Taika Waititi Confirms He's in Talks To Director AKIRA and Says He Will Cast Asian Teenagers in Lead Roles

A few weeks ago it was reported that Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi said in talks to direct the live-action adaptation of Akira. After seeing Thor: Ragnarok, I would love to see this happen. I think Waititi would do an amazing job bringing the film to life.

During an interview with IGN, the director confirmed that he is in talks to direct the film and he talks about how his film would be an adaptation of the books and not a remake of the classic anime film. When asked about his involvement with the film, he said:

“I am – that was more or less a rumor. There was, I mean, I was in talks to do that, for sure, and something that I was very passionate about – am passionate about…I actually love the books. Love the movie, but I would not do a remake of the movie. I would do an adaptation of the books…And, yeah, so anyway there’s been some chats [about him directing it].”

It's still too early to tell if Waititi is going to end up directing the film, but if he does, I'm confident that he'll give fans a film that they will love. As you know, there's a big whitewashing controversy in Hollywood about cast white actors in the roles of Asian characters. You won't have this problem with Waititi because if he ends up getting the gig, he says that he will cast Asian teens in the lead roles.

"Asian teenagers would be the way to do it for me and probably no, not, like no name, I mean sort of unfound, untapped talent. Yeah, I’d probably want to take it a bit back more towards the books.”

After learning a little bit about what Taika Waititi is looking to do with the live-action Akira film, do you think you'd like to see him do it? 

Akira has been in and out of development for years with multiple writers and directors being attached to it over time. Maybe Waititi is the right man for the job.