Taika Waititi is Still Working on AKIRA and Says He's Not Remaking The Anime Film

It’s been a while since we heard about the live-action adaptation of Akira that Warner Brothers has been working on for a while. Last we heard, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi was directing the film, and that still seems to be the case. According to CBM, Waititi was recently interviewed by Dazed and he gave the tiniest of updates:

“I haven’t really started to get my head around it yet. What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’ A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.”

So, it’s good to know that he’s still working on it. Hopefully, the next time we hear about it, there will be a bit more to it. In the past, Waititi has said that he wants to cast Asian teenagers. This would help him avoid the whitewashing controversy that has befallen many recent adaptations such as Death Note and Ghost in the Shell. It could also bring to light some fantastic actors that could help break the cycle of the same 20 actors being used in every movie made. Are you excited for Waititi’s take on Akira?