Live-Action AKIRA Movie is Dead… For Now
Comments(15)
- By Venkman
Yesterday I went out and bought the classic anime film ‘Akira’ on blu-ray, and it sure looks great! As you may or may not know a live-action film has been prepping up for production for about a year and a half now. Leonardo Dicaprio was going to produce the film through his Appian Way production company and Warner Bros. They planned on it being a two part film.
I was really looking forward to this movie! I wanted it to happen because I was interested in how they would get it to work story wise and visually. There are a lot of people out there that wished they would leave it alone, and I respect how those people feel. Curiosity is just getting the better of me.
But, there is no need to worry about it anymore, for now anyway. First time director Ruairi Robinson has left the project and according to bloody-disgusting the live-action film is ‘dead as a doornail’. This is a report they have confirmed with two different sources, so it seems like pretty solid intel.
My question is, why in the hell would a first time feature director walk off the film project of a life-time!? That just doesn’t compute with me unless he found something better, or he just got cold feet because, or perhaps the pressure was too much. I can only speculate.
Before robinson got this gig he made two short films. One of them was nominated for best animated short at the Oscars. That film was called ‘fifty Percent grey’. The other short film he wrote and diected was called ‘The Silent City’. Both of these films were sci-fi. If your interested in what these movies were like, I have embeded them below. Not that it matters now because the guy isn’t directing Akira anymore.
I hope the project isn’t as dead as we are hearing. I hope it gets revived. Because I really would like to see what this movie would look like live-action style.
So what do you think? Are you glad or sad that the ‘Akira’ live-action film has been shut down?
Fifty Percent Grey
The Silent City
Source: Bloody-Disgusting
I'm extremely happy the movie has been terminated. It's a shame that Hollywood is adapting Japanese manga into movies. Just let the Japanese do that.
Maybe he walked off of the project because he knew the final product wouldn't be as good as the original in spite of his directing skills…
You could be right. Still, How hard would it be to leave your first major film project because the script sucked and he didn't want to have anything to do with ruining the story. If he did do that, I give mad props.
I'm disappointed. With Leo DiCarpio and Joseph Gordon Levitt in the starring roles, I thought it was going to be a really quality movie, plus they were talking about making it more faithful to the manga than the animated film was. This is one of those few times where I think America should adapt this movie, because Japan just doesn't have the budget to bring a live-action Akira to life, and the animated film left SO MUCH out. So I hope they get this ball back rolling with some quality talent.
I recall that the Joesph Gordon Levitt thing was a rumor and the DiCaprio was only going to produce it, not star in it.
You recall correctly.
I am not saddened to read about this at all. No way Hollywood would give this the treatment it deserved.
I actually disagree, I mean in most cases I would be behind you on this. But Leonardo Dicaprio has proved himself to be an amazing actor as of late with films such as Gangs Of New York and THe Departed. So I would have loved to see him acting as the lead role of Kaneda, and producing the film.
Hope this movie survives.
It just absolutely did NOT need to be made. I for one am extremely glad it got canceled.
The Anime is perfection…why mess with that
I'm content that it failed.
Even the anime failed to properly adapt the manga. And I love the anime.
Thank God it was shut down. dont ruin a good thing, If they had american actors protray it that would have been bad very bad.
It was a manga first, it pemierd in 1982 and finished in 1990, in Young Magazine.
in fact the manga fills in a lot of gaps and explaines a lot more i would suggest reading it.
i dont know about live-action AKIRA. that masterpiece is one of my biggest inspirations, for i am an artist. what i'd rather see is OTOMO do a mini-series based on the manga. anime would be prefered. expand that ish in full force! get the ENTIRE story out there. not the condensed movie story. oomph!
ps: does the bluray have the original english dub? i rather listen to that than their redo. ugh!
also: AKIRA doesnt need to be AMERICANIZED! if so, are you going to call it TIMOTHY? or something "north american"!? lame! AKIRA belongs in neo-tokyo with a japanese cast.
Good! I don't understand how you could try and "remake" the Citizen Kane of anime. It is the height of the medium so far. It is a cultural touchstone that simply cannot be remade. There is no point, no purpose behind such an attempt. Leave this classic be.