Akira has been picking up steam recently with Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter being offered major roles.
According to Variety and Collider, WB has green-lit the project and shooting will commence in Spring 2012. WB acquired the anime cult hit way back in 2008 for a seven-figure sum but the project stalled due to budget issues.
Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra is attached to direct. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way and Mad Chance's Andrew Lazar are attached as producers. Katsuhiro Otomo, who wrote and directed the 1988 Japanese anime cult hit, will be the executive producer of the project.
The project is budgeted at $90 million and WB will begin discussion with stars to play the two male leads. According to Variety, Garrett Hedlund of Tron: Legacy is considered a front-runner. As for other roles, Twitch says that Gary Oldman has been offered the role of Colonel while Helena Bonham-Carter has been offered Lady Miyako.
For those unfamiliar with Akira, the cyberpunk sci-fi anime is credited with influencing much of the art and development in the anime world that followed its release.
The story takes place in the future and follows the leader of a biker gang who must save his friend from his own destructive psychokinetic abilities while avoiding the government from conducting medical experiments on him.
Pick up a copy of the anime if you get a chance, it's worth revisiting.
Comments