Variety Confirms "Tron: Legacy" Star Garrett Hedlund in Line to Play "Akira" Lead

Akira Adaptation Locks in on Its Kaneda

Scott Green
November 03, 2011 2:27pm PDT (11/3/11)

Entertainment industry trade publication Variety has confirmed that Tron: Legacy's Garrett Hedlund is in talks with Warner Brothers to play the Kaneda equivalent role in the studio's live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal anime/manga Akira. The casting has been the subject of buzz since the project was greenlit last month, but WB is now pulling the trigger on that orbital laser blast. No offer was made at the time because a budget had yet to be set.

 

Variety describes the Warner Brothers Akira project:

WB acquired the tentpole project for a seven-figure sum from Japanese manga publisher Kodansha in 2008. Set in New Manhattan, the cyberpunk sci-fi epic follows the leader of a biker gang who must save his friend, discovered with potentially destructive psychokinetic abilities, from government medical experiments.

 

Jaume Collet-Serra is on board to helm with Steve Kloves writing the latest version of the script. Appian Way's Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran are producing with Mad Chance's Andrew Lazar.

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22 Comments

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11/3/11 by Anonymooo
In all honesty, since we know they're setting it in "New Manhattan," they might as well just go all the way and rename the characters, while keeping AKIRA himself the same.
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11/3/11 by mystic17
Lol now I know this is going to suck.
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11/3/11 by Luigimitsu
When was it not going to?
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11/3/11 by zansabarshadow
so your judging a movie that has not come out yet? that's SO SMART, you guys should win something for being SO SMART.

You never know till it come out.

I have high hopes for this movie, hope it will be good. cant wait to see sam from tron go like TETSUOOOOOOOOOOOOOO XD
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11/3/11 by Ghost_Major
I couldn't agree with you more. Don't judge something before you've seen it!
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11/3/11 by deepfacespace
But he won't be able to yell Tetsuo without being a fool.
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11/3/11 by admiral1983
Kaneda equivalent role that sounds like trouble to me
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11/3/11 by Tefrin
Sigh... I not sure about this.
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11/3/11 by Boldbrad
Is it so hard to keep to an awesome anime story ? Anyone else seeing another Dragon ball revolution thing comming out of this?
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11/3/11 by guilleru718
But why all the people here are so UPSET with this update, don't you guys remember the dreadful DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION?

We all know that Hollywood SUCKS in making movies now these days, so why bother with this rhino turd?
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11/3/11 by chrome_mist
Hot lead. WILL WATCH.
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11/3/11 by sdzamarron
People make a rant video on this
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11/3/11 by VongolaXIII
Never know what to expect till it comes out. Moaning is all the haters can do. It's just natural for them. I hope everything can turn out well. I need to know the cast!
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11/3/11 by AnimeFanJerk
Does anyone really see Hollywood making a movie about 14 year old in a bike gang, getting killed and being experimented on and still have it be a success? You guys have to remember that even if we don't get the live-action movie we want doesn't change the fact that it's still going to get watched by people who've never even heard of 'AKIRA' before. Not to mention watched by people who don't even know what 'ANIME' is. This isn't a bad thing.
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11/3/11 by NocturnalPanduh
Judging by the Twilight fans, I asked if they intended on reading the books, which their response was: "HAH! NO." so I highly doubt people who watch the live-action Akira will then watch the original, nor do I expect them to type into google and realize that the definition of 'Anime' IS NOT 'Hentai'. I expect this to turn into, what I call, the 'Star Trek' and 'My Chemical Romance' debocle. They'll go round saying their massive fans, then when you ask more in-depth questions like, 'which album do you like best?' or 'have you seen the TV series?' they'll just answer vague bullshit.

I'm already hoping this movie will fail, only because I know if this one does well, they'll roll out the 'Death Note' movie, and they've already said they're going to make stupid dramatic changes for that.
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11/3/11 by BattlerEndless9
What kind of logic is hoping it will fail when it's not even out yet and you haven't seen it? Also Shane black, the director for the live action Death Note movie, has already said he is not going to have those "changes" in his movie. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-11-02/shane-black-describes-changes-he-opposed-to-warner-death-note
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11/4/11 by NocturnalPanduh
I've already given up on Hollywood and their 'nothing is original anymore' mindset, but also I hate that when Twilight came out, fair enough I don't have to like it, but Hollywood got the crazy idea that because Twilight did well, lets take Darren Shan's awesome vampire saga and completely obliterate that. I hope they keep Death Note the same, because it is supposed to be dark, psychological and make you question your morals and where to draw the line.
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11/4/11 by dracogirl
I'm not going to judge it yet, but I really do hope that they do more research about the manga/anime.
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11/4/11 by Devon7
i feel like people get sour tastes in thier mouth about this kinda stuff since that crappy dbz live actions, lets please not talk about it. im curious to see its reviews when it comes out!!
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11/8/11 by Littlelostkitten
I'm not saying that the movie will suck or any other doom and gloom, but going on his performance in Tron I'm not looking forward to seeing his bow-legged, cardboard swagger on the big screen again.
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11/17/11 by sortoffaerygirl
"New Manhattan"... the white-washing continues. Who's up for a protest of this movie?
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