Garrett Hedlund in talks to star in Akira
The movie is based on Katsuhiro Ôtomo's critically acclaimed manga, which follows Kaneda, the leader of a motorcycle gang in New Manhattan. Kaneda tries to rescue his best friend, Tetsuo, from a government experiment. We also reported last month that Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter were offered the roles of Colonel and Lady Miyako. It isn't known if they have accepted these offers yet.
Jaume Collet-Serra is directing Akira from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran are producing through their Appian Way production company, alongside Andrew Lazar. It isn't known when production will begin on Akira.
Akira comes to theaters in 2013 and stars Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Ken Watanabe. The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.
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ejk1
@Jean-Jr-Henry I don't recall this Spider-Man tv show you speak of, but if you could find a link, I'm definitely interested. As for the rest of what you said, I disagree. The proof is on G4. Marvel allowed a Japanese animation studio to make animes of Iron Man, Wolverine, and the X-Men as a whole. Yes, the setting was Japan, but the characters were still the same. Tony Stark was still Tony Stark, Logan was still Logan, etc. With Akira, WB is trying to cast everyone with a white paintbrush. Can Colonel Shikishima be played by Gary Oldman? Not if his name is still Shikishima. It loses believability, and by changing the name of the character, you lose some of the essence of the original material.
2 years agoby @ejk1Flag
Mram5
joseph gordon levit- tetsuo
2 years agoby @mram5Flag
Jean Jr Henry
think about it you guys what good is adding japanese actors in the movie if the main characters are not japanese,just out of respect?thats pointless.and if the japanese made a live action of a comic book or cartoon created by americans you think they wouldnt change the settings,the race of the character and even adding their own plot in it etc.look at the spiderman tv show japan made back then everything was changed even adding a giant robot in it.even with their japan made mangas and anime like deathnote they still change the plots and the characters.stop complaining about how its not in japan or the characters are not japanese.as long it has the same story line and i see its good,i will go see it.
2 years agoby @Jean-Jr-HenryFlag
BERSERKER
I'm not going to go on a whitewash route but come on, Hollywood needs to learn that not everbody is a racist. This is the same move that happened with The Forbidden Kingdom, i don't know about everybody but i went to the movie to see Jackie Chan & Jet Li not Michael Angarano. And @ejk1, god only knows what they are going to do with BLEACH. They can't even make a decent Dragonball movie, let alone a BLEACH movie Oh man now i'm thinking about what will happened to Devil May Cry, which could be such a awesome movie ;(.
2 years agoby @Number1WolverineFlag
Jay.A.Ottley
www.pleaseshootmenow.com
2 years agoby @jayaottleyFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
Sheesh, Harry Potter had all their Brits, why can't these other works have the same feel? We enjoy watching foreign film like Shaolin and IP Man. Add some english language and we have an adaptation true to the story but noooooooooooooooo, we can't tolerate watching our favorite stories and series live with the same ethnicity. The hell do they know what we want to see? Why not release a survey?
2 years agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
CUPID
@summit10 Exactly!
2 years agoby @cupidFlag
Summit10
@cupid: thats true, nobody cares in Hollywood as long as they make money and ruin the originals !
2 years agoby @summit10Flag
CUPID
@summit10 like that's ever gonna happen.
2 years agoby @cupidFlag
Summit10
get people from the Japanese Creators of the film and manga to Supervise this film! Also, get Japanese talent as out of respect!
2 years agoby @summit10Flag
Summit10
@daveactor7: nice one :)
2 years agoby @summit10Flag
CUPID
I have no faith in this movie being any good.
2 years agoby @cupidFlag
Diaigma
I learned my lesson. I'm not entering the debate. Let's just say I'm glad Leo isn't the lead now :P
2 years agoby @diaigmaFlag
Daveactor7
Akira=Tron 2? lol jking
2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag
Newtron
@ejk1 and @christina-montana: Agree with you both, I do. You both expressed my sentiments exactly. It just sounds like Hollywood is trying to Americanize everything, which takes away from the appeal of it all. New Manhattan? Give me a break. I love Gary Oldman, but he just wouldn't work for this film. But yeah, I can only say so much because you guys pretty much said it all.
2 years agoby @newtronFlag
skywise
I will be amazed if they can pull this off and still maintain the heart and soul of the brilliant animated feature. Akira was the movie that made me take notice of Japanese animation so it holds a special place in my heart. I really hope they are able to get this done. Its such a deep and multi-layered story.
2 years agoby @skywiseFlag
ejk1
@christina-montana Exactly. Like I opined about possible other anime to live action films, too many changes (setting, character ethnicity, etc.) take away the essence of the original product. WB has the rights to the popular manga/anime Bleach. Will they change the setting from Japan to America? Will they change the ethnicity of Ichigo Kurasaki, the main character, to that of a white person? Will they change the character's name? And if they do, will it still be Bleach? The answer is no, and if applied to many other anime/manga projects in development, the answer would probably be the same.
2 years agoby @ejk1Flag
felipe-11
@newtron It was in Neo-Tokyo, and honestly seeing a live-action version of Neo-Tokyo was what I was looking forward to the most.
I think Garrett is a good choice for Kaneda, but the New York setting totally sucks, it completely takes away the cyber-punk element of the film. I'm really getting bored of NY in movies...
2 years agoby @felipe-11Flag
ChristinaM15
They're definitely Westernizing it, mainly based on changing Neo Tokyo to New Manhattan....however... if they change the names...it kinda stops it from being Akira a bit.
2 years agoby @christina-montanaFlag
ejk1
@newtron It was called Neo Tokyo in the manga and animated film. Is the character still going to be called Kaneda? Will Tetsuo be cast as a white guy? I really "love" the fact that two English acting talents are being offered the parts for characters named Colonel Shikishima and Lady Miyako, respectively. I mean, just for the sake of not going the total whitewash route, can't you offer some parts to asian talents. Would it be SOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad to give these roles to oh, let's say, Ken Watanabe (an actual Japanese actor) and perhaps Michelle Yeoh as Lady Miyako (yeah I know, Yeoh is Chinese, but I don't know of any Japanese actresses with crossover appeal).
2 years agoby @ejk1Flag
Newtron
This sounds interesting. But once again, Hollywood is making the mistake of casting/attempting to cast actors that don't fit the look. And I'm sure it wasn't called New Manhattan in the film/manga. It's been a while since I've seen it, so anyone, feel free to remind me (respectfully, of course).
2 years agoby @newtronFlag
MovieWiz001
huh, there is a comparison... but still needs some Japanese folks.
2 years agoby @moviewiz001Flag
m2
And it happend.
2 years agoby @m2Flag