DiCaprio Bringing Akira To Life

[Forkboy]

Leonardo DiCaprio is teaming up with Warner Brothers to produce a live-action film based on the Japanese manga and anime film Akira, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ruairi Robinson has been hired to direct what would ideally be a two-part epic. The film would mark the first full-length feature for Robinson, whose animated SF comedy short Fifty Percent Grey was nominated for an Oscar. Gary Whitta is writing the adaptation, which DiCaprio will produce through his production company, Appian Way.

Akira originated in 1988 as a manga and then as an animated film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. The story was set in a neon-lit futuristic post-nuclear-war "New Tokyo" in 2019, where a teen biker-gang member is subjected to a government experiment which unleashes his latent powers. The gang's leader must find a way to stop the ensuing swath of destruction.

Akira has long been in development at the company, with producers Jon Peters and Basil Iwanyk involved at various times, as well as directors Stephen Norrington and Pitof. The rights lapsed but Warner managed to acquire them again for Robinson, who came to the studio with a vision of a two-part adaptation.

The new story moves the action to "New Manhattan," a city rebuilt by the Japanese. The studio is eyeing a summer 2009 release for the first movie.

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/news/sfw_news_20080225.html

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

1. Another truly epic

graphic novel about to be brought to its knees by a star-studded cinematic whoring. The least they could do is produce it without the obligatory "big-name" actor (a successful tactic in such films as 300, Star Wars: A New Hope, etc., and the best they could do is to bring in Otomo himself for production design.

For those who have not yet seen Akira: I recommend the original English-dubbed or Japanese with subtitles--the more recent release, all remastered, features some of the worst English voice-acting I've ever heard.