James Marsters
News

James Marsters and Justin Chatwin - who portray Lord Piccolo and Goku, respectively, in Dragonball Evolution - hope the April release is one of man installments in this franchise.

"I hope [the movie does well] because my character only really gets interesting in the second film, I mean he's interesting now! But his journey is really developed in the script for the second movie," Marsters told IGN.

Does the actor know for sure if there will be a Dragonball sequel?

"All I know is I've been signed to three movies, but I would like to make five - seven of them. You could just pretty much paint by numbers using the wealth of source material to easily get the seven films. There's that much there."

As for Chatwin, he says Dragonball Evolution is merely the set-up for many more movies.

"There's a whole generation of kids waiting to be introduced to Dragonball, so this first movie is really important for that. I mean the main plot is the battle between Piccolo and Goku, but this first film still serves to introduce the characters and where they're from and what they're deals are. And so to cover that ground really takes up most of the first movie."

Tough news, Dragonball fans:

James Marsters, who plays the villainous Lord Piccolo in the live-action version of the anime series Dragonball, recently told the Japanese magazine Jump Square that there are plenty of changes in store for fans of the original show.

"Definitely the story of this movie is different from the original, said the actor. "But it’s a necessary change because we need to condense the long story of the original for a movie."

Another bad sign for the Dragonball purists is Marsters' admission that "some characters in the original don’t appear in the movie... Though there are differences between the two, I think it is all right if the core part of Dragonball remains."

Do you agree, readers? Are you looking forward to this big screen adaption?

James Marsters - best known to readers as Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer - is playing villainous demon king Piccolo in the live-action Dragon Ball movie.

The actor recently posted an update on his official website with a blurb about the role:

"I'm not really allowed to talk about any of the movie details, but I can say that James Wong is obviously a gifted and insightful director! When I got the role I had doubts. The more I live with it I realize that I am going to rock this harder than I have anything in my life -- I'm hungry for it."

Marsters with face off with Justin Chatwin, who plays Goku in the movie. Chow Yun-Fat is Master Roshi, Jamie Chung plays Chi Chi, and Emmy Rossum stars as Bulma.

We're psyched to see it

Japanese manga phenomenon Dragonball Ball Z is coming to the big screen.

And two young actors are signed up to star in the flick: Justin Chatwin and James Marsters have joined the cast; shooting begins later this month.

Chatwin (pictured)will star as Goku, a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues, bent on dominating the universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name.

Marsters is on board as the film's villain, demon king Piccolo.

Dragon Ball Z: The Movie is set for a worldwide August 15, 2008 release.