Warner Bros’ live-action adaptation of Akira is not dead afterall. Collider has confirmed that screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are hard at work on the project.
Fergus and Ostby wrote earlier drafts of Children of Men and are credited with Iron Man. The screenplay is set in a post-apocalyptic “New Manhattan” and will feature Akira’s famous red motorcycle. The original Katsuhiro Otomo anime was set in a futuristic and post-war city, Neo-Tokyo, in 2019. The film has been in development by Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way for some time, and Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) had previously worked on the project.
Here is an excerpt from a previous posting by Russ Fischer:
No cast has ever publicly revealed to be attached. The involvement of Appian Way led many to suspect that DiCaprio would star as the teen biker Kaneda, despite being demonstrably too old for the part, but the actor publicly denied any involvement beyond producing duties. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was rumored to be in mind for Tetsuo, the friend of Kaneda whose psychic powers are awakened, setting of a cataclysmic chain of destructive events in Neo-Tokyo. He also denied any attachment.
Frankly, it’s difficult to see why Warner Brothers would move forward with the film(s) after Watchmen failed to become a breakout hit. Akira is similar in that it is highly conceptual with a complex character structure, a great deal of plot and backstory to communicate and, if done in properly detailed fashion, would be wildly expensive. Doing the film on anything less than a grand scale would be to miss the point. With an intricately detailed anime already in existence (and one which struggles to tell the story, even with the scope reduced from that of the manga, which had not completed publication when the film was made) why make a new feature that was forced to scale down?
In the wake of the WGA strike that ended in February ‘08, plans were once announced to fast-track the first film for release this summer. That obviously didn’t happen, in part because the script didn’t come together in time. Yet I’d held out an almost perverse hope that Appian Way could bring the project to fruition. I’m no great fan of the anime (despite its great visual splendor) but would have liked to see something as epic as a two-film Akira adaptation hit screens, in part because of how financially and artistically risky it would be.
Not a big deal. Blockbusters of this magnitude change writers a dozen or so times. Usually more.
I'm sure Whitta will take his paycheck, cry to the bank and probably working on something else by now.
Not a big deal. Blockbusters of this magnitude change writers a dozen or so times. Usually more.
I'm sure Whitta will take his paycheck, cry to the bank and probably working on something else by now.
Gary Whitta's SAILOR MOON. Starring Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, and Kathleen Turner.
He should write something up for Cowboy Bebop
Not a big deal. Blockbusters of this magnitude change writers a dozen or so times. Usually more.
Probably a big reason why most of them end up sucking more often than not.
[youtube=560,345]gmFAJPArhqM[/youtube]
:heartbeat
Whitta is an asshole. He used to bully around fansites back when he was the EIC of PC Gamer over distinguished mentally-challenged games like FORCE COMMANDER.
Sloppy seconds?
Wow, that was a pretty serious reply for someone who says he does not harbor any feelings.
This sounds more interesting than Gary Whitta (who no doubt got paid, all these guys do).
... so tell me, were you jealous when she dated Gary?
The change of writers doesn't make them suck, it's usually test screenings, studio mandates, etc.
A fansite would get leaked info on a game and if PC Gamer had it on the cover on an upcoming issue he would contact the site and demand the story be pulled. I personally saw it happen but since the EIC of the site in question is dead (and the site long shut down) Whitta can easily forget about it.
A fansite would get leaked info on a game and if PC Gamer had it on the cover on an upcoming issue he would contact the site and demand the story be pulled. I personally saw it happen but since the EIC of the site in question is dead (and the site long shut down) Whitta can easily forget about it.
In other words, the fansites would read PC Gamer, repost its stories, and then the editor-in-chief for Gamer would request the material be taken down?
It's happened before.
It doesn't make Gary Whitta a bad person. He was just an editor, protecting his magazine.
Another rumor which is making the tracking board rounds today is that Zac Efron has apparently been offered the lead role in Albert Hughes’ upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular anime/Katsuhiro Otomo‘s six-volume manga Akira. I’m not able to confirm the offer, but one source tells me Efron is in talks, while another says that it is “far from a done deal.”
Gary Whitta may be out, but Zac Efron is in!smhQuoteAnother rumor which is making the tracking board rounds today is that Zac Efron has apparently been offered the lead role in Albert Hughes’ upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular anime/Katsuhiro Otomo‘s six-volume manga Akira. I’m not able to confirm the offer, but one source tells me Efron is in talks, while another says that it is “far from a done deal.”
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/11/05/rumor-zac-efron-albert-hughes-akira/ (http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/11/05/rumor-zac-efron-albert-hughes-akira/)
:'(
TETSUOOOOOOOOOOKHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN
Is this still supposed to be a gritty, violent sci-fi flick, or did they add musical numbers?
WHATS THE POINT NOW?
Dunno anything about this thing outside of what I've seen in AMVs. Movie sounds cool, is the original cartoon cool?
do they all have downs syndrome?
do they all have downs syndrome?
...
do they all have downs syndrome?
...
You can't blame him, you're the one that fell for it.
So we know Efron gave wedgies to at least one person. Interesting.
Which clique was startselect in? The drama nerds. Which clique would Zac be in? The pretty people who took drama because it would be easy. Yeah I guess what would of happened.
story time
hahaha i get what he is saying. i am a nerd but i didnt hang out with the nerds in high school. i knew them but they werent my clique. they were too uppity and assholish, not to mention socially distinguished mentally-challenged.
What's the history with this forum being so obsessed with Mr. Whitta?
I seem to recall this isn't the first thread to mention him.