Akira movie. Irish director.

Rabies

Despite most right-minded people yelling, ‘nooooooo! It can’t be done!’ or ‘Nooooooo! It shouldn’t be done!’ or even ‘Noooooo! It can’t, and shouldn’t be done!’, Warner Bros. is pressing ahead with plans to turn the anime classic, Akira – the manga film for those who can’t stand manga – into a live-action American film.

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The studio announced today that, under the auspices of Irish first-time director Ruairi Robinson – who was appointed last year – the live-action Akira will be based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s six-volume graphic novel, instead of his 1988 animated movie, with each movie comprising three parts.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22045

monkeyfudge

He has a boards account as well I believe. Has posted in the Film Production forum in the past.

madrab

noooo it cant be done!!!

ill wait and see but i dont have much hope for it

The Denouncer

Akira is one of my fav movies, and I am intrigued to see it in live action. I think it can be done, yes, cyberpunk writ large.

monkeyfudge

I'm not so sure about adapting the 6 volumes of the Manga into two films.

They kind of dragged the story out a bit after the destruction of Neo Tokyo, so I can't see the second film being as good as the first part.

Is it not a bit strange that they're giving such a cult classic to a relative unknown. He did do 50Percent Grey though, which was a fantastic short film.

He has another short called Silent City. It's quite litereally pretty short - only around 5 minutes, so you obviously can't have much done. But the imagery is fantastic and if I remember correctly, a lot of the shots would be similar to that in Akira i.e. landscape shots etc.

Cillian Murphy is in it too, in perhaps his.. well.. shortest role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MfNyfwwfV4

The Denouncer

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it not a bit strange that they're giving such a cult classic to a relative unknown. He did do 50Percent Grey though, which was a fantastic short film.

He has another short called Silent City. It's quite litereally pretty short - only around 5 minutes, so you obviously can't have much done. But the imagery is fantastic and if I remember correctly, a lot of the shots would be similar to that in Akira i.e. landscape shots etc.

Cillian Murphy is in it too, in perhaps his.. well.. shortest role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MfNyfwwfV4

They are both fantastic I thought. He'll do a great job, I'm not expecting another Danny Cannon.

Vokes

Yeh, remember him posting that on boards on while back.

Aedh Baclamh

Nice short there. I don't normally watch them but there was one posted here a while back, maybe two years ago, and I thought it was pretty cool. Think it was sci-fi but I'm not 100% on that. Anyone got any ideas?

humanji

I hope to god it goes well for him, but I'd worry about picking a film like Akira for your first feature. It'll be very hard to please fans of the original and the comics, and if it isn't done well, he'll be slated for it. Plus, because it's a set top be a major release, he could very easily find that the studios take most of the control over it and if anything goes wrong because of that, he'll again, be lumped with the blame.

FunkZ

Well I'll check it out when it's out I suppose.

Jello

That short is excellent.

Can't say I'm a mega manga fan or anything but this sounds interesting. I await.

BlitzKrieg

the live-action Akira will be based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s six-volume graphic novel, instead of his 1988 animated movie, with each movie comprising three parts.

Thats the way I'd go about it, Akira can be well adapted if the filmmakers go the route of the manga and not the anime...though if I recall the difficulty will be books 2 and 3 and also the books have a much stronger anti America sentiment to them in the 2nd half.


But anyway

Books 1 and 2 are for the most part the events that made up most of the anime with more characters fleshed out and it doesnt have the same headf*ck conclusion (thats book 6 mostly)

You can very much so get a film out of the first two books, and if it was the first of two films its very possible.

ending with a fantastic cliffhanger of Akira being reborn

The danger is book 3.

Book 3 is fantastic action adventure set piece and it sets itself up perfectly as the conclusion to the first half of the story.

Problem with book 3 is that it keeps the reader hooked but it doesnt advance the plot as much as book 1 or 2 did.

but it has the better cliffhanger point.

Big explosion

So if one was in a studio position you'd try and hook book 3's ending onto book 2 with most of book 3 gutted.


But then the 2nd film will have books 4, 5, 6.

Book 4 sets up the new setting for the second half of the story, but it goes into this ridiculous side plot that is not far fetched in being compared to the two towers, a battle that in the end doesnt seem too important but it tooks up the whole of book 4 pretty much.

Book 5 and 6. Pretty much run the plotline to its conclusion and bring all the main characters back to the front and finish the story.



Honestly if I had unlimited funds, I'd go for a trilogy of

book 1 and 2

book 3 and 4

book 5 and 6.

Film wise though, books 3 and 4 go way off the mark in plot advancement...but they are fantastic set pieces, they really flesh out the world have great scenes but only one thing is really important in those 2 books.

The problem with a trilogy is that the middle film might feel a bit weak with its biggest draw being in the middle and its conclusion would feel flat in comparison.


So doing two films and pretty much skimming books 3 and 4 would be ideal. But then alot of the appealing minor characters will get the knife. But I guess thats the industry.


So getting the story shouldnt be a problem. I am curious about the setting, will neo tokyo be replaced by neo york or neo angelos? Would that work? I find it hard to see Akira being set anywhere in the USA, so then coming from hollywood you would have to write american characters into the plot which isnt a problem with some characters, the spy, the colonel, most scientists are meant to be american/white anyway but the characters of kaneada and tetsuo might be more difficult.

I'd wait and see about the setting.

EIDT:

BAH!

The movies, which the filmmakers describe as Blade Runner meets City Of God (far more reassuring than, say, Blades Of Glory meets City Of Industry), have been relocated to the States as well, with the action taking place in “New Manhattan”, a vast conurbation that has risen from the ashes of New York, 31 years after it was destroyed in a nuclear attack.

so the whole thing is being moved to the USA. that sucks.



But I'm glad at least that they are drawing from the manga instead of the anime.


On the director. I believe I was a tad overly critical of silent city, but I believe that was on really minor aesthetic reasons, nothing major. My main hope is that he is a fan of the Akira Manga that way he will do the series justice.

Earthhorse

Aedh Baclamh wrote: »

Nice short there. I don't normally watch them but there was one posted here a while back, maybe two years ago, and I thought it was pretty cool. Think it was sci-fi but I'm not 100% on that. Anyone got any ideas?

Are you thinking of Prey Alone?

humanji wrote: »

I hope to god it goes well for him, but I'd worry about picking a film like Akira for your first feature. It'll be very hard to please fans of the original and the comics, and if it isn't done well, he'll be slated for it. Plus, because it's a set top be a major release, he could very easily find that the studios take most of the control over it and if anything goes wrong because of that, he'll again, be lumped with the blame.

I echo those sentiments. I don't doubt his ability to make the world come alive; that is, to realise it fully and properly on screen. Whether the characters and plots work out is another thing. He's a friend of a friend though so I sincerely hope it blows people's minds when it's finished.

Aedh Baclamh

Thank you Earthhorse. Much appreciated.

lostexpectation

didn't think much of either short


does he have a good effects company around him maybe?

Earthhorse

lostexpectation wrote: »

does he have a good effects company around him maybe?

Pretty sure he does all his effects work himself. I mean, I know it's a feature and he'll obviously have a team of people around him and will have to work with them, but I imagine part of the reason, in fact, the main reason, they've hired him is because of his talents in this area. Remember, the shorts you saw were made on a shoestring budget and only look as good as they do thanks to Ruairi.

projectmayhem

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Honestly if I had unlimited funds, I'd go for a trilogy of

book 1 and 2

book 3 and 4

book 5 and 6.

absolutely agree. and i rarely agree to any suggestion of another "trilogy"...

hopefully it does what it needs but i fear for it as the director is unknown, as is the writer. i know they're merely adapting the original works, but it does feel a little bit like the studio muscle is running the show with noobs to make sure they get their way, rather then getting cameron (who i believe expressed interest in the rights a few years ago) who'd do it his way.

either way, i'll watch it, buy the merch and the blu-ray

ollie1

Ruairi directed,wrote and did all the Cg himself on both short films and has done many Tv commercials and was nominated for a Oscar with 50% Grey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osuDbJs5Qvw&feature=related <<Here is a add for drink milk he did but you might have seen it on Tv in Ireland but for Yop

po0k

I'm looking forward to this.
Cast aside any doubts, and revel in Irish talent getting a bit of spotlight.

monkeyfudge

Can we begin to wildly speculate on casting now?

John Hensley for Tetsuo?

humanji

That's a big head!

monkeyfudge

He plays the son in the series Nip/Tuck

Here's Testsuo for reference:

humanji

Well, I guess the head kind of matches up then. He'll need a new arm though!

And I'm curious as to which hand he **** with. I wouldn't want a sinewy mass of exposed muscle and veins being touched by an arm like that!!!

JP Liz V1

Source

It's official on the Garrett Hedlund front - he's now in negotiations to play the bike gang leader, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Offers are still out to Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter and, reportedly, Keira Knightley.
It’s been a long, hard road, littered with the debris of changing directors, rumoured stars and budgetary issues, but it appears Warner Bros. is finally ready to visit Neo Tokyo – or is it New Manhattan now? Yes, according to Variety, the studio has finally greenlit its live-action version of classic anime Akira.
Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra is the man still sitting in the director’s chair and the budget is apparently down to a more manageable $90 million. The plot finds a bike gang leader dealing with the fallout when his best pal is used in a government experiment to exploit his powerful psychokinetic abilities.
While there’s apparently a start date planned for February/March next year, the cast has yet to be locked. So who could star? Well, Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund is apparently in the frame as a likely lead – and at least he has experience with futuristic bikes. Even if they were lightcycles...
Warners nabbed the rights to Katsuhiro Otomo’s beloved animation back in 2008, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way company aboard to produce. The script’s been through numerous drafts, with contributions from Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, with the latest version penned by Harry Potter veteran Steve Kloves. Albert Hughes was at one point attached to direct and the likes of Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, James Franco, Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron have all been linked with rumours about the lead role.

Brian?

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Source

It's official on the Garrett Hedlund front - he's now in negotiations to play the bike gang leader, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Offers are still out to Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter and, reportedly, Keira Knightley.
It’s been a long, hard road, littered with the debris of changing directors, rumoured stars and budgetary issues, but it appears Warner Bros. is finally ready to visit Neo Tokyo – or is it New Manhattan now? Yes, according to Variety, the studio has finally greenlit its live-action version of classic anime Akira.
Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra is the man still sitting in the director’s chair and the budget is apparently down to a more manageable $90 million. The plot finds a bike gang leader dealing with the fallout when his best pal is used in a government experiment to exploit his powerful psychokinetic abilities.
While there’s apparently a start date planned for February/March next year, the cast has yet to be locked. So who could star? Well, Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund is apparently in the frame as a likely lead – and at least he has experience with futuristic bikes. Even if they were lightcycles...
Warners nabbed the rights to Katsuhiro Otomo’s beloved animation back in 2008, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way company aboard to produce. The script’s been through numerous drafts, with contributions from Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, with the latest version penned by Harry Potter veteran Steve Kloves. Albert Hughes was at one point attached to direct and the likes of Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, James Franco, Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron have all been linked with rumours about the lead role.

I had hoped this had just gone away, ah well.

They're going to murder it.

johnny_ultimate

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Source

So Liz.

Any opinions on the remake? Oh how it fundamentally misses the point on some many levels that it borders on offensive (even if Otomo is acting as producer)? What do you think of the inherent irony of Americanising a film that acts as a sci-fi allegory of the Hiroshima / Nagasaki bombings and their aftermath? Or how about the oddness of adapting an animated film that helped define and shape anime as a storytelling medium into live-action? How will they possibly be able to capture the scale of Tetsuo's

transformation into a demi-god

? Heck, even any thoughts on anything as basic as the casting?

Just asking because I'm interested in hearing your opinion rather than Empires. I'm fairly sure we've warned and banned you for things like this many times before.

Otis Driftwood

Anime to live action transfers dont really work that Ive seen.The only one that springs to mind is Ichi The Killer however Ive never read the source material so dont have a point of reference from that persepective.

Whoever is making this should be made watch Devilman then watch the movie version to see how not to do it.

johnny_ultimate

The 20th Century Boys films were pretty damn good, but I haven't read the manga so not sure how it works as an adaptation. Same with Ichi the Killer.

And Death Note was a decent stab (fans will probably disagree with me there), if it couldn't quite abandon its animated roots with an over-CGIed monster present for a considerable portion of the running time.

These were Japanese adaptations: not rousing successes, yet solid stuff. But Akira, a work so fundamentally Japanese getting remade in America? This is a whole different ballpark.

o1s1n

Why wont this project just stay dead?

johnny_ultimate

o1s1n wrote: »

Why wont this project just stay dead?

It, like Akira him(it?)self, is holed up in an underground bunker somewhere. Try as they might, sometimes it defrosts itself and causes some momentarily apocalyptic danger. It all depends on whether a group of telepathic children can get there before anything Rapture-like happens.

Unfortunately, this time they're taking a nap.

Ridley

I'm kinda expecting an announcement that Kanye West's version of Stronger will be on the soundtrack.

The live-action Akira homages weren't terrible in that video. Still set in Japan though...

o1s1n

I didn't know about those clips in that video until I happened to randomly see it one evening on television.

I've never 'wtf?!'-ed so much in my life.

johnny_ultimate

Kanye West does have this thing for ripping off homaging films set in Tokyo. SEIZURE ALERT. Exhibit A:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPxgi-PiNFE

Exhibit B:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfFfqiYLp0

The Akira / Daft Punk one is pretty strange too.