Garrett Hedlund is the frontrunner to star in the newly greenlit live action Akira film
Posted by: Brad Sturdivant
I feel I’ve been reading or writing news about the live action AKIRA adaptation for years now. In the beginning, Leonardo DiCaprio was all set to star in the lead role of Kaneda, which divided the internet as some thought it was a good fit, but others were upset that a white actor would be taking on a very Japanese character. Then it was Keanu Reeves who was supposedly going to take the lead, but then he turned it down. As for a director, AKIRA has seen a couple of those as well with Albert Hughes leaving the project and Jaume Collet-Serra agreeing to take over. With all of the carousel casting and directing, some of us were beginning to wonder if an Akira movie would ever get made.
Well, it looks like Warner Bros. is set to make it a reality as they have penciled in a spring 2012 start date and have tabbed TRON LEGACY star Garrett Hedlund as their lead. Granted, they haven’t officially asked him yet, but he should be getting the call any day now. They also have high hopes for the other lead, Tetsuo, and have reached out to Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy to see if their interested. The film was originally planned as a two parter, but there’s no word on whether or not WB is going to continue down that path. Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves wrote the latest script.
Source: Variety
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