'Akira' News: Live Action Adaptation Encounters Another Hitch
Fans may need to wait longer before they will see the live action adaptation of the anime classic "Akira."
The film's director Jaume Collet-Serra told Collider that production has not made any significant progress and that he wanted to go "on vacation" after he finishes the two films he is currently working on. He was supposed to start working on "Akira" in early 2014.
According to another report in Forbes, Collet-Serra was not answering questions about the film and instead were directing them to the film's rights owners, Warner Brothers. The studio has not given any official word about the film's progress.
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The film's production is not without its share of controversies and delays. Warner Brothers picked up the rights to make the live action adaptation in 2002. Since then, numerous directors, writers and actors have been tossed around as rumored to be either directing, writing or taking the leading roles. Collet-Serra was the fourth director who was approached by Warner to direct. This was after Albert Hughes who was supposed to direct with Allen Hughes, left because of "creative differences."
In terms of casting, the film also encountered some problems. Since the film's main characters are Japanese, and is set in futuristic Tokyo, some critics questioned the casting of Caucasian actors in the film. Several casting calls were made. The most solid casting rumors were Garrett Hedlund as Kaneda, Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Miyako, and Ken Watanabe as the Colonel. Kristen Stewart was supposedly offered to play the role of Kei.
In 2012, Warner Brothers stalled the project because they needed to rethink the budget for the film. According to a Forbes report, it already received "a considerable amount of fan based backlash, so investing in a big budget film would have been risky."
"Akira" is a 1988 Japanese "epic anime science fiction thriller film" based on a manga by the same title. It is considered by many critics as "a landmark anime film, one that influenced much of the art in the anime world that followed its release with many illustrators in the manga industry citing the film as an important influence," according to Wikipedia.
