Castlevania’s Adi Shankar finds calling in film after health scare

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‘I was misdiagnosed with cancer. After that, something snapped in my brain. I couldn’t sit still anymore. I always felt like I was gonna wake up the next day that something was going to happen, something bad. I just craved doing things. I couldn’t stop doing it. That was why when I was in my early 20s, so many movies got made. So many things got made because I had this constant fear of death.’

MANILA, Philippines — People discover their true calling in different ways. For Castlevania’s Adi Shankar, it was a health scare that set him on the path to becoming a filmmaker.

“I was a really good student. I was a straight A student. Got admission to all the top universities (in the US). Got to Northwestern. (But on) my freshman year, I was misdiagnosed with cancer. And for two months, I thought I had cancer. I quit school. They booked me for chemotherapy,” began the Indian-American film producer and actor during his (embargoed) interview with The STAR, among other media, on the sidelines of the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila at the Mall of Asia last July.  

“After that, something snapped in my brain. I couldn’t sit still anymore. I always felt like I was gonna wake up the next day that something was going to happen — something bad. (So) I just craved doing things. I couldn’t stop doing it. That was why when I was in my early 20s, so many movies got made. So many things got made because I had this constant fear of death. Like most people didn’t get until later in life, I got it at 18,” Shankar, who’s now 33, recalled.

It took two months before the misdiagnosis was found out. “But it started everything. It caused that snap in my brain, which made me go, you’re going to make as much stuff as humanly possible before you die because that could happen tomorrow. That’s a pretty crazy story, right? I’ve never said that aloud.”

Shankar made the revelation during a press junket for his show organized by Netflix, a major exhibitor at the recent comicon. He’s one of the executive producers of the streaming giant’s animated series adaptation of the Japanese gothic-adventure video game. After a successful inaugural run last year, Castlevania (www.netflix.com/castlevania) Season 2 will launch on Netflix come Oct. 26.

The dark medieval fantasy follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hands of Vlad Dracula Tepes himself. Trevor Belmont (voiced by Richard Armitage), the last survivor of his house, is no longer alone as he is joined by misfit comrades in his crusade to save humanity from Dracula and his sinister vampire war council.

Prior to Castlevania, Shankar has been credited as an executive producer for crime and suspense-themed films like The Grey (2011), Killing Them Softly (2012) and Dredd (2012). But he’s probably best-known for his series of subversive short fan films, collectively called Bootleg Universe, which reimagined the likes of The Punisher, James Bond and Venom starting 2012.

Shankar meeting his Pinoy fans

In 2015, Shankar produced the fan film Power/Rangers that received critical praise, including from the original cast members of the ‘90s hit children’s TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. According to him, Netflix tweeted at him after Power/Rangers and called for a meeting. “Basically, the sum of the conversation was, something to the effect of, ‘What do you want to do next?’” he recalled. 

He decided to do Castlevania. “I kind of chased after that. It wasn’t like Marvel like oh, there’s Doctor Strange, he wanted to direct Dr. Strange, too. It was more like Castlevania should exist as a series in this animé style.”

Shankar further said that the arrangement with Netflix wasn’t like an “a la carte” wherein he was given a ready menu of material to choose from. “This was my pitch,” he confirmed. “It was like no risk caps, well within reason and this was it.”

His choice was also partly influenced by his growing-up years in Hong Kong and Singapore where, as a foreign Indian, he couldn’t understand the animated shows on TV “because they were never subtitled and made me really mad and I wanted to know.”

“So, one day, (I said), you know what, I was going to get revenge. One day, I’m going to make my own,” he mused. “It’s all of like coming together at the moment, right? And also, I have this thing (for) making kid shows and making them dark.”

Asked how he feels about his transition, from being the “guy who makes fan fiction” to someone who now runs shows like Castlevania, Shankar said, “A rapper once told me that he characterized it this way — because you’re right I’m this guy who makes fan fiction and now gets to do things official. The way the rapper presented my career to me: you’re the guy that got signed right out of school for the record deal but you didn’t like the records that were coming out. You like them but you’re like, there’s more here. So, you went indie and started dropping mixtapes, and those mixtapes were blowing up. And those mixtapes allowed you to go back into the system with your (own) voice.”

“That rapper was Kanye West,” he added. 

With his exposure to the Asian animation industry, Shankar was also asked to share his observations. “Two things. First, the creators are respected. I don’t feel like in old Hollywood. Creators are respected. Netflix has changed that. In old Hollywood, they care more about movie stars, not creators. But I feel like the animé culture, the creators are almost revered,” Shankar said.

“The second thing, the properties are taken very seriously, but at the same time, the companies that own the properties are not afraid to subvert them, to change them, for instance, you go from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z, totally different show. I don’t feel like an old Hollywood company would have done that. You take Gundam: Iron Blooded, that’s a subversive take on the whole Gundam franchise. That is so progressive. It’s a combination of revering people that are actually responsible for that thing and not so beholden to the veneer.”