"Book of Eli" directors Albert and Allen Hughes are picking up a different book for their next movie collaboration — none other than "Akira," the adaptation of the popular manga series.
According to New York Magazine, Warner Bros. is currently negotiating a deal with the Hughes brothers to direct the live-action adaptation of "Akira," which comes from a script by "Iron Man" writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby. Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way is producing.
"Akira," written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo, takes place in the post-apocalyptic city of Neo-Tokyo and focuses on a biker gang led by the charismatic Kaneda. His best friend is Tetsuo, a man that develops psychic abilities and rapidly loses hold of his sanity. As Tetsuo's powers grow deadlier and deadlier, Kaneda is forced to face the reality that he must put a stop to his closest friend, even if that means killing him. Read more...
"Iron Man" screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby inherited the live-action "Akira" film at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company that might or might not feature Joseph Gordon-Levitt this year, but the previous writer on the project, Gary Whitta, worked on a preliminary script and the amount of story he tackled may surprise a few anime fans. He not only stretched his script beyond the scope of the previous animated "Akira" move — he pulled from the entire six-volume manga series.
"The version I worked on was about going back to the source and doing the manga version," said Whitta at a press event (via SuperHeroHype). "We were going to adapt the whole six-episode graphic novel." Read more...
We all thought the live-action “Akira” movie was dead and buried, but we were wrong.
According to Collider, the update on Katsuhiro Otomo’s popular anime (based on his graphic novel) is still breathing, though it’s not exactly up and walking around just yet.
Warner Bros. has kept the project in development and is about to receive a new script from Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, whose joint credits include “Children of Men,” “Iron Man” and the upcoming “Cowboys & Aliens” (which recently added director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr.). Read more...
Though recent rumors have sounded the death-knell for Warner Bros’ live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s seminal manga, “Akira,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn’t ready to say die.
“You never know,” said the “500 Days of Summer” star with a coy smile when asked if the project was truly dead. Though not quite a confirmation of anything, it’s a far-cry from his comments last year which didn’t acknowledge any connection to the project whatsoever. Read more...
What do "Batman," "Superman," "Akira," "Hellboy," "The Hulk," "Iron Man," "The Punisher," "Spider-Man," "The Spirit," "Dragonball," "Wanted," "Transformers," "X-Men" and "Watchmen" all have in common? Easy!
It's no secret that the comic-to-movie translation can be hit or miss. On one hand, you have someone like the Punisher — one of the most intense, complex and dark characters ever created in the comic book universe — so you would have thought his story and swagger alone would be enough to make a great action movie with maybe even a good sequel. Apparently not! The movie studios messed up that franchise not once ... not twice ... but three times (once with Dolph Lundgren, then Thomas Jane and most recently with some guy called Ray Stevenson).
But then, on the other hand, we all know the $1 billion story of "The Dark Knight," not to mention "Iron Man," which totally revived Robert Downey Jr.'s career.
Read more...
Tags akira, batman, captain america, christian bale, dragonball, hellboy, iron man, robert downey jr, samuel l jackson, spider-man, superman, the avengers, the dark knight, the hulk, the punisher, the spirit, thor, transformers, wanted, watchmen, x-men
While most of Hollywood seems to be focusing on comics made stateside -- with even French publishers getting some attention lately -- Leonardo DiCaprio has clearly set his sights on Asia.
Already reported here on Splash Page, DiCaprio's Appian Way production company has been picking up classic heavy-hitters from the world of Japanese manga and anime -- most notably "Akira" and "Ninja Scroll" -- to develop into live-action feature films. While the news of "Ninja Scroll" is still fresh on the blogs, "Akira" has already made some moves in Hollywood, being picked up by Warner Bros., scooping up Gary Whitta to write the script, and there's even rumors that Joseph Gordon Levitt will play the role of Tetsuo.
"We’re waiting for the final draft of the script [for 'Akira']," DiCaprio told MTV. "I’m a big fan of Japanese anime -- that and another project called 'Ninja Scroll' we’re trying to get developed and made into a movie, and I know there a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we’re going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we’re not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape." Read more...
It's been quite some time since we've heard anything from the live-action "Akira" movie front, ever since it was initially announced earlier this year that Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company snagged the license to bring the manga-turned-anime classic to the big screen. So at this year's Toronto Film Festival, MTV managed to catch up with actor Joseph Gordon Levitt, who's rumored to play the role of Tetsuo.
When asked about the rumor, Levitt responded, "That just goes to show what you can believe about what people write about movies. I love the movie 'Akira.' I still have yet to read the manga, but that's really just a rumor. They don't have a script or anything."
So while Levitt doesn't necessarily say he's not attached, it looks as though fans of what is arguably "The Godfather" of modern manga/anime properties will have to wait a bit longer before any official word comes out.
Anyone looking forward to a live-action "Akira" film? Or do you think the manga/anime are the end-all-be-all for the Japanese classic? Sound off in the comments!