Toby Kebbell Awesomely Rants About the Live-Action AKIRA Movie
If Warner Bros. ever gets around to making a live-action Akira movie, I think we all know by now that it's not going to be the one the fans want to see. It's going to be the movie the studio THINKS the fans want to see.
As of right now, the director of the film, Jaume Collet-Serra, is working with the producers on writing the script and bringing the budget down even more before they commence production. I just hope they end up letting the project fade into obscurity unless they really want to make a film worth getting excited about.
Toby Kebbell is one of several actors up for the role of Tetsuo in the movie, in which Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) will be taking on the role of Kaneda. Kebbell gave a great and revealing interview with IFC in which he reveals what he thinks should be done with the project, basically revealing that he's a huge fan of the story, and that he's not happy with what the studio is planning.
They were like, 'This is going to be a big franchise!' So I said, 'Then in that case, understand that I've read the comics, and I've read the comics that got turned into the annuals, and then the annuals that got turned into the one-off anime. So if you really want to do it, then why don't you look at the six comics and just put two into each film?'
That way my character, Tetsuo, is not the lead. He's not the second lead, and he's not the third or the fourth lead, because there are eight major characters there. You've got great young actors, and you could get them in there. That's the way to do it if you want to do sequels.
He makes a hell of a great point! I wish he was the one making the movie now! He has a grasp of what this movie really needs. Of course we all know the studio isn't going to do that. He went on to rant about how the studio wanted to make Tetsuo and Kaneda brothers.
The other thing they wanted to do was make [Tetsuo and Kaneda] brothers. I was like, 'The point is that Tetsuo can't comprehend how someone who isn't his brother could love him so much — and that's where his wrath and his rage come from. Do you not see that? Why have you made them brothers? What the f*ck are you doing?'
Kebbell gets it! He understands this story, the characters and the world in which they reside. Good grief, they really need him to develop this movie! Unfortunately, if the movie is made we're just going to end up with a mediocre adaptation of the anime movie that misses the whole point of what the story represents.
What do you think about what Kebbell had to say about the Akira film?