Bloody Disgusting, who confirmed that Effron has indeed been offered the role of Shotaro Kaneda(reportedly changed to Kaneda Shim) in the upcoming adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's much loved Manga/Anime, have now heard that Morgan Freeman may be up for the part of The Colonel.
In the original Manga, The Colonel was the brave but ruthless Government man in charge of the experiments on the psychokinetic Espers, and later Tetsuo. The Colonel shifted between antagonist and protagonist, depending on where your sympathies lay really. But he was a great character, and a very important part of the story. Obviously in the original he was a Japanese dude. But I think Freeman is a good choice for this Americanized version. Freeman is no stranger to CBMs either, having appeared in
Red,
Wanted and of course Chris Nolan's
Batman movies. If he takes this part I wonder if he will sport the Mohawk? Anyway, whether Freeman is cast or not, it at least looks as if this adap is finally gathering momentum and will actually happen after years in development Hell. But I'm sure many will be split on whether that's a good or a bad thing!