The Director of LIFE Is Up For the Live-Action AKIRA Movie Directing Gig
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything regarding Warner Bros. feature film adaptation of Akira. The last thing we heard was that they were looking at Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin to helm the film. It’s been over nine months since then, but the project isn’t dead.
With Ghost in the Shell being released soon, the studio is looking to get back into action on the project. According to a recent report from Jeff Sneider from Meet The Movie Press, sources close to the production have told him the studio is currently circling two directors. Those directors are Daniel Espinosa, who recently directed that fantastic sci-fi film Life, and David Sandberd, who is the director of the fun horror movie Lights Out.
He goes on to say that it’s more likely that the job will go to Espinosa, which I don't really have any issues with. I liked certain aspects of what he did with Life, and if he is able to get a solid story and script written, I think he could do something awesome with it.
WB has been trying to get this film off the ground for years, and over that time several writers and directors have been attached to it, including Stephen Norrington, Gary Whitta, Albert Hughes, Ruairi Robinson, and Jaume Collet-Serra.
I’m actually kind of bummed out that things didn’t work out with Lin, I think he would have been the perfect director to take it on. Espinosa seems like a decent choice, though, if WB decides to take it in that direction.
I’m a huge fan of the Akira anime, and I’d actually love to see it finally get a live-action adaptation. When the studio does decide to pull the trigger on it, though, they better have the right talent involved to make it happen because I don’t want the wrong people on board to screw it up.
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