Morgan Freeman to play the Colonel Shikishima in AKIRA?

Last week we got the unfortunate news that Zac Efron (High School Musical) was in talks to take on the lead role of Shotaro Kanedain in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Akira. Today we've learned that Morgan Freeman might end up playing Colonel Shikishima in the film, being directed by Albert Hughes.

Now that's some decent casting. But if Efron is cast in the film as the lead character, that will pretty much cancel everything else out. In my opinion Efron has yet to prove he can act.

There are obviously some major movements on this project right now, and it's looking like we'll get some official confirmation on the casting of this film in the near future. Lets just hope the whole Efron and PG-13 thing ends up being false. 

What do you all think about Freeman possibly being cast as Colonel Shikishima in the film?

Previously...

The film project is currently set up at Warner Bros. through Leonardo DiCaprio's Apian Way production company.  Albert Hughes of the Hughes Bros. is attached to direct the movie, which I thought was a bad idea in the first place. I don't think he's got what it takes to make a great Akira movie. 

The last we heard, Albert Tores (Henry Poole is Here) was hired to re-write the script, and Hughes revealed the unsettling news that they were looking to develop a PG-13 version of the story, which is just wrong on so many levels. This is a hard 'R' film for cryin'-out-loud! It was also noted that Hughes was "conceptualizing the movie with a bunch of visual artists,"and that he may end up only directing the first of two planned films. (One adapting the first three manga volumes, and the second, volumes four through six.)