I hope they set it in an American high school.
Live action Akira!?!? Produced by Leonardo Dicaprio?!?!?!
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@Oga:
Uhmm…...I don't recall personally seing her in anything, but she was in Twilight so........yeah. Can anyone confirm if this is, what I suspect, another bad idea.
Of all the female actresses in Hollywood, Warner Bros. chose Kristen Stewart??
Come on.
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I sort of went from "This is going to be horrible" to "This is going to be hilarious" after I read about Stewart.
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Yeah, this might turn out to be one of those "so terrible it's awesome" movies.
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If the Oldman rumors for him as the Colonel are true, that might actually be cool. When I originally saw his name I pictured him possible as the scientist, whatever his name was.
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As much as I love Oldman, he'd have to really beef up to play the Colonel.
But basically, as it stands, I would be happy to get any actor with decent pedigree in the movie at all.
Oldman could be playing Miyako for all I care.
…
Actually never mind that would totally be awesome.
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I'm still in denial about this. The other option is to be very frightened.
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The Colonel sucks in the movie so who even cares. Manga Colonel is what would be cool to see Oldman play.
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@Monkey:
The Colonel sucks in the movie so who even cares. Manga Colonel is what would be cool to see Oldman play.
Well so far I've been kinda assuming this movie'd be an adaptation of (part of) the manga rather than straight-up a remake of the animated film…
Looking back I see there's really no reason to assume that, but I guess I can still hold out hope for it.
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Last I heard they were changing more names, and it'll have the phrase never forget, about the twin towers, and they'll be adults, and Akira is the villain…
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It seems that no one's posted this yet.
The live-action plot synopsis:
Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel.
Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers.
Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo's mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel's troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.
Oh, yes.
This is going to be horrible. -
Why the hell do they establish the story in New York but keep the japanese names?
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I hate you Hollywood.
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Lovely .
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wait… Its been changed to "Neo Manhattan", and they are making everyone "Uhmurican"... But they're keeping Kaneda and Tetsuo's names?...
And wait, Ken Watanabe as the Colonel? You mean they're casting a Japanese Guy in the movie? As the only character who they COULD have made white and just called "The Colonel"?... Wat?...
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I'm going to watch this for the lolz.
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It's like they couldn't make up their mind to make a Japanese or American movie, so they went with the laziest middle ground they could find.
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This is hilarious.
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Oh, yes. This is going to be horrible.
Actually if they didn't attach Akira to the the script, it sounds like it could have been a decent movie in its own right.
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I was going to say something about New York being a global city, but there's really not enough Japanese people there to make this not extremely silly.
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it can't be worse than evolution, right?
right???
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in all honesty I pray this is AT LEAST passable. I really want to like this, more than I've ever wanted to like a LA movie adaptation.
hopefully this pie gets the right hands into it.
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A part of me is kinda hoping it's as bad as Dragonball Evolution or even M. Night's Avatar. Just hilariously bad would be funny to watch.
Though I do hope for a good adaptation even if I'm not the biggest Akira fan.
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It seems that no one's posted this yet.
The live-action plot synopsis:
Oh, yes.
This is going to be horrible.Since I couldn't post this in the sadly locked too soon Video Retortion thread, I will use it here after reading this. To the horrible people who are making this:
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It seems that no one's posted this yet.
The live-action plot synopsis:
Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan
Oh, yes.
This is going to be horrible. -
Neo Manhattan, Kaneda the bar owner, Colonel the Colonel… all is left is to call drugs and pills "candy", and we have our best movie of 2012.
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Ohhhh, the Rifftrax for this is going to be GLORIOUS.
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Yeah, I suppose I could have looked past most of those stupidities, but Kaneda and Tetsuo being anarchic teenagers is pretty much the core of the story, even more definite than the setting is.
From this point on they could turn Lady Miyako into a sassy talking chipmunk sidekick for all I care.
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Tetsuo: You don´t understand Kaneda! I have to do this! You´ll never get this, dad loved you the most!
Gulps down a bag of skittles
I HAVE SO MUCH PAIN!!!
The Linkin park music startsNutty Sidekick :Holly Molly! , you must save him Kaneda! For Democracy!
Of course, Akira will be replaced by a communist Muppet. Last changes; Fox Says so.
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I'm surprised they kept the name 'Kaneda'. But anyhow, it sounds like it'll be horrible. I wonder if the movie will make it across the Ocean.
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It could be A LOT worse.
They could have gotten Shia Labeouf to play Kaneda or Tetsuo. -
Has the cast been finalized yet? Then there's still a possibility of that happening.
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Tetsuo: You don´t understand Kaneda! I have to do this! You´ll never get this, dad loved you the most!
Gulps down a bag of skittles
I HAVE SO MUCH PAIN!!!
The Linkin park music startsNutty Sidekick :Holly Molly! , you must save him Kaneda! For Democracy!
Of course, Akira will be replaced by a communist Muppet. Last changes; Fox Says so.
Harry Partridges version was better.
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That was hilarious. I would also literally rather watch a full-length feature film version of this, rather than the actual poopoodonkeyballs version we're going to get.
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http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/
I haven't read it yet but I THINK it's real.
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Harry Partridges version was better.
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Well, that´s because Harry´s a genious. Compared to that i´m a creepy uncle in a party. Trying to be funny but just creeping everybody out. Then i pass out in the couch and you have to carry me upstairs.
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http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/
I haven't read it yet but I THINK it's real.
It sounds pretty accurate. It was written on April 7 of this year and they got the info right on New Manhattan, the brother deal and Akira being a force of evil.
Actually seeing it unfurled like that makes you realize just how terrible it is. That was no surprise but actually dissecting just how terrible it's going to be is just…..good lord.......someone should kill this production before it makes it to theaters.
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The question is: Will this be worse than Dragon Ball: Evolution?
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The question is: Will this be worse than Dragon Ball: Evolution?
Throw in The Last Airbender and you have a trio of adaptation suck.
Akira has the most chance of being watchable, because it's source material is a bit more grounded… and it hasn't come out yet, so it has that advantage.
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Does Akira really have a strong viewer demographic to begin with in the West?
I mean The Last Airbender was adapted from a Nickelodeon program which was popular with young teens and Dragonball Revolution tried to cater to golden age fans who had grown up and craved a grim/dark/realistic butchering of their childhood. I just haven't really heard of Akira captivating the western market to the point where adapting Bebop seems more plausible in the States.
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Yeah…I don't know what FOX was thinking with Dragonball:Evolution. Make it in a high school setting. That's what people want to go watch a live-action version of Dragonball for.
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I will watch this just to see how good dicaprio would be as a producer.
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@RobbyBevard:
Throw in The Last Airbender and you have a trio of adaptation suck.
Akira has the most chance of being watchable, because it's source material is a bit more grounded… and it hasn't come out yet, so it has that advantage.
But DBE was so bad it was actually good.
ANd it also had a strangely "close to dub voice" Yamcha out of nowhere.
Seriously, that movie had me rolling in theaters.
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ANd it also had a strangely "close to dub voice" Yamcha out of nowhere.
Oh so it was a briefly faithful adaptation of a unfaithful adaptation. score one.
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Damn, I just typed up my own two cents on this thing that was several paragraphs long but then it got lost.
I'll be back later to redo but I'd love to hear more from everyone following this thread.
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Damn, I just typed up my own two cents on this thing that was several paragraphs long but then it got lost.
There is a god after all.
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Okay well I guess I might as well chime in here, I've been following news on this thing for a while. I felt like writing a whole essay of a post so I don't blame you if you don't read it.
Now granted my opinion on what to expect from the live-action "Akira" may not be informed enough. I have yet to read all the manga (just skimmed through it at the bookstore) and it's been a while since I've seen the animated movie, which I didn't like as much as the classic status let's on. But my general perspective on these types of things is that I won't say it's going to suck or not until we get a better picture of the final product. Hearing that the film would take place in New Manhattan and have white American actors was nothing to make me think the film would suck. In fact I don't qualify those as shitty changes. Unless I'm missing some subtext there's plenty more to the original "Akira" that makes it great to preserve besides the setting. I'm not one to think that just because "Dragonball Evolution" and "Last Airbender" were shit that this would be shit as well. Hollywood adaptations of other anime franchises have no bearing on another if it's a completely different project with a different crew. Yes history is telling but I'm not one to assume things can't be different. For the most part whenever something is initially announced with few details, I find that many fans just declare the worst based only on cynicism, and when one thing is off they can easily blow out of proportion. Hell I couldn't stand when my friend was giving a shit about the fact they show the Onceler's face in the "Lorax" movie.
For the most part, I'm always one to give something the benefit of the doubt before the final product, and slowly pass judgement and impressions the more I see following up to the final product. When I saw that casting call plot synopsis that didn't even bother me that much. It was a very general plot synopsis of the what to expect but I don't expect much detail from a casting call plot synopsis. From what I remember (and like I said before it's been a while since I last saw the anime) it seemed to follow the original plot close enough. That's not to say I didn't have any problems with it. Kaneda being a bar owner implies a very different type of character from what was in the original. Still that was only one detail. And of course that was stupid they're using white American actors with the original Japanese names. Kaneda and Tetsuo may work being brothers. But hey a name's a name and maybe they'll change it. They at least keep Akira as Akira for. But yeah, overall it didn't sound that bad to me.
Now I see this Cracked article and I have something more substantial to say, "This is gonna suck". I see more reason than not to think it's legit, and while it was published in April and the film didn't actually get greenlit until much later this year, I can't imagine the final script getting changed that much in production. It's stupid that there's an evil corporation that destroys shit to get people to buy shit. It's stupid that Tetsuo and Kaneda have some kind of soap opera moments about some fucking drug problem. It's stupid they're sexing up Kaneda and what's-her-face's relationship. It's stupid they're making Akira another creepy kid that spouts songs. You get my drift.
This doesn't sound horrible like "Dragonball Evolution". It just sounds bland. It just sounds like the mentality of a big American production company thinking this will be more appealing if we replace what made the original interesting and unique with what everyone else is familiar with. So then what was the point of adapting it in the first place if you're just trying to make another movie we've already seen? If that's the case I don't where suck a short-sighted and overly analytical backwards viewpoint came from.
The worst part is "Akira" in particular seems pretty adaptable for live-action. Like Robby said it's more grounded. It has plenty of potential, somewhat more than the anime because it has more manga material to work with. In any case I don't expect a live-action adaptation that's two hours or multiple films to really capture the essence of a comic or animation; it's difficult no matter how hard you try. I accept that. Hell if the director/writer is a genius they can put their own spin on it while still having an understanding of what makes the source material appealing. Using liberties sparingly I believe is a good way to work around the confines of what doesn't translate to another medium. Hell when I watched the live-action "Gantz" I enjoyed it somewhat. It was inferior to the manga because it lacked its gruesome violence and the sex, it would've been nice if they kept the main character as an asshole teenager. It would've been nice if they didn't have that girl with the weird crush. But hey even that I still enjoyed. It was entertaining enough and got the jist of it, even with the liberties that didn't help.
The liberties I'm seeing in this article are just abundant and major enough to really bring down the film. They take out interesting stuff and replace it with tired old bullshit. Maybe it'll just be ok, but sometimes I'd rather watch something amazingly bad then something cliched. Maybe I'll have to divorce myself from the source material to enjoy it. But I shouldn't have to do that, and that would work if the plot was creative in and of itself but it just doesn't have that.
But even so if I was ever optimistic early on it was cautiously. I remember hearing about it was all in development hell, and how different people were dropping out of the project because of creative differences. Makes sense now. Hopefully the "Death Note" Hollywood movie will be good, at least the director of that one convinced Warner Bros. not to get rid of the shinigami, and to not to take out the idea of Light being a sinister prick.
Still, even if this film sucks, it won't make me expect every other anime/manga adaptation that may follow to suck by default.
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Now granted my opinion on what to expect from the live-action "Akira" may not be informed enough. I have yet to read all the manga (just skimmed through it at the bookstore) and it's been a while since I've seen the animated movie, which I didn't like as much as the classic status let's on. But my general perspective on these types of things is that I won't say it's going to suck or not until we get a better picture of the final product. Hearing that the film would take place in New Manhattan and have white American actors was nothing to make me think the film would suck. In fact I don't qualify those as shitty changes. Unless I'm missing some subtext there's plenty more to the original "Akira" that makes it great to preserve besides the setting.
While I agree with the rest of what you wrote, this paragraph I have a HUGE problem with.
The location isn't the problem, but if you're going to "white wash" a foreign film, why on God's Earth are you keeping the original names for? It's silly. Why can't they give them actual names that don't just tell the audience "We were supposed to have Japanese people here, but we're not going to do that".
What's wrong with using Japanese people anyway? Do they honestly believe by white washing a cast that it's going to pull in the mainstream crowd?
As if. This story, it's plot, it's very name is going to keep away potential customers, the only people who are probably going to watch this movie.. are the people who watched the original Akira.
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Using a Japanese cast in NYC would be completely weird and make no sense.
You could make an Italian cast, a Jewish cast, a Chinese cast, a Dominican cast, an African cast, Irish, Jamaica, Puerto Rican….
But for all it's diversity, New York has no meaningful size or presence of Japanese people (unless you want the adventures of a biker gang of photo snapping middle class Japanese tourists going to that Radio City Christmas crap). It would be extremely bizarre and kind of dumb to make them Japanese.
And for most of these groups anyway, in New York it would be hard to come by a realistic stance where you wouldn't have a multi-ethnic cast. Except maybe the black and hispanic groups. In which case American Akira just becomes a sci-fi version of Juice or something.--- Update From New Post Merge ---
Actually a sci-fi version of Juice would be awesome.
Tupac turning into a giant mutant telekinetic monster to a soundtrack of 90's rap as remixed by Vangelis.