‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ live-action adaptation in the works

“The Law of Equivalent Exchange.” Any anime and manga fan will no doubt recognize this chalk-written transmutation circle. Image Twitter/@hagrenmovie

Anime and manga fans may be in for a treat as another cult favorite is getting the live-action treatment. This time brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric will be making their way to the big screen in the live-action adaptation of Hiroum Arakawa’s “Fullmetal Alchemist.”

The film will star Ryosuke Yamada as Edward Elric, Tsubasa Honda as Winry Rockbell, and Dean Fujioka as Roy Mustang. Edward’s little brother Al will be in full CG, reports Anime News Network.

Edward Elric played by Ryosuke Yamada.  Image Twitter/@hagaren

Winry Rockbell played by Tsubasa Honda.  Image Twitter/@hagaren

Roy Mustang played by Dean Fujioka.  Image Twitter/@hagaren

Filming started in early June at the Italian town of Volterra and will end in the second half of August. The film is being directed by Fumihiko Sori and will debut in Japanese theaters around winter 2017.

“I want to create a style that follows the original manga as much as possible. The cast is entirely Japanese, but the cultural background is Europe. However, it’s a style that doesn’t represent a specific race or country. There will never be a scene in which a character says something that would identify him/her as Japanese,” says Sori on adapting the source material.

This image was posted by Italian newspaper La Nazione showing Ryosuke Yamada in costume as Edward Elric at the shoot site in Volterra, Italy.  Image La Nazione

Despite the length of the source material, the story will be compressed into a single film for the adaptation. Ed will also be aged up to 20 years old as opposed to the original 15 years old to accommodate the pace.

Sori also expressed to Oricon about his deep affection for the story that tells the “truth of living.”

“Fullmetal Alchemist” was originally released in manga form, which was published from 2001 to 2010 on Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan and later released by Viz Media to the North American market. It has since then received two TV anime series adaptations, “Fullmetal Alchemist” in 2003 and “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” in 2009, as well as two feature lengths that debuted in 2005 and 2011, respectively.  Alfred Bayle

Watch the official trailer below: