Classified ad now being drafted at Warner Brothers:
Wanted: Technically proficient director with no sense of history or culture. Must love motorcyles and explosions and be available to start work immediately.
Why would they write such a thing? Because director Albert Hughes has finally tired of the studio's approach to Akira - an approach that has thus far been unable to land them any cast, despite a year or so of trying - and has walked from the project. Hughes is now the second director to wash his hands of this whole thing, original director Ruairi Robinson saying thanks but no very early in the process.
The primary issues with bringing Akira to the screen as a live action film are twofold. First, it's an enormously complex story as originally written, a factor WB hopes to address by splitting the live action version into two features - a move I wholeheartedly endorse as the pressure to compress everything into a single film accounts for most of the story problems in the original animated version. Second, Warner Brothers are determined to take what is a story that is incredibly culturally specific - hint: that culture is not American - and set it in New York with the characters retaining their Japanese names but being cast white and with apparently no regard for their ages as written. And, so far, everyone they've approached has been smart enough to say no.
While I don't consider the original film version of Akira to be a sacred text - as big a touchstone as it is for many, there are big problems with it - but the studio's approach to this has been all wrong so far and, frankly, I'd rather see it sit and rot in development hell than get made this way. A version that actually treats the source material with respect? Sure. But this? No. So good on you, Albert. What took so long?
The film is not dead yet, however. Word is that Hughes is looking for a different project within WB while the studio is keeping Akira on the 'fast track' and are looking for someone willing to simply step in and continue work on the project from where it has been left.
Wanted: Technically proficient director with no sense of history or culture. Must love motorcyles and explosions and be available to start work immediately.
Why would they write such a thing? Because director Albert Hughes has finally tired of the studio's approach to Akira - an approach that has thus far been unable to land them any cast, despite a year or so of trying - and has walked from the project. Hughes is now the second director to wash his hands of this whole thing, original director Ruairi Robinson saying thanks but no very early in the process.
The primary issues with bringing Akira to the screen as a live action film are twofold. First, it's an enormously complex story as originally written, a factor WB hopes to address by splitting the live action version into two features - a move I wholeheartedly endorse as the pressure to compress everything into a single film accounts for most of the story problems in the original animated version. Second, Warner Brothers are determined to take what is a story that is incredibly culturally specific - hint: that culture is not American - and set it in New York with the characters retaining their Japanese names but being cast white and with apparently no regard for their ages as written. And, so far, everyone they've approached has been smart enough to say no.
While I don't consider the original film version of Akira to be a sacred text - as big a touchstone as it is for many, there are big problems with it - but the studio's approach to this has been all wrong so far and, frankly, I'd rather see it sit and rot in development hell than get made this way. A version that actually treats the source material with respect? Sure. But this? No. So good on you, Albert. What took so long?
The film is not dead yet, however. Word is that Hughes is looking for a different project within WB while the studio is keeping Akira on the 'fast track' and are looking for someone willing to simply step in and continue work on the project from where it has been left.
Okay. Okay. I'll do it.
I wonder if The Hughes Brothers wanted an R-rated pic but WB wanted a PG-13?? I bet that has something to do with it?
It's gonna get shelved again. No one wants to touch this thing. Give it up.
Let them make it! Fans of Akira — or good movies, for that matter — can always ignore it. Hopefully, it will die a quiet death, and then perhaps Warner Brothers can learn something from the subsequent autopsy. But most likely if (when) it fails, the blame will be placed on the filmmakers saddled with the project. I can say this: I believe that there is nothing that the studio can do — no director they can hire, no actor they can cast — that will make me even the slightest bit interested in this project. And I love the original anime, warts and all.
OK, this eerily follows many of the suggestions in THIS article, posted a few days back:
http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/05/have-your-say-lets-help-those-brothers-a-bit.php
The most viable advice out of that thread was for Albert to get the hell out of the Akira project before it would sink him...