When John Cho was initially cast as Spike Spiegel for Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop adaptation in 2019, the reaction was pretty positive. After all, people love themselves some John Cho and consider him a reliably engaging actor. Come six months later, Cho had an on-set injury that saw production being halted while he took the time to heal.
Now that Bebop is out in the wind and folks have put their eyeballs on it, Cho recently got the opportunity to speak more candidly about what happened. The actor appeared on James Corden’s Late Late Show and revealed he tore his ACL while filming a nighttime scene. While he still isn’t sure what caused it, discussions were had during his recovery time about the not uncommon method of working around his injury. One such suggestion was CG his face onto another actor, a la The Irishman. Or to put it in a funnier way: yes, they thought about taking his face...off. (Presumably, this would not be the sequel we’re supposed to be getting.)
Of course, that didn’t happen, because that would’ve been a lot of money to do so. Similarly, a considerably cheaper option of just using a stool and shooting from the waste up was off the table, since according to Cho, “they thought, ‘this is dangerous.’” So with a year off to recover, Cho found himself just thinking about his smoking, noodle loving goofball cowboy.
“I don’t think I’ve ever thought about a single role more,” Cho said, talking about how he thought about Spike and the show “every day” while doing his yearlong physical therapy. The first season was finished with his brand new knee, and he’s happy that things are going well. “So far, so good,” he joked while knocking on wood. “I’m supposed to be at 100 percent, but don’t test me.”
Among other things, Cho’s still known for playing Sulu in the Star Trek reboots, and between that and Bebop, it appears he can’t stay away from sci-fi. When asked by Reggie Watts if he’d ever consider filming a movie in space, like what Tom Cruise is planning to eventually do, Cho responded “yes” with the seriousness of a child who was just asked if they wanted a new toy. “If you can learn the piano,” he said to Corden, “I can actually go into space.” Maybe that can be the plan for if Bebop gets a second season.
Cowboy Bebop is out now on Netflix.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
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