Once again, I’m sure this bit of news will cause many otakus’ heads to explode. I expect the beige walls of the communal parlor that is the internet to be absolutely coated with blood, bones and brains. See, the latest draft of the American AKIRA adaptation has apparently so impressed Warner Bros that they’ve sent the script out to a thick slice of the Hollywood leading man cake with the hope to start shooting the flick in August.
According to Deadline, the short lists break down thusly…
- Tetsuo: Robert “Emo Vampire” Pattinson, Andrew “Facebook Spidey” Garfield and James “Killer Prof. X” McAvoy.
- Kaneda: Michael “Spartan Magneto” Fassbender, Chris “Kirk on a Train” Pine, Garret “Son of Tron” Hedlund, Joaquin “Joaquin Phoenix” Phoenix and Justin “Sexy Back” Timberlake.
Sorry for all the allusions to other roles above. As somebody who writes about all these areas of interest, I just… can’t… help… myself…
You can bet our Kawazaki and your laser rifle that the names will eventually be changed to fit the “New Manhatten” setting. Considering how some of these actors seriously pushing the old “adults playing credible teens” conceit, I get the sense that characters’ ages are being re-considered, as well.
Who would the highly discriminating lunatics of the Anime Vice community pick?
From what I can tell, they are looking for talented actors. This is not a bad thing people.
Agreed.
The thing is, people who know what makes anime what it is need to be involved in the process. I think, as I do with any book, game, or show that is turned into a live-action movie, the writer/creator should be in charge of the script and have a heavy hand in direction.
@sickVisionz:
Getting actors who can play the roles is obviously important and I agree. I was moreso meaning as I just don't see those listed to be suiting for the characters. I understand that US live-action versions will have white actors but the whole 'changing to Neo-Manhattan and changing ages' seems like going way overboard in straying from the source material.
@Nightwolf:
In the case of elephant in the room known as Dragonball Evolution, I still believe that I could have made the movie at least 10x better (in terms of quality and revenue) with twice the budget.
... especially a movie with talented directors attached and are looking for quality actors to fill the roles. In the anime world quality actors and directors seem to throw up a red flag that a movie will be bad, but back in the real world it has the opposite meaning.
Whoa whoa whoa. DiCaprio did an awesome job in Gangs of New York and The Departed. I just didn't really care about Romeo & Juliet to begin with. You guys are saying then that Leo is a bad actor and since he was one of the first people named as possibly being in Akira that he has moreso doomed it?
In other news, IMDB says that Akira will be a 2-part live-action and part 1 is currently slated for 2013.
I wasn't going to see this movie anyway! I don't care if they use big names or no names. Is the movie a remake of the movie or a mix of Manga & Movie. Akira is a long book.
Did Japan ever do a live-action Akira? or something like it? Live how Versus reminds me of Devil May Cry.
Americanized versions of foreign films are usually terrible, and I'm no anti-American culture, but I am anti-corporate greed, not being able to come up with original ideas and destroying established ones. Hollywood sucks.