The man himself Goichi Suda, or Suda51 as he likes to be known, has recently spoken out about how he would love to cast Ryan Gosling as Travis Touchdown in a No More Heroes movie. We can see what he means–Gosling would be a great fit for this role. Heck, he’s a prime fit for most roles.
In a recent interview, Suda was asked about a potential No More Heroes movie, and if such a thing were to happen, who would he like to play the main role. Suda also mentioned who he’d want to direct it as well, and James Gunn’s name popped up.
“[For Travis Touchdown,] I’d probably go with Ryan Gosling. And as director, I’d probably go with James Gunn. Conversely, if we were going to go with a Japanese director, then I’d want to go with Takashi Miike.”
Suda has actually worked with both directors in the past. Gunn and Suda both worked on Lollipop Chainsaw together before the former moved over to the MCU with his Guardians of the Galaxy films. Then we have Takashi Miike, the controversial director behind Audition and Ichi the Killer, who was portrayed in No More Heroes 2 as a character called Miike, who he also voiced.
There is actually a fun little in-game foreshadowing towards Suda’s comments in No More Heroes 3. The Miike character returns in this game (voiced by someone else though) and Travis asks Miike to make a No More Heroes movie.
In the same interview, Suda was asked about the most recent installment in the series, which was released on Nintendo Switch in August 2021, but has also been confirmed for consoles and PC this Autumn. Suda claims that this latest game will be the last in the series.
“Travis Touchdown will finally be coming to the end of his final battle, and will be embarking on a much-deserved, long journey. Join him as he goes absolutely buck wild in the Garden – no, Cosmos of Madness!”
Suda wrapped the interview with a final comment. “Now, carrying with it a thousand thoughts, I run along the Thunder Road once more. As one journey ends, the crimson bike falls into a deep sleep.” There’s something quite poetic about his words. It’s been one heck of a journey for the man and his well-regarded game series, so maybe we will get a movie in the end.