Trivia for
Dragonball Evolution (2009) More at IMDbPro »

• According to James Marsters, his role of Piccolo is a complex, Shakespearean one: "He used to be a force of good, but he was imprisoned, making him very angry, and then he escapes... The cool thing is anybody who's seen Dragon Ball knows that Lord Piccolo transforms into THE Piccolo, and that is a whole other ball of wax; heroic wouldn't be the wrong term, but it's a long journey."
  
  
• It was suggested to give the entire cast special wigs of different colors, to keep the essence of the "Dragon Ball" anime;, but James Wong vetoed this idea to make the film more realistic. However, Emmy Rossum had a blue streak dyed in her hair and Justin Chatwin had his hair touched to make it spiky so that their respective characters possessed a classic yet distinctive look.
  
  
• James Kyson Lee auditioned for the role for Yamcha.
  
  
• Ron Perlman was offered the role of Piccolo, but turned it down to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) instead.
  
  
• Producer Stephen Chow is a big fan of Dragon Ball, and signed on to the film immediately. He was deeply interested in being the director, but decided to just serve as producer because he believes in directing only his own original stories.
  
  
• The cities in the film have been designed to be futuristic, as seen in the cartoon, but there will also be Oriental and Aztec influences in the designs. This is due to the film being set in Asia but being shot in America and Mexico.
  
  
• During the early days of filming pictures were released to a Mexican newspaper called "Record". In that paper a full run down of what Dragonball was to be about as well as information on its director James Wong were given. However the pictures labeled as "the Director" and "actors" were nothing more than simple extras, in fact the picture of the supposed director was that of a chubby, white, blond haired extra, a huge contrast to James Wong who is of course a slim, Asian man.
  
  
• According to the film's make-up expert Ed French, it took four hours to apply the prosthetics to James Marsters to change him into Piccolo. At first it took 17 hours, but Marsters had difficulty breathing and Piccolo's look also seemed overdone, so some prosthetics were removed, thus shortening the time to 4 hours.
  
  
• The film was mostly shot in an abandoned jeans factory in Durango, Mexico with blue and green screens.
  
  
• Director James Wong personally asked Japanese pop musician Ayumi Hamasaki if she could compose and sing the film's theme song. Since Dragon Ball was created in Japan, he felt that the song should be by a Japanese singer and in Japanese. Wong was so impressed with Hamasaki's song "Rule" that he ensured that the song would appear for all international releases of the film.
  
  
• James Marsters discussed the look of Piccolo during the Grand Slam 2008 convention. He said the producers wanted to make Piccolo "more beautiful" than James wanted him to be. Since the producers weren't around when filming started, James and the make up artist changed the character's look to make him ugly, which would reflect Piccolo's rage from being imprisoned for so long. James said, "It would be better to be fired than mess up Piccolo."
  
  
• Tom Welling was considered for the role of Goku.
  
  
• 'Dragonball Evolution' was one of the films that Fox Studios owned the rights to for years but hadn't green-lit production for, but due to the Writer's Strike of 2007-2008 was finally pushed into production (this was also the case for The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)).
  
  
• Justin Chatwin considers it an honour to play Son Goku: "He is a very important and epic character. He is always seeing the positive side of things, does good things, and always tries to help and take care of the weak, not only pursuing his power. He is a dependable and loving man as well as a boy."
  
  
• To prepare for his role as Son Goku, Justin Chatwin read all the Dragon Ball comics and "The Journey to the West," the Chinese literary classic which inspired the Dragon Ball saga; he practised martial arts and acrobatics; and to get into Goku's character (a likeable child-man), he told jokes to fellow cast members between filming breaks to increase the rapport between them/their characters.
  
  
• Jamie Chung wanted to play Bulma and auditioned for the role, but she admitted that Emmy Rossum was the perfect choice for Bulma.
  
  
• To prepare for her role as Bulma, Emmy Rossum watched "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986) and read the "Dragon Ball" comics.
  
  
• Joon Park admitted he didn't think he was going to get the role of Yamcha "because I'm god in Korea, but a shit in the US." He auditioned for the role in nothing but a hat and shorts, but as soon as director James Wong took a look at him Park landed the role.
  
  
• Bulma is dressed in black and purple clothes; the very colours worn by her son Trunks in "Dragon Ball Z: Doragon bôru zetto" (1989).
  
  
• While filming a fight between Son Goku and Mai, Eriko Tamura accidentally injured Justin Chatwin by striking his face a little harder than intended. She apologized over and over, but eventually they both laughed it off and went on filming; Chatwin claims that this incident enabled the fight to very powerful and intense, which fit the tone of the film.
  
  
• When Bulma's capsule converts into a cycle, the famous sound from "Transformers" (1984) (another fan favourite alongside "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986) in Japan) is heard.
  
  
• Since Bulma and Yamcha develop a relationship, it was important for Emmy Rossum that she establish a good bond with Joon Park, so they spent a lot of time together getting to know each other; when Rossum learned Park was a musician, the two of them traded favourite songs between them to enjoy. Rossum learned two things: "Because everyone's taste in music is so personal, I've found music a very good way to get to know someone," and that Park loves classic rock.
  
  
• The film's title was originally going to be simply "Dragonball" in homage to the title of the original series, but the word "Evolution" was added to show that this would be a more different and advanced version of the saga.
  
  
• In "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986), Goku was a 12-year-old at the beginning of the story and 15 when he fought King Piccolo, but in Dragonball Evolution, he was made 18. He also does not have a tail in the movie.
  
  
• The filmmakers decided to keep the number of characters in the film to an absolute minimum for a tighter story and better characterization. Therefore, sentient animals like Oolong and Puar were removed for realism, and fan-favourites like Tien and Krillin were removed for better focus on the core characters.
  
  
• According to James Marsters, his characterisation of Lord Piccolo is based on loneliness and revenge: "Piccolo is floating in the air in the beautiful landscape, but he never even admires the landscape; he is only thinking or musing and staring at his feet. I think that is a characteristic of Piccolo more than anything else. Maybe it must be a characteristic for revenge. He hates himself and blames the people who trapped him; his desire is to kill not only them but their family, furthermore to destroy the city and the planet they live and protect. To get revenge is everything to him. Everything."
  
  
• Goku is seen in a poster wearing a sweatshirt with Japanese characters on them. These characters (actually the same one repeated over and over) are the Japanese character "kame", which means "turtle". This was the symbol any student of Master Roshi (who is also known as the Turtle Hermit) would wear.
  
  
• For the desert shots of a travelling Bulma to be perfect, Emmy Rossum had to ride the motorcycle in 4-foot sand drifts at a speed of 40 mph. It was an arduous experience ("40mph over bumpy sand dunes that is enough to make anyone a little queasy"), especially since filming would start at sunrise, and the bike would stall a few times and had to be dug out often; however, the cast and crew would assist each other and put everyone at ease for filming to continue well.
  
  
• Stephen Chow wanted Kitty Zhang Yuqi to play Chi-Chi.
  
  
• Goku is instructed by Roshi to carry all of Roshi's luggage on his back, while keeping up with Bulma's vehicle. This is similar to an event in the "Dragon Ball" comics where Master Roshi instructs Goku and Krillin to train wearing 50-pound turtle shells on their backs.
  
  
• Music composer Brian Tyler recorded the film's score with an 82-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at 20th Century Fox's Newman Scoring Stage.
  
  
• In the Japanese version, Hisao Egawa and Mami Koyama are the only ones who have provided voice work as Dragonball characters.
  
  
• Luis Arrieta filmed all his scenes in one day.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: When Chi-Chi kicks down her opponent at the training camp.
  
  
• James Wong was on board to direct The Final Destination (2009) in 3-D, the fourth installment in the franchise he created, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Dragonball Evolution (2009).
  
  
• Not screened for critics.
  
  
• The number 7 is used many times throughout the film. There are seven Dragon Balls, there are seven stones in the middle of Gohan's yard, there are seven candles on Goku's birthday cake, Goku aligns seven stones on his grandfather's tombstone, seven mystics are required to cast the Mafuba, there are seven rocks in Roshi's house, Gohan cooks seven chicken feet for Goku's birthday, and in the epilogue, there are seven candles that are lit over the bed Piccolo is resting in.
  
  
• Chi-Chi says she shouldn't be considered an idiot because of her name. This is a subtle reference to the fact that "Chi-Chi" is a Japanese term for "milk" or "breast."
  
  
• Voice actor Christopher Sabat, who voiced the characters Piccolo and Shenron in "Dragon Ball" (1986/I), is credited as the voice of the Eternal Dragon Shenron in this film, even though his voice is not heard at all.
  
  

• SPOILER: In the Dragon Ball saga, Goku transforms into Oozaru (a giant monstrous ape) whenever a full moon rises, similar to a werewolf situation. In this film, Oozaru is an alternate personality who appears when an eclipse occurs.
  
  

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