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According to Twitch, the latest casting offer in the upcoming Akira adaptation is out to actress Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga), with Warners reportedly wanting the actress for the part of Kei, a powerful medium who eventually becomes the love interest for Kaneda.
While the Twitch report says it's only an offer, Deadline reports Stewart is in advanced talks for the role. This would put the actress in line for her third potential franchise, after Twilight and, possibly, Snow White and the Huntsman, which is reportedly planned as a trilogy and could move forward with the sequels should the movie find success next June.
Casting has been moving fairly rapidly, now that Warner Bros. has officially given the greenlight to the adaptation of Akira for an early 2012 start.
Earlier this month, Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) was cast in the lead protagonist role of Kaneda, and the studio is looking for the right actor to play the antagonist of the movie, Tetsuo, with Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Alden Ehrenreich (Tetro) reportedly in contention for the role. Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter were also offered roles in the movie, but are yet to be confirmed.
will stewart take the role? >> Posted 11.16.11 by Ryan -
Either progress really is being made on putting together a cast for Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way-developed big screen adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga ("comic book") series or rumors about the movie run in pairs. DiCaprio has been working on Akira since 2008, but has made little progress. After hiring four different writers to adapt the six-volume series, and a pair of directors in Albert and Allen Hughes (The Book of Eli), Akira seemed to have stalled out over script and budget concerns. However, this past weekend, two different entertainment news sites linked Zac Efron (Charlie St. Cloud) to a lead role in the movie, and now Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) has also been mentioned in connection with another major role.
what Akira character is Freeman linked to? >> Posted 11.08.10 by BrentJS -
In Shrek Forever After, the formerly dashing lothario Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) has morphed into a morbidly obese, singularly unmotivated housecat. When fantasy's ultimate swashbuckler can no longer buckle his swash, you know things are bad. Puss isn't the first to have his downhill slide observed by the merciless eye of the camera. In fact, the list of characters with unfortunate cinematic transformations is considerable. We've compiled a video list of the most distressing cases.
See Top 10 "Wow, You've Really Let Yourself Go" Movies >> Posted 05.19.10 by reelz -
Having not directed a movie since 2001's From Hell, Allen and Albert Hughes scored a modest hit with The Book of Eli. With their reputation secure once more, Warner Brothers is looking to give them another job. Deadline Hollywood) reports that the twin directors are in talks to return to comic book adaptations with the live-action version of Akira, the Japanese manga comic that has already received a popular 1988 anime adaptation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Andrew Lazar are producing the movie through DiCaprio's Appian Way production company.
Like Eli, Akira is set in a dystopic future where protagonist Shotaro Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang, has to stop his best friend Tetsuo when his psychic powers start to drive him insane. The original manga covers six volumes, so Akira is intended to be two movies, with each movie covering three volumes. Eli writer Gary Whitta did the initial draft of the screenplay and told Comingsoon last December that he's not sure whether Iron Man and Children of Men screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are re-writing his script or starting from scratch.
...I haven't worked on it for about a year. 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. 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.
Fans will be pleased to hear that Akira author, and director of the anime movie, Katsuhiro Otomo was at least remotely involved.
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.
Akira is still scheduled for release sometime in 2011.
Posted 02.12.10 by Ryan -
Hollywood is currently so hooked on dystopias it's turning the multiplex into one. Whether it's solar flare bombardment (2012), an "unnamed cataclysm" (The Road), nuclear armageddon (The Book of Eli), or a pissed-off God (Legion), the world's coming to an end and the survivors are totally screwed.
This got us thinking: Which future movie worlds are the biggest bummers? Here's our Top 12. New Hampshire, these are not.
Posted 01.22.10 by reelz