Akira Movie Update – Gary Whitta Reveals His Work On the Project
There have been so many rumours regarding the live action remake of Akira that it’s hard to get a handle on what’s really going on. First we had the rumoured DiCaprio production which was meant to get underway by the end of this year and was later abandoned. We then had the rumour that he would star alongside Joseph Gordon Levitt. And went on to have yet another rumour that James Robinson was writing a script and that Steven Norrington would direct… and on and on it went.
Back then the only thing that was for sure was that after all the false starts, fans were eagerly awaiting some real news on the possible development of a movie. I’ve noticed on YouTube there’s been a few fan made ‘trailers,’ some of which are quite good (see end of post.) It’s nice to see frustration used creatively!
While there have been some exciting suggestions and exclusive insider tip offs published on other blogs, which I’ll get to in a moment, we had been there many times before. For that reason I decided to totally avoid all subsequent Akira rumours until we had something concrete.
Over the past months I’ve read some interesting posts that I tried hard not to get excited about, the most exciting being the Collider exclusive from way back in September.
Collider stated that they were tipped off by an inside source, that screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby were working on a script and that Warner Bros were trying hard to get the project off the ground. Even though there’s been no more information about the project since then, that tip off turned out to be correct. This was recently confirmed by the projects previous script writer Gary Whitta.
In a recent interview Whitta divulged further information about the project he was working on with DiCaprio at Appian Way, the project which it seems Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby inherited.
From: Comingsoon.net
“The version I worked on was about going back to the source and doing the manga version …We were going to adapt the whole six-episode graphic novel.”
“We got notes from [Otomo] and we kept in touch, but we never had a formal meeting or anything. The script I worked on was very, very preliminary. We did a couple of drafts of the script but, when I was there at least, it never got wrapped up to the point where I think he would get really hands on.”
Closing the subject with the statement below it seems Whitta know’s as much about the Fergus and Ostby script as the rest of us. Whether their starting from scratch or retooling his work, it seems that is something Whitta along with the rest of us will have to wait to find out.
“They don’t keep you in the loop after you’re done …now I go on the internet to find out what’s happening with it like everyone else.”
Would you like to see a live-action version of Akira that takes on all six volumes of the Manga or that stays true to the original anime version?
Either way one thing’s for sure, an Akira live action remake is definitely on its way, how long before it hits the cinema though is anyone’s guess.
Fan Made ‘Trailer’
Stick with the original plot, why over indulge on a remake thats already getting bad press??? If you ask me thats why DiCaprios effort failed, it was too ambitious.