Archive for the tag 'Akira'

Live Action Akira Greenlit

Penguin February 21st, 2008

Some of you may remember when I mused about a live action Akira. Well, it looks like two films have been greenlit. It’s rumored that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way will be producing and DiCaprio will play Kaneda. Joseph Gordon Levitt is set to play Tetsuo. And instead of being set in Neo-Tokyo, it’s going to be in Manhattan. Ruairi Robinson is set to direct.

Here are examples of Robinson’s work:

Silent City

50 Percent Grey

Well, it looks like my plans for an Akira trilogy are shot. I hope they do it justice.

Update: I’m actually really disappointed that they’re making this. I was looking forward to pouring my creative juices into an anime that I loved from my childhood. I used to watch Akira at least once a month during the summer. When the DVD came out, I was hesitant to watch it because I was so used to the English dub.

Now, I fear that they’re going to take it in a direction that’s good, but not good enough and my chances of making it will completely shot. If the films do well, then I’ll never get a chance. If the films do poorly, studios will be afraid to finance it. If I do get the chance, it’ll probably be 25-30 years down the line, as a remake.

I had actually wrestled with the idea of whether I should westernize the story or not. I had eventually decided that westernization would be a poor decision.

One of the major plot elements, especially from the manga, is the religious aspect. America is too Judeo-Christian for some of the Akira cults in the manga. This is not to say that they can’t work around it, but it would lose a lot of its flavor.

Another aspect is the use of Manhattan. I can kind of understand why they chose it. The city is iconic. But is it the right city for Akira? I don’t think so. I think LA would’ve been a better choice. The image of biker gangs roaming the highways and sprawl of LA just works. Amongst the skyscrapers in NYC, they just get lost.

I think what’s really getting me down is the loss of hope and possibility. There was potential as long a live action didn’t exist yet. Now? What’s the point. And that makes Penguin a sad panda.

- Penguin

Related posts

Tags: ,

Live Action Akira?

Penguin November 16th, 2007

I watched Kanye West’s video for “Stronger” and was struck by how much Akira imagery was in it. Several weeks ago, I had a dream (literally) that Akira was made into a live action movie. When I told Ninja, she scoffed at me, saying that it would be crazy. Of course, if I were to do it, I would write an adaptation based on the manga and not the anime.

If you’re familiar with Akira, you can skip this paragraph. Akira was a seminal work of anime. Even today, the visuals and story hold up, almost 20 years later. It’s about a teenage boy, Tetsuo, who gets telekinetic powers through government experimentation and what happens when he unleashes those powers on the city. The last 20 minutes or so involves Tetsuo losing control of his powers and begins to grow and expand. If you’ve seen the Trapperkeeper episode of South Park, that’s where the reference comes from.

It was this last scene that would be extremely difficult to shoot. CG has come far enough that it would be possible to render it, that’s not the issue. Conceptually, it may be too difficult for American audiences to wrap their heads around. With that said, since South Park did it, one can argue that America is ready.

After watching Kanye’s video, it got me wondering if it was really possible. Sure, some of the CG in his video was a little weak, but the core idea is there. Hey, if they can make Dragonball Z into live action or Evangelion, why not Akira?

Here’s more cool Daft Punk user videos:

Daft Body

Daft Hands

-Penguin

Related posts

Tags: ,