The American live-action adaptation of Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name," a joint project from Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions announced back in 2017, has seen a frequent rotation of directors.
Now, one of its former directors, Lee Isaac Chung, has opened up about his decision to leave the project in a recent interview with Empire magazine.
"To be honest, I loved the people I was working with, but I had no idea how difficult it would be to adapt a Japanese anime into a live-action film for the American big screen," Chung said. "That was the goal Toho initially set for us, but actually executing it was much harder than we anticipated."
Shortly after Chung signed on to direct the live-action "Your Name," the COVID-19 pandemic began, during which he spent time writing the screenplay. However, the director stated:
"I spent months writing the script during the pandemic, but in the end, I realized I was basically writing a script for a film that couldn't be made."
Ultimately, Chung decided to step away from the film, passing the directing duties to Carlos López Estrada, director of "Raya and the Last Dragon."
via： Empire