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Rumor: Two Directors in the Running for Live-Action Akira Adaptation

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So if they're bound and determined to make this fucking thing, I'm pretty sure they have to

(have to!)

realize by now that there are two key components they need in place:

1) This needs to be set in Japan, and star Japanese/Japanese-American actors
2) This needs to be a trilogy.

If they can't figure out a way to do those two things, they need to not fucking do it.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
...Also, I just realized I never finished the manga, but finished about at around the stadium bit...I guess I have some catching up to do.
 
When is the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Hollywood adaptation coming?
Parts 1-3 could get away with mostly Western casts and still be accurate. Jotaro Kujo would need to be a Japanese actor, and you can even get away with having him speak English when around his friends and crew, since, apart from Kakyoin, they're not Japanese. Just explain that they speak in English since they're all from different parts of the world and need to work together. Jotaro would know English due to his mom and Kakyoin would know it because he's a good student at school or something.

I'd be more than ok with a Stardust Crusaders movie trilogy if they had a crew that understood the appeal of the series and kept it as weird and awesome as possible.

A even better option would be a Hollywood adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist. There's a Japanese live-action movie coming out and it's really weird to see a Japanese guy play Edward Elric.
 

entremet

Member
The original movie would not work much.

Plotting is actually a bit garbage. The original film is an audio visual feast, but leaves you wanting for more.

The manga fleshes things out a bit more. Obviously different mediums, but I found the movie confusing.
 

Fury451

Banned
So if they're bound and determined to make this fucking thing, I'm pretty sure they have to

(have to!)

realize by now that there are two key components they need in place:

1) This needs to be set in Japan, and star Japanese/Japanese-American actors
2) This needs to be a trilogy.

If they can't figure out a way to do those two things, they need to not fucking do it.

The closest they seemed to flirt with number 1 is by proposing a Japanese-controlled NYC but I haven't poured over all the proposed script snippets if they exist. As for the second part, lol Hollywood- you're going to get white people and like it.

As for number 2, it seems the idea of multiple films has been discussed, but it would be a disaster no doubt. It's not that making the whole series is an unfilmable concept per se, but it would be hard to really get it right and keep it interesting.
 
I would actually like to see an adaptation of the second half of the manga someday but I can't think of a director (including Otomo himself) that could do it justice.
 

berzeli

Banned
Yeah, um I'm not so sure about this. Their source is a youtube video with about 1000 views from a channel with 50000 subscribers.

David F Sandberg (without the F you end up with the Kung Fury guy) is already at work on his next project, which even the damn youtube video mentions.
Daniel Espinosa is also at work on another project.

They're both nice dudes (or rather I know Espinosa is and Sandberg is by reputation), but I don't see them doing this particular project (or at least not in the near future). A bit weird that the rumour is about two Swedish directors, but hey coincidences are neat.
 

HeatBoost

Member
What I don't get is why they keep making movies like this instead of say, making an adaptation of an anime where it would make sense to cast white people, like Rose of Versailles or Cyborg 009

Like, there's a Fullmetal Alchemist movie coming out in Japan with a Japanese cast, meanwhile Hollywood's probably gonna make an Akira movie with maybe two token Japanese people. Por que?
 

sonicmj1

Member
Know what would be fucking sick? Setting it in the States, but using an all-black cast in like, Neo Atlanta or something.

I agree. If they're going to transplant it culturally anyway, then they should actually leverage those cultural differences to say something interesting with the property. I don't think that's likely given how much trouble they're having getting this movie off the ground, but it's a much more interesting idea to me than Hollywood trying to strictly adapt something as culturally specific as Akira.
 

sphagnum

Banned
What I don't get is why they keep making movies like this instead of say, making an adaptation of an anime where it would make sense to cast white people, like Rose of Versailles or Cyborg 009

Like, there's a Fullmetal Alchemist movie coming out in Japan with a Japanese cast, meanwhile Hollywood's probably gonna make an Akira movie with maybe two token Japanese people. Por que?

Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Outlaw Star
Hellsing
Lupin III

It's not even that difficult to find applicable stuff!
 

Kusagari

Member
I'm really surprised actually we haven't seen movement on something like Bebop or Outlaw Star considering the success of Guardians.
 

Plum

Member
What I don't get is why they keep making movies like this instead of say, making an adaptation of an anime where it would make sense to cast white people, like Rose of Versailles or Cyborg 009

Like, there's a Fullmetal Alchemist movie coming out in Japan with a Japanese cast, meanwhile Hollywood's probably gonna make an Akira movie with maybe two token Japanese people. Por que?

Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Outlaw Star
Hellsing
Lupin III

It's not even that difficult to find applicable stuff!

There's also Attack on Titan which, alongside being wildy popular, pretty much explicitly says that all but one of the main characters are Germanic/White. An American AoT adaptation would actually change fewer character's races than the recent Japanese live-action adaptations did.
 

Skinpop

Member
to me chronicle is basically american akira. that's the level of original authorship and interpretation I would like to see hollywood embrace for all these projects. there simply is no way they can be faithful(even superficially) to the material and make a good movie, that's just not how any of this works.
 
I really hope this will have majority asians...there is no explain-away-the-white-washing with this one, unlike GitS. Still don't really accept for GitS but whatever. I'm tired of this trend.

EDIT: I agree with Chronicle kinda being the American Akira movie.

The only anime that can work in live action is Golden Boy.
FACTS!
 
I really hate the idea of taking animation masterpieces and making live action movies out of them. It's the animation that makes Akira so compelling and mesmerizing, not the story.
 

Mahonay

Banned
I really hope this will have majority asians...there is no explain-away-the-white-washing with this one, unlike GitS. Still don't really accept for GitS but whatever. I'm tired of this trend.

EDIT: I agree with Chronicle kinda being the American Akira movie.
I am a massive Ghost in the Shell fan, both the anime movie and series, and the severe white washing in the live action film has made me pretty much ignore it entirely. I just can't. I'll probably check it out from pure curiosity whenever it hits Netflix or HBO or whatever.

And yeah, Chronicle was already the American Akira.
I really hate the idea of taking animation masterpieces and making live action movies out of them. It's the animation that makes Akira so compelling and mesmerizing, not the story.
There's actually a lot of truth to this. Part of the reason both Ghost in the Shell and Akira were so entrancing was because of the stunning art and animation.
 
Tetsuo
Chris-Pratt-624x345.jpg


Kaneda
161129085646865.jpg


Kei
landscape-1450730783-upload-2.png

Shoot me kill me dead
 
i think akira is a very boring film. the animation is top notch and still holds up well even today but its plot and characters are suuuper boring. :| going live action makes it lose the one and only thing the movie has going for itself imo

2) This needs to be a trilogy.

split a single movie into 3? fucking hell


edit: oh hang on, akira was originally a manga? how does that compare to the animated movie? cause like i said, that movie is trash.
 

navii

My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
Are directors important to a movie? Cos I think people should be upset about the whitewashing of directors in something like Akira or GITS fims.
 
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