Taika Waititi Says He Isn't Sure If He'll Direct AKIRA Anymore and Clarifies STAR WARS Movie Rumors
Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waititi has been attached to direct an adaptation of the classic manga/anime Akira for years. He’s the director that everyone has been excited about seeing bring the story to life as a live-action film because he is the one that has the right vision for it!
When previously talking about how he is looking to handle the film, Waititi said:
“What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’ A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.”
Well, the filmmaker has offered an update on the film project, and he’s not sure at this point if he will end up directing it, which makes me sad. While talking to Variety, he said:
“The whole thing went on hold. We had to keep pushing the dates, and it encroached on the Thor dates, which were immovable. So Akira ended up shifting two years down the track … Post-Thor. So I’m not sure if even in two years I’d be — I don’t know what I’m doing in f—ing two days … I think eventually it will happen. I’m just not sure if I’ll be doing it.”
I hope that everything works out to where he’ll be able to do it, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. There have also been rumors regarding Waititi being courted by Disney to helm a Star Wars film. A lot of fans would love to see this happen, and Waititi would love to do it if it was the right project for him. He went on to explain:
“I wish there was a better story, I’ll put it that way. Are there discussions about the Star Wars film? Like, yeah, I discussed with my friends in 1996 how cool Star Wars was. That’s what they’re going off … I think people see me hanging out with people, especially with Star Wars, and think I’m having some big discussions about it. I would f—ing love to … If it was right. I would want to do any kind of movie if it made sense, and if it felt not like career suicide.”
So, as of right now, the only film projects that Waititi is 100% sure about are his soccer film Next Goal Wins and Thor: Love and Thunder, which he’s currently developing. After that, who knows what he’s going to do. While I would love to see him make an Akira and a Star Wars movie, I would also love to see him keep making those original passion projects.