As we're sure you already know, Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. A beloved and iconic classic, talks of a live-action adaption have persisted for years but never really gone anywhere.
Attempts were first made by Sony Pictures in the 1990s, and Warner Bros. has been trying to get something, anything, off the ground since the early 2000s. Filmmakers Stephen Norrington (Blade), Ruairi Robinson (The Last Days on Mars), Albert and Allen Hughes (The Book of Eli), and Jaume Collet-Serra (Black Adam) have all been attached at some point, as has Taika Waititi.
The Thor: Ragnarok director seemingly came close to making Akira after he was attached to the project in 2019 with a planned 2021 release date. Alas, it fell by the wayside during the pandemic (he's since focused on the MCU and Star Wars).
Among the names attached to Akira over the years has been Get Out and Nope director Jordan Peele. However, the filmmaker has now revealed why he rejected Warner Bros.' offer to take the helm of a movie he'd once dreamed of stepping behind the camera to bring to life on screen.
"It’s a project I’m so passionate about. I’m glad I didn’t do it because I feel like...staying away from that, trying to interpret that IP just set me on the path to create something new," he tells Happy Sad Confused's Josh Horowitz (via AnimeMojo.com).
"But I want to see Neo-Tokyo. I want to see an all-Japanese cast. I want to feel immersed in the world, the way of the films in the manga."
Despite not taking the helm of Akira, Peele did pay homage to the movie in Nope when Keke Palmer's character brought a motorcycle to a sliding stop Kaneda-style.
For the time being, we're no closer to seeing this movie become a reality and, as far as we're aware, no one is currently attached to the project. Multiple Akira screenplays are probably sitting in Warner Bros.' headquarters, but there must be a reason they weren't made!