Has Jaume Collet-Sera's Akira found its female lead?
Twitch was the first to bring word of Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter and Garrett Hedlund being offered parts in the Warner Brothers backed US adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic manga and now we have learned that Kristen Stewart has been offered the part of Kei, a young medium who becomes the love interest for Kaneda - the role already offered to Hedlund.
Stewart is a choice that makes sense on most levels - she's certainly talented and has name recognition far above most in her generation - but also concerning in that none of the Twilight cast, Stewart included, have been able to find any sort of success outside of that franchise with Twilight fans not caring what any of them do elsewhere and everyone else generally staying away because of the Twilight stigma. Could this break the trend if Stewart accepts? Possibly - that it's more of a support role than a lead will help - but it's a somewhat risky move.
Twitch was the first to bring word of Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter and Garrett Hedlund being offered parts in the Warner Brothers backed US adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic manga and now we have learned that Kristen Stewart has been offered the part of Kei, a young medium who becomes the love interest for Kaneda - the role already offered to Hedlund.
Stewart is a choice that makes sense on most levels - she's certainly talented and has name recognition far above most in her generation - but also concerning in that none of the Twilight cast, Stewart included, have been able to find any sort of success outside of that franchise with Twilight fans not caring what any of them do elsewhere and everyone else generally staying away because of the Twilight stigma. Could this break the trend if Stewart accepts? Possibly - that it's more of a support role than a lead will help - but it's a somewhat risky move.
Is it a bad thing that I find it incredibly amusing to watch all the Twilight fans go "WUT?" on Twitter as they try to figure out what Akira is?
Not the worst news so far in this production. And yes, reading the Twi-litter on Twitter is funny.
"Stewart is a choice that makes sense on most levels - she's certainly talented..."
I officially can't take you seriously. It's bad enough you've been avocating this adaptation from the beginning but to basically co-sign her potential casting says a lot.
Let's see... the first live action 'Akira' is:
1) Set in New York
2) With a pre-dominantly Caucasian cast
3) That's rated PG-13
So much wrong with this picture.
And no, I'm not an 'Akira' fanboy, I just recognize glaringly bullsh*t when I see it.
*glaring
Anybody that thinks Kristen Stewart is a good actress needs to be shot. She cannot act at all. All she does is look at the ground and play with her damn hair. this movie needs to not happen at all.
Every time I see news about "Akira", I keep thinking it can't get any worse but it always does. If she is apart of the project now, can they just change the name of the film already? This movie will only lead to 2 things:
-Either it will flop so hard where anime won't be touched again by Hollywood
-or succeed and they will continue to whitewash and destroy every anime they will get their hands on
lol, i might actually see this just to watch the train wreck in full detail.
This news is hardly offensive. If anything it's entertaining to see the direction this is going. This adaptation will not be what we all remember Akira to be so I've learned to let that go already. Maybe this movie will suck or maybe it won't, but no matter what happens Kristen Stewart won't make or break this movie.
Things could be worse. Do I have to bring up the debacle that was Dragonball Evolution?
Here are the facts as far as I know: up to this point, the only case member I know is actually at the negotiating table is Garret Hedlund to play the part of Kaneda. Helena Bonham Carter, Gary Oldman, Keira Knightley, and Kristen Stewart have all been either "mentioned" or have been extended an "offer".
I can't name one single remake/adaptation that was a true success for the big film studios. Why start now?
you have to be fucking kidding me with this news , you know what ? not for anything , cause i do respect what people do for living , but i mean , dang !!!why heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer !!!! whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ??????????? , nother from the list of : just oky , overexposed and tooo much over paid !!! , and yeah , tood you tha man , thank you , and you too mazinger z , ..and karen , please , i hope that your parents find out that you are using the internet , please , leave the monitor alone , when you write , do it with comon sense , twilight my left nutt !! ,..
anaways ,
akira , first of all why they have to make a live action movie about this masterpiece , that we all know that its going to suuuuuck big time ? why hollywood have to mess things up over and over ? leave it alone ? whats next ? the american version of la mona lisa ? o maybe guernica ? ..shit suckk!!
Fellow fanboys, we now have a mission. A mission to tank this P.O.S. film and prevent it from succeeding. It was already an abomination before this new news, but now: Kristen Stewart? The movie's officially turned into an outright monstrosity. And it needs to be PUT DOWN. Let's turn it into a failure of Uwe Boll-sized proportions!
I don't get the talking point of the remake being all Caucasian. Why is that a problem? The story taking place in Tokyo isn't relevant and has no bearing on the how it reads. It could take place anywhere, NY, LA, Paris and still have the same impact.
and James Dingo. Boll is still directing and producing films. Very few of them have been giant failures as most of them have turned in to a franchise. A better analogy is needed.
oh good god whyyyyyyyyyy?? This is turning to look like the piece of crap BDZ ended up being!!
For the record, Kristen Stewart was good in THE RUNAWAYS. This is said by someone who has been around Joan Jett the real person more than once as well.
She was also good in INTO THE WILD.
So whoever said she can't act isn't speaking with an educated opinion.
If they want Kristin Stewart, they might as well just ask Justin Bieber if he wants to be in it as well. I mean, that will bring even more butts to seats, wouldn't it? Sure, as Sean "The Butcher" has mentioned above me, Stewart has proven a capable actress in other films but it's a "guilt by association" deal with her. If she's going to appear in complete and utter crap that is the Twilight franchise, there will be many people who would reasonably hesitate about seeing her in future films as a result.
Kristin Stewart is a very good actress and having an all caucasian cast is not a big problem since it's an adaptation. Having said that they should probably change the name and the names of the characters. It doesn't make much sense to keep calling it Akira when it really isn't and having all the characters have Asian names when none of them are. It'd be like having an Asian adaptation of Superman and having all the Asian actors running around with names like Clark Kent and Lois Lane. A caucasian version of Akira is not Akira. I don't think I'm the only who thinks this and it's interesting that none of the big stars who have been offered roles have agreed to star in it yet. Sure, there's lots of talk about this film but it's all been pretty much negative and lots of negative press for anything is usually not very good. Akira isn't something to be tinkered with. Would they tinker with Superman, Batman, Captain America, etc.? Hollywood needs to wake up and realize that they can't just do whatever they want anymore. Audiences these days are far too intelligent.
Well to be fair they've only mentioned two caucasian actors for two parts, Kaneda and Kei and I'm pretty sure the end group will be a rainbow gang. It would be smart to cast a japanese actor for the Akira role, just so the name makes sense. But sadly I can't name a single asian actor in the US, aside from John Cho maybe.
What depressing news.
anime movies is serious business. if she screws it up... let's just keep it at that.