04 | March | 2010 | Through the Shattered Lens

Newest hottie of the day is the lovely Ursula Mayes and quite the smokin’ one she is.

Born in 1979 in South Korea to a Native-American/German father and a South Korean mother, Ursula moved around the world as an Army brat. She spent time growing up in South Korea, Puerto Rico and North Carolina before finally setting roots in Washington, D.C. Having grown up in a house with five other brothers Ms. Mayes’ young childhood leaned towards a certain tomboyishness. This could be seen even today as she likes to work and race her custom Nissan 240SX. This alone has made her a fan-favorite at import car tuning shows and events. This has also allowed her to become a famous import car model for the past five years or so. In addition to import car mags she has also modeled for fitness mags and done work in South Korean ad and media.

Ursula Mayes has gradually began branching out into TV and film. She might be remembered as one of the suitcase models for the NBC reality-gameshow, Deal or No Deal. While her roles in film and TV has been small and, at times, uncredited it won’t be long until something larger lands in her path. Until then her fans will continue to adore and worship her at shows and events.

This week we saw news that the potential live-action Battle Angel Alita was one-step closer to becoming reality as script collaborator Laeta Kalogridis was working on a draft for James Cameron. Now comes more news of another manga classic getting closer to getting it’s own live-action adaptation being made with her about to turn in a script in a few weeks. This classic manga is Ghos in the Shell.

Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell has always been one of those manga/anime works which has continued to gain fans despite all the new anime/manga properties churned out in the dozens every year in Japan. It, like Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, has become one of the classics in the medium and plans to create a live-action version has been rumored and talked about for over a decade. With hollywood hungry for new properties and ideas to put on film they’ve suddenly turned to the Japanese manga and anime well for such ideas.

The rights to develop a live-action adaptation of GitS was acquired by Dreamworks a couple years ago with Steven Spielberg being the main engine to get the project up and running. In a couple weeks we’ll find out just how feasible this adaptation will be as the script by Laeta Kalogridis will be delivered to Dreamworks and Spielberg. If they like what they see of Kalogridis’ work then production can quickly begin as a planned 2011 release is still on the table. As a blowback to the success of Cameron’s Avatar, it looks like Dreamworks plans to have the film done in 3D right from the start and not something tacked on after production. If this is the case then Spielberg gets it when it comes to 3D and exactly how Cameron thinks 3D should be used.

I wonder if the oft-rumored and planned Akira live-action will get new traction and finally get made. That’s another anime/manga live-adaptation that will probably look great in 3D.