In the interview, Lazar covers a lot of movie ground, mainly focusing on Jonah Hex which hist theaters this week. But since the reviews for that movie are already coming in, and they are less than glowing! The main part of the interview that caught my attention was a short update on the long time coming live action adaptation of <>, arguably the most popular Manga/Anime there is.
Lazar says..
..they just hired a new writer and they’re conceptualizing it right now. Lots of pre-production right now. He also says WB management loves the property and the studio is very enthusiastic about the project. Confirms the first movie would be volumes 1-3 and a second movie would be 4-6
This movie has gone through rewrites, studio changes, director switches, outright cancellation..many people thought it would never see the light of day..and many people were also glad of it! The latest script(which may be retooled now) saw the action shift from Neo Tokyo to New Manhattan, and would undoubtedly have been cast with American actors(I doubt that will change anyway). Last casting rumors saw Leonardo DeCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt put forward for the roles of Kaneda and Tesuo, but all has been quite on that front since.
As a huge fan of
Akira I obviously have my doubts as to how a big Hollywood studio will handle it, but at the same time I'm glad that it is at least still being made. There is always a chance that despite the changes, it will keep the fans happy, and even if it doesn't, well, we always have the comics and the Anime! Which, lets not forget, despite being directed by the creator of the Manga, Katishiro Otomo, still took plenty of liberties with the story and characters itself. With such an ambitious undertaking its a necessary evil.
Here is the full video interview. Its worth checking out for some extra Jonah Hex tid bits.
Producer Andrew Lazar Interview JONAH HEX; Plus Updates on AKIRA, GET SMART 2, ONE FINGER SALUTE, More from ColliderVideos on Vimeo.
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KANEDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!