Garrett Hedlund Offered Lead Role in AKIRA
A couple weeks ago Warner Bros. officially gave the live-action film adaptation of Akira the green light. It was also revealed at the same time that Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund was at the top of the studios list to take on the role of Kaneda. Today Twitch is reporting that the studio has officially offered Hedlund the part, and now they are waiting to see if he takes the offer or not. So official negotiations have begun.
I liked Hedlund in Tron: Legacy, I think the guy is a decently solid actor who I'm sure will give a great performance. As for the look of the character, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they have planned. Of course it's a much better choice than Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves, who were rumored to be up for the role at one point during the film long road to production.
The story is set in New Manhattan and the story basically follows the leader of a biker gang in New Manhattan, who’s friend gets jacked up from a government medical experiment, in which he receives destructive psychokinetic abilities. There are more details about the movie being made below from a draft of the script. The most recent draft was written by Steve Kloves. There’s a big chance that they wont be able to fully capture the epic awesomeness of Katsuhiro Otomo's story, but it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
Leonardo DiCaprio is producing the film with Andrew Lazar. Otomo, who wrote and directed the 1988 Japanese anime movie classic will be an executive producer on the project.
What are your thoughts on Hedlund possibly taking on the role of Kaneda in Akira?