival and Bird Box writer, Eric Heisserer.
Your Name is based on the 2016 animated fantasy drama which gained huge popularity and grossed over $230 million in Japan alone. It’s now considered a modern classic throughout the country.
The original film told the story of Taki Tachibana, a high school boy from Tokyo, and Mitsuha Miyamizu, a girl from rural Itomori, who suddenly and inexplicably begin to swap bodies with each other intermittently.
The upcoming live-action adaptation will reimagine their story, though no actors have yet been cast in the two central roles.
Paramount is on board to handle US and international distribution while the original animated film’s distributor, Toho, will handle its Japan release.
Meanwhile, López Estrada is perhaps best known for directing the hit animated film, Raya and the Last Dragon and is reportedly working on a live-action Robin Hood over at Disney. He also made his feature film debut with the live-action comedy, Blindspotting.
He also directed an episode of the popular FX comic book series, Legion.
A remake has been in the works since at least 2017, with J.J. Abrams attached to produce. Makoto Shinkai, who directed the original story, apparently isn’t that interested in the project, saying that it has “already left my hand.”
IGN’s review of Your Name gave it 7/10 and said: “Though the film suffers a bit from its disparate themes, the animation is absolutely gorgeous and the story will grab your heart and squeeze. Your Name doesn’t quite match the feel of a classic Miyazaki film, but it’s still a lovely story that actually manages to make the time travel mostly understandable. It will be interesting to see if the English language dub takes away from the feel, as is sometimes the case. This is definitely worth a watch.”
Want to read more about Your Name? Check out the saddest anime to cry your heart out to as well as what Hollywood needs to learn from Your Name’s success.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
