Source: THR
Don't stone me for saying this but the talent assembling for Akira is shaping up to be something pretty grand. THR reports that Warner Bros.' adaption of the beloved Japanese anime Akira has narrowed it's search down to two for the role of Tetsuo. In many ways, Tetsuo is the most important role in the movie and could potentially make or break the film. Looking to take on that pressure are actors Ezra Miller (bottom left) and Alden Eherenreich. Variety's Jeff Sneider is reporting that Ezra Miller is the one to put your money on. Many film critics are starting to generate Oscar buzz for Miller for his portrayal of the titular character in We Need To Talk About Kevin. He will next be seen opposite Logan Lerman and Emma Watson in the “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
Both actors will read for the role next Tuesday so we could hear something as soon as next week.
Lets see, that's:
-Appian Way's
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson producing
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Katsuhiro Otomo, the manga author and anime director serving as Executive Producer
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Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown and Orphan) directing
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Steve Kloves, screenwriter for Harry Potter franchise and The Amazing Spider-Man wrote the latest draft
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Garrett Hedlund is in talks to portray Kaneda,
Helena Bonham Carter was offered the role of Lady Miyako,
Keira Knightley has been approached for the role of Kei and
Gary Oldman the same for The Colonel.
Yeah, I'd say this is Warner Bros. next tentpole, Dragonball and Chun-Li this is not. Approach this one with an open mind fans, the studio appears to be taking this one seriously.
Akira (アキラ?, stylized as AKIRA) is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira.
The film depicts a dystopian Neo-Tokyo in 2019. The plot focuses on biker Tetsuo Shima (Nozomu Sasaki) and his psychic powers and the biker gang member Shotaro Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata), who tries to hunt down Tetsuo from releasing Akira. While most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original 2182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga. The film became a hugely popular cult film and is widely considered to be a landmark in Japanese animation and film making in general.