Warner Bros. Approaches Keira Knightley for Role in "Akira"
No character specified, so let's play "having fun with speculation"
Word comes via The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog that the latest actress to be approached concerning a role in Warner Bros.' live-action Akira film is none other than Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, Domino). The role in question was not specified.
Just earlier today Variety confirmed Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund as being in talks with Warner to play the lead of the Jaume Collet-Serra directed film. Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter, while not confirmed, were tossed into the ring of possibilities a couple weeks ago.
As for Knightley, let's have some fun with speculation, because we don't really know that particular roles from Katsuhiro Otomo's source material will even make it into the film. Our best guess? We're gonna go with Kei, tough female member of the terrorist resistance movement with whom Kaneda develops a strong relationship.
Tetsuo's girl Kaori is always a possibility, though less likely. Instead, with today's expert CG and makeup craft at work within Akira's generous $90 million budget, we'd like to see Knightley go all Esper as #25, Kiyoko.
Or we could just be WAY off and Keira Knightley will end up signing on to play a more organic, high concept version of Kaneda's famous bike. In all seriousness, which role do you see Knightley suited for, if any?
Via ANN
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Outside of the director, almost everything about the project is shaping up to be very "quality in". Hopefully it leads to "quality out."
she's definitely going to be play Chiyoko
if you have to explain the joke... http://twitpic.com/7am9vc
Please stop making anime into movies America. Please.
Agree completely.
11/4/11 by ecchi_fan_83
Agree thirdly! Even more so when they're dubbed aswell! A BIG NO NO! >.<
All america does and screw up what its already best left alone. They screwed DBZ to hell and now they're doing it to Akira. CUT IT OUT!!! At least leave it to the country that made it in the first place
They would make much more money focusing on other, already popular mediums of American culture, such as books or CG productions.
In the first place, the Japanese style doesn't even fit with American Culture. Whilst Japanese media goes for more... indirect mediums, American culture has sex on screen.
For example, you wouldn't have "panty flashes" in an American movie - It just doesn't fit in. But conversely, you wouldn't have anime characters having sex on screen. It just doesn't fit.
As such, anime to live action adaptions don't work too well, because you end up with the producers trying to Americanise the anime, i.e. DBZ - Goku was originally a very pure, hero character. In the live action movie, he was turned into a horny, pubic, teenage boy, who gains power because of a woman who he wants. Which is exactly the reason so many anime fans hated the movie.
Also, American's LOVE CG. If would make them much, much more money if they aimed for the masses, with original and book adaptions of CG and/or live action, instead of trying to create another industry in live action adaptions of anime.
In the first place, the Japanese style doesn't even fit with American Culture. Whilst Japanese media goes for more... indirect mediums, American culture has sex on screen.
For example, you wouldn't have "panty flashes" in an American movie - It just doesn't fit in. But conversely, you wouldn't have anime characters having sex on screen. It just doesn't fit.
As such, anime to live action adaptions don't work too well, because you end up with the producers trying to Americanise the anime, i.e. DBZ - Goku was originally a very pure, hero character. In the live action movie, he was turned into a horny, pubic, teenage boy, who gains power because of a woman who he wants. Which is exactly the reason so many anime fans hated the movie.
Also, American's LOVE CG. If would make them much, much more money if they aimed for the masses, with original and book adaptions of CG and/or live action, instead of trying to create another industry in live action adaptions of anime.
11/3/11 by griever233
This is going to be as fail as Dragonball the movie /facepalm for them thinking about making it and if I ever get for to watch it I will incite /wrist.
11/3/11 by BattlerEndless9
You're basing this on one movie and making light of suicide. Two live action Dragon Ball movies were made long before, one 1989 Taiwan version and one 1990 South Korean, both were terrible.
The problem is that the DBZ american movie was "Americanised". They took the character names and premise, and completely changed character personalities, and story.
As an example, Goku was changed into pubescant, horny teenage boy, when he was originally a pure, hero character, who gains power from chances to do horny things with a girl he lusts for.
That's what is so terrible about it. I haven't watched the Taiwan and Korean Movies, but I'm pretty sure they didn't do anything like this.
As an example, Goku was changed into pubescant, horny teenage boy, when he was originally a pure, hero character, who gains power from chances to do horny things with a girl he lusts for.
That's what is so terrible about it. I haven't watched the Taiwan and Korean Movies, but I'm pretty sure they didn't do anything like this.
Every anime style movie they have turned into live action has been a steaming pile of crap. Between many bad street fighter movies as well as dragonball. Maybe hollyweird should take backburner and let CGI deptartments do this right way.
Now for my lewd spin on this is look at the photo of Keira next to character she is to play. Notice if you will even though she has smaller drawn chest size, she is still bigger then real life character <keira> playing her. Washboards don't sell sex appeal.
Now for my lewd spin on this is look at the photo of Keira next to character she is to play. Notice if you will even though she has smaller drawn chest size, she is still bigger then real life character <keira> playing her. Washboards don't sell sex appeal.
11/3/11 by missnthrope
so you are saying all hiring of women should be based on their breast size.. Good Luck ever finding and keeping a job. Except for slinging fast food. Perfect career for you!
Saying reality for hollywood is selling sex appeal, and casting actors who do not fit parts after all most anime characters depicted are based on asians. Sadly howeve it's evident your lack of understanding words would cause anger against lower class jobs.
11/4/11 by BattlerEndless9
That coming from someone with another person that is a female as your picture.
Cool story bro.
Coming from the male with female as his pic as well; I fail to see your issue.
...why can't we just leave good things alone? WHY?!?!
This is bad because......?
Because out of the huge pile of all 2 Hollywood anime adaptations, one was bad.
11/3/11 by Kagato666
Of Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, or Speed Racer which one wasn't the "bad" one? Heck you could probably add Avatar: The Last Air Bender and Godzilla in with the list of Hollywood adaptions too. The level of the doom and gloom here is probably excessive, but not having much faith in Hollywood's when it comes to respecting an IP is somewhat justified.
11/3/11 by nerdfromhel
Hold on, let me add some recent evidence.
So first we have the somewaht infamous "white-wash" version of the Akira script, where everything that had anything even remotely asian about it was changed to be as american as possible.
In other horrifing anime adaptation news, the good news on the deathnote movie being made in the us by warner brothers includes :It's still in production; The exec's were made to accept that no, they can't get rid of the "demon" to make the kid appear less evil. They were also mad to accept that the kid, no matter what they think, must remain evil for the sake of plot.
It scares me knowing that somewhere out there, there is a version of the script where Ryuuk does not in anyway apart of the story.
So first we have the somewaht infamous "white-wash" version of the Akira script, where everything that had anything even remotely asian about it was changed to be as american as possible.
In other horrifing anime adaptation news, the good news on the deathnote movie being made in the us by warner brothers includes :It's still in production; The exec's were made to accept that no, they can't get rid of the "demon" to make the kid appear less evil. They were also mad to accept that the kid, no matter what they think, must remain evil for the sake of plot.
It scares me knowing that somewhere out there, there is a version of the script where Ryuuk does not in anyway apart of the story.
11/3/11 by BattlerEndless9
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-11-02/shane-black-describes-changes-he-opposed-to-warner-death-note
You should learn how to read.
You should learn how to read.
11/4/11 by TerraGamerX
Hmm ... in all honesty, I think his statement was in correct alignment with the details behind that link. Rephrased, "the execs had to accept that the director would not allow their desired changes". The "horrifying" part about that news being that there were people who 'wanted' and tried to have there be such unpleasant changes.
This. The terrible part is that the people who are actually making the movie wanted these changes. Could you really get a good movie if the director is the only one wanting it? I doubt it. A movie is made from the combination of effort from others. If the staff and director want something completely different, even if the staff are forced to work with the director's ideas, it won't be any good.
I don't care...it still scares me. And I'm not just looking at the few anime that have been adapted for American film I'm looking at all remakes and adaptations that have recently been butchered...
11/3/11 by TerraGamerX
The actors are fine, but they're not the ones I'm interested in. You can have Sean Connery in it, but if he's handed bad lines, the movie still won't be any good.
I know it's possible for there to be a good outcome. Some live action productions have been good (although not so sure about "great" seeing as many many hours of content get compacted into under 2 hours). But the overall probability bodes a negative outcome. Counting live action adaptations total versus ones commonly regarded as good already provides a poor statistic, but in my opinion movie quality collectively from Hollywood is still with the majority being "poor", further lowing the probability of a good outcome.
I know it's possible for there to be a good outcome. Some live action productions have been good (although not so sure about "great" seeing as many many hours of content get compacted into under 2 hours). But the overall probability bodes a negative outcome. Counting live action adaptations total versus ones commonly regarded as good already provides a poor statistic, but in my opinion movie quality collectively from Hollywood is still with the majority being "poor", further lowing the probability of a good outcome.
"having fun with speculation"? Is that what this is?
I thought it was "troll the news because we is bored"?
I thought it was "troll the news because we is bored"?
This movies is going to suck I can tell already.
11/17/11 by SpiritWolf15
Are you reading the same news articles as everyone else? Do you not see what they are doing to Akira? They are taking it from the classic, must watch anime movie that it is and turning it into some heaping pile of horse shit.
Why are people always criticizing the american live actions version of anime when they didn't even see it yet??? I know that Dragon Ball was a fail,but give it a chance people.Japan's and other countries adaptations are not that good either,not to be mean or anything.
11/4/11 by TerraGamerX
For me personally, it's moreso that I find the majority (80%) of movies coming out of Hollywood (especially factoring in the huge budget they get to work with) are of rather poor quality. And when working with something preexisting, there are high expectations to meet, and probability is against them from the start.
11/3/11 by jluster
My 2¢: I know everyone is always like "why bother" when it comes to stuff like this, but I'm more like "why not?" If a studio wants to blow a ton of money on what may or may not be a successful adaptation of brilliant source material, I say go for it. It's not my money, and in no way does it alter the original!
Plus I have a morbid curiosity about this kind of thing. I really want to see what comes of this...
Plus I have a morbid curiosity about this kind of thing. I really want to see what comes of this...
wow this will crash and burn,,,,,,Knightley= FAIL.
If Keira Knightley gets in, I'll watch the movie even if it is shitty.
this is gonna suck all WB cares about is money
http://youtu.be/0ge4_0jF2nc
http://youtu.be/0ge4_0jF2nc
11/4/11 by sakaki_chan
A couple of people mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender, THAT IS NOT ANIME!!! It is an American cartoon! I have seen heaps of people who use that movie as an example of an American live action adaption of an anime gone wrong. It's an American live action of an American cartoon gone wrong. People can't claim to be anime fans unless they can tell the difference between the art styles as it is very obvious. Oh and no has mentioned Transformers??? Yeah that's right, it's an American live action adaption of an anime that did quite well ;P Yeah the rest sucked but Transformers did quite well. Know one can say for 100% certainty that this will be another fail, all we can do is hope and wish for the best.
If you haven't realised, the Transformers movies were americanised. You wouldn't understand if you haven't actually watched the series, but it is completely different. They took the initial premise, characters and then made their own story and characters to it. It actually had nothing to do with the original plot, charactersation, and story.
The only reason why it was "good" is because no one knows, or are fans of, the original Transformers anime series. It sold well as a movie, because nobody was attatched to the original style, and it had sex, action, and big things, all American aspects which sell.
However, DBZ was fairly recent, and had
The only reason why it was "good" is because no one knows, or are fans of, the original Transformers anime series. It sold well as a movie, because nobody was attatched to the original style, and it had sex, action, and big things, all American aspects which sell.
However, DBZ was fairly recent, and had
(However, DBZ was fairly recent and had) a huge fanbase, both in Japan in America, who actually liked the orignal series and characterisation. If you take that away, it really dies.
The two, (transformers and DBZ) were, and are, in completely different situations.
The two, (transformers and DBZ) were, and are, in completely different situations.
11/4/11 by RoyalLush
"White-Washing" Anime? Really? Especially since most anime has white characters to begin with. Either that, or there are a lot more blonde hair, blue eyed Asians out there? (Sarcasm)
You also can't compare Akira's story to DBZ. One actually fit into a 2-ish hour anime movie, the other....How many Brolly movies are there again? 3-4?
The biggest problem is that Hollywood doesn't know how to take a movie that is well done and an already defined story, and leave it the fuck alone. The complaint that was about Avatar: The Last Air Bender, was that the director took the story, threw it away, and tried to recreate his own story that sucked.
You also can't compare Akira's story to DBZ. One actually fit into a 2-ish hour anime movie, the other....How many Brolly movies are there again? 3-4?
The biggest problem is that Hollywood doesn't know how to take a movie that is well done and an already defined story, and leave it the fuck alone. The complaint that was about Avatar: The Last Air Bender, was that the director took the story, threw it away, and tried to recreate his own story that sucked.
No, that's the same complaint about... pretty much every anime live adaption out there.
Taking DBZ, they took the character names, general premise, and that's it. They threw out all characterisation, and storyline.
Also, Avatar was made to try to be in the Japanese style. While there is an obvious difference, you can't blame people for making comarisons. In the first place, those people probably never watched the actual series, just knowing the initial plot, etc.
Taking DBZ, they took the character names, general premise, and that's it. They threw out all characterisation, and storyline.
Also, Avatar was made to try to be in the Japanese style. While there is an obvious difference, you can't blame people for making comarisons. In the first place, those people probably never watched the actual series, just knowing the initial plot, etc.
Hate her! I love Pirates of the Caribbean!
11/5/11 by 7142255338
hey i am a big akira fan and i dont want to see made in the states. they will f it up ummm Guyve one and two how about fist of the north star any one see the live one of that....wow did that suck... how about transformers? trust me there are a lot of others that were just ass bad. i just wish if any thing they gust use japanese actors i bet it would come out much better.
11/15/11 by SpiritWolf15
Please, PLEASE do us a favor and just kill this horrible idea for a movie already.... Akira deserves so much better...
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