Cowboy Bebop star Daniella Pineda hits back at critical fans
By Dan Selcke
Last week, Netflix showed off the first images from its live-action remake of the beloved ’90s anime series Cowboy Bebop. The show is about a motley crew of space-faring bounty hunters who jet around the solar system having very stylish adventures set to a jazzy, toe-tapping soundtrack. The cast includes John Cho as the wry Spike Spiegel, Jet Black as his ex-cop partner in crime Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda as the bold grifter Faye Valentine.
Oh, and don’t forget Ein the space corgi.
Will the Cowboy Bebop remake be good? It’s too early to tell — the original show is great, so there’s an argument for leaving well enough alone. But so far it looks like Netflix has done a good job translating the very fanciful style of the original anime to live-action.
Of course, they had to make some changes in the transition from animation to live-action, including by paring back some of the more unrealistic aspects of the character designs. With Faye Valentine, for example, it’s a little silly to ask an actual actress to do everything Faye does while essentially wearing a neon yellow two-piece bikini day in and day out. Let’s be real: anime has a history of depicting female characters in a way that’s a little, um…exaggerated, and when it comes time to cast real flesh-and-blood people in these roles for long-term TV projects, changes have to be made.
Nonetheless, Bleeding Cool reports that some fans are complaining about the changes to Faye’s costume, and that Daniella Pineda doesn’t have “the right body type” for the role. Pineda herself was having none of it, and hit back on her Instagram Stories.
“First, I wanted to apologize to the fans that I did not anatomically match the Faye Valentine character,” Pineda said, giving a masterclass in sarcasm. “Six foot, double-D sized breasts, two-inch waist. You know, they looked everywhere for that woman and they couldn’t find her, it was kinda weird. So they just went with my short ass, I know, am I right?”
Pineda also talked about the outfit: “You know, we tried, but doing stunts in tissue paper, things disappear, they rip, sometimes just got lost… Anyway, like I was saying, that original costume, they made a couple of them, but like I said, they got sort of slurped up in my various crevices, never to be retrieved again, so we needed to build something that could withstand the test of time.”
Again, I have no idea if this show will be any good — even if Netflix’s intentions are pure, the original is terrific and I wonder if the remake is needed — but I do love sarcasm. You have me for the premiere at least!
Lucifer’s Lesley-Ann Brandt (Mazikeen) supports Cowboy Bebop star Daniella Pineda
Pineda’s Netflix colleague Lesley-Ann Brandt, who plays Mazikeen in Lucifer, also chimed in, and with a visual aid:
Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop series drops on November 19.
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