The live-action adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s modern classic Your Name has a new director. Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) has been brought aboard to helm this new take on the blockbuster anime, as well as rewrite the script.
As reported by Deadline, Chung will direct the new adaptation of 2016 anime Your Name; seemingly, he’s set to replace Amazing Spider-Man’s Mark Webb, who’d been announced as the director last year. Chung will also be rewriting the script — which has seen a couple different versions during the pre-production process. The first one was drafted by Eric Heisserer (Arrival), and the version Chung will be working from was written by Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick).
Your Name tells the story of two teenagers from different sides of life who find they can magically switch bodies (something that comes in handy when a cataclysmic event threatens to shatter their world). The film explored the contrast between urban and rural life, as well as the connections we can build across distances. Those are themes that can carry over into the live-action adaptation, which Heisseser previously said would be told through a “Western viewpoint” when he was working on the script. However, there remain concerns that making it an American story could also mean whitewashing it, something we’ve seen happen more times than it ever should.
No expected production or release dates have been announced yet.