Warner Bros. greenlights live-action Akira for 2012
According to Variety, the studio has finally made it official with a greenlight for a $90 million budget and an eye toward a late February/early March start date. The report confirms that Jaume Collett-Serra (Unknown) will direct...

The studio provides this synopsis for the Steve Kloves script: Set in New Manhattan, the cyberpunk sci-fi epic follows the leader of a biker gang who must save his friend, discovered with potentially destructive psychokinetic abilities, from government medical experiments.

Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) is a frontrunner for one of the leads (most likely Kaneda) while the shortlist of actors for Tetsuo is allegedly Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, James McAvoy.

Edit: Thanks to grrliz, we have news that it does in fact, get worse. Gary Oldman has been offered the role of The Colonel and Helena Bonham Carter has been offered the role of Lady Miyako.

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	grrliz 2011-10-20 02:12 pm UTC (link)
	A) Steve Kloves. B) Wasn't Leonardo DiCaprio supposed to be in this like five years ago? (Reply to this)

	scifantasy 2011-10-20 02:37 pm UTC (link)
	Strike 1: "New Manhattan." (The original being so heavily tied up in post-World War II Japan, especially the atomic bombings...) Strike 2: Whitewashing. I'm just waiting for Strike 3. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - gertie_flirty, 2011-10-22 01:35 am UTC

(no subject) - napalmnacey, 2011-10-22 07:18 am UTC

havocthecat 2011-10-20 03:27 pm UTC (link)

*sigh* Because there aren't, what, a thousand or so Japanese-American and Japanese actors who would kill for those parts? (Even if they feel like they have to set it in "New Manhattan" so that us dim American viewers can ~relate~ to it. Even if we've seen the anime and been just fine with it being set in someplace - gasp - not in the United States.) Just. Ugh, whatever, Hollywood. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - everstar, 2011-10-20 10:47 pm UTC

(no subject) - full_metal_ox, 2011-10-21 12:04 am UTC

(no subject) - havocthecat, 2011-10-21 09:53 pm UTC

(no subject) - full_metal_ox, 2011-10-23 11:35 pm UTC

	phosfate 2011-10-20 03:40 pm UTC (link)
	STOP IT WARNERS JUST STOP IT STOP IT. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - cmdr_zoom, 2011-10-20 05:40 pm UTC

	jaseroque 2011-10-20 03:49 pm UTC (link)
	Guh. (Reply to this)

	betaori 2011-10-20 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	Reactions from 2ch. Any translations of interesting opinions? (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - cmdr_zoom, 2011-10-20 05:46 pm UTC

(no subject) - inarticulate, 2011-10-20 06:23 pm UTC

(no subject) - the__ivorytower, 2011-10-20 06:52 pm UTC

	rubymellon 2011-10-20 06:13 pm UTC (link)
	Oh please don't do this James McAvoy. I hope he's like "um, I'm already playing a psychic guy in a comic adaptation" and walks away. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - napalmnacey, 2011-10-22 07:20 am UTC

	harrylovesron 2011-10-20 06:25 pm UTC (link)
	I thought the project had been dumped after all the outcry over the whitewashing- WHY ARE THEY DREDGING IT UP AGAIN (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - rosehiptea, 2011-10-20 08:16 pm UTC

	hallidae 2011-10-20 07:37 pm UTC (link)
	::hiss:: (Reply to this)

	skypirate 2011-10-20 08:37 pm UTC (link)
	... How could they possibly make that shortlist of actors for Tetsuo and not die of shame? Everything about this project stinks and the fact that it isn't dead after all is seriously depressing. :( (Reply to this)

	viralmemory 2011-10-20 08:38 pm UTC (link)
	NOOOOO! No. Seriously, who can I write to? Does WB have a complaints department? Just... D: (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - adevyish, 2011-10-21 07:21 am UTC

(no subject) - female_fanboy, 2011-10-21 07:02 pm UTC

(no subject) - adevyish, 2011-10-22 07:45 am UTC

(no subject) - cinnamonical, 2011-10-25 09:40 am UTC

(no subject) - full_metal_ox, 2011-10-23 11:37 pm UTC

	deliciouschaos 2011-10-20 09:22 pm UTC (link)
	why (Reply to this)

	sneer 2011-10-20 09:30 pm UTC (link)
	while the shortlist of actors for Tetsuo is allegedly Robert Pattinson, ಠ_ಠ (Reply to this)

	seiberwing 2011-10-20 09:33 pm UTC (link)
	I foresee the next The Last Airbender. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - kylenne, 2011-10-20 10:35 pm UTC

(no subject) - seiberwing, 2011-10-20 11:13 pm UTC

(no subject) - sandglass, 2011-10-21 01:45 am UTC

(no subject) - blue_penguin, 2011-10-21 06:20 am UTC

(no subject) - ekaterinv, 2011-10-21 06:57 am UTC

(no subject) - sandglass, 2011-10-21 07:05 am UTC

(no subject) - ekaterinv, 2011-10-21 07:09 am UTC

(no subject) - shadwing, 2011-10-21 07:36 pm UTC

(no subject) - the__ivorytower, 2011-10-21 08:07 pm UTC

(no subject) - full_metal_ox, 2011-10-21 10:25 pm UTC

(no subject) - sandglass, 2011-10-22 06:11 am UTC

(no subject) - dragonsong12, 2011-10-24 03:04 pm UTC

	laerwen 2011-10-20 09:43 pm UTC (link)
	This is STILL going forward? I thought I heard it was shut down! UGH. >:( (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - cmdr_zoom, 2011-10-20 09:59 pm UTC

	kumquat_of_doom 2011-10-20 10:35 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, for FUCK's sake, Hollywood! (Reply to this)

everstar 2011-10-20 10:45 pm UTC (link)

I'm so glad Hollywood is taking another iconic story and stripping it of everything that makes it, you know, iconic. I still think it would be a big boon if this were filmed in Japan. Build sets that could perhaps then be used in the building of housing for displaced people! Boost the local economy! CAST ACTUAL FUCKING JAPANESE PEOPLE IN A JAPANESE STORY! But what silliness am I spouting. Sigh. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - everstar, 2011-10-20 11:05 pm UTC

(no subject) - simplefaith, 2011-10-22 01:26 am UTC

	come_love_sleep 2011-10-20 10:47 pm UTC (link)
	*snarl* (Reply to this)

	floriatosca 2011-10-21 12:01 am UTC (link)
	Even if for some benighted reason they feel they have to set it in North America, what's with all the white actors? Is New Manhattan really post-apocalyptic Levittown? (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - ekaterinv, 2011-10-21 12:36 am UTC

	ekaterinv 2011-10-21 12:39 am UTC (link)
	My only comfort in this is that it'll bomb. Hollywood will learn nothing, and they'll go back to whining about video games taking "their" money. (Reply to this)

	sandglass 2011-10-21 01:41 am UTC (link)
	$90mill budget, but god forbid Hollywood actually spend money on movies have PoC as the protagonist, or are about women but aren't sexist, that would just lose them sooo much money! Why oh why do they do this? (Reply to this)

	bandit 2011-10-21 04:40 am UTC (link)
	You forgot the part where they're turning it into a metaphor for 9/11. Because that's the only disaster Americans can relate to. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - chikane, 2011-10-21 11:58 am UTC

(no subject) - deliciouschaos, 2011-10-21 04:25 pm UTC

(no subject) - seiberwing, 2011-10-21 07:12 pm UTC

(no subject) - rosehiptea, 2011-10-21 09:25 pm UTC

(no subject) - pulchritude, 2011-10-22 02:49 am UTC

(no subject) - ekaterinv, 2011-10-22 07:59 am UTC

(no subject) - full_metal_ox, 2011-10-21 10:28 pm UTC

	icon directed at Warner, so hard cinnamonical 2011-10-21 10:26 am UTC (link)
	I just. I can't even. WHY DO THEY THINK THIS WILL BE A GOOD IDEA. (Reply to this)

	I WILL MAKE THIS BETTER DAMNIT seiberwing 2011-10-21 07:11 pm UTC (link)
	First shot from the Phoenix Wright movie. Set in actual random-unnamed-Japanese-city with actual Japanese people. (Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: I WILL MAKE THIS BETTER DAMNIT - rosehiptea, 2011-10-21 09:26 pm UTC

Re: I WILL MAKE THIS BETTER DAMNIT - j_crew_guy, 2011-10-21 09:35 pm UTC

Re: I WILL MAKE THIS BETTER DAMNIT - rosehiptea, 2011-10-21 11:11 pm UTC

Re: I WILL MAKE THIS BETTER DAMNIT - adevyish, 2011-10-22 07:48 am UTC

	simplefaith 2011-10-22 01:20 am UTC (link)
	Y'know, I don't know a lot about Akira or the plot, but I do know that making it take place in "New Manhattan" doesn't excuse the whitewashing. Manhattan's pretty diverse. But I guess that would be "too PC" and heaven knows we can't have that! *eyeroll* (Reply to this)

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