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After Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) dropped out of Warner Bros.' adaptation of Akira in May, Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Orphan) has taken the helm, THR reports.
Based on the series of Japanese Manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira has been in development since 2008. Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves was brought on board to rewrite the script in February, prompting the studio to finally start casting the movie. At the time, candidates for the two lead roles included Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, Chris Pine and Justin Timberlake, among others. Whether any of those actors are still a possibility is unknown, but the next step for Collet-Serra and Warners is likely casting.
Recently, Collet-Serra was one of two contenders to helm the 300 spin-off, 300: Battle of Artemisia. No word on whether Collet-Serra is still up for the project, but, likely, Akira will keep him too busy.
Posted 07.15.11 by Ryan -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Unknown | $21.8M | $21.8M | Liam Neeson action-thriller wins weekend. |
| I Am Number Four | $19.5M | $19.5M | Twilight knock-off nearly wins weekend. |
| Gnomeo and Juliet | $19.4M | $50.4M | Continued strong showing for animated family pic. |
| Just Go With It | $18.2M | $60.8M | Critic disdain doesn't keep Sandler-Aniston rom-com out of Top 5. |
| Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son | $17.0M | $17.0M | Cross-dressing sequel beats Bieber pic for 5th-place finish. |
Posted 02.21.11 by reelz -
January Jones and Liam Neeson star in Unknown. Is it as bland as its title?
"Sleek and, until a stupidly violent climax, very entertaining..."
— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune"...whips up a big old puree of ingredients borrowed from other cinematic recipes. Then it dishes out the mildly spiced results as post-Oscar-quality snack food..."
— Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly"Action fans expecting another righteous display of ass-kicking from Liam Neeson may feel slightly let down by Unknown, which casts the Taken star as clueless prey rather than ruthless predator."
— Justin Chang, Variety"...a tepid thriller..."
— Nick Schager, Village Voice"...Unknown isn't even half as smart or fun as the worst 007 spy caper."
— Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine -
Academy Award-nominated actor Liam Neeson recently revealed that a sequel is in the works to his 2009 surprise hit thriller, Taken. Until then, however, fans of the brawny Irishman's more action-packed movies will no doubt enjoy Unknown, which has a similar vibe as Taken in that it is equal parts mystery and thriller set against a European backdrop with Neeson (practically) alone against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan), Unknown follows Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) as he wakes up from a coma to find that his wife (January Jones) doesn't recognize him and that another man (Aidan Quinn) has taken over his life. Determined to return to the life he used to know, Dr. Harris is set upon by mysterious assassins bent on silencing him forever. Diane Kruger also stars.
watch four preview clips >> Posted 02.09.11 by BrentJS -
Warner Bros. has released a new preview clip for the upcoming thriller Unknown. The movie stars Liam Neeson as a victim of a car crash in Berlin who awakes from a comas to find that another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity and he is being hunted by assassins. Unlike Neeson's other internationally-set thriller, Taken, Neeson finds himself chased instead of being the chaser. In the latest clip Neeson and Diane Kruger are pursued through the streets of Berlin.
watch the clip >> Posted 02.04.11 by Ryan -
In what is (hopefully) becoming a bi-yearly tradition, Liam Neeson is starring in another internationally set thriller. Unlike 2009's Taken, however, the person Neeson is trying to save in Unknown is himself. Playing a doctor who is the victim of a car crash in Berlin, Neeson wakes from a coma to find that his wife (January Jones) no longer recognizes him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Finding himself hunted, Neeson turns to his taxi cab driver (Diane Kruger) for help. As usual, Neeson will also deploy his own unique skill set to survive.
watch the trailer and TV spots >> Posted 01.26.11 by Ryan -
Considering what a surprise smash hit director Pierre Morel's Taken (2009) turned out to be — it earned 10 times its production budget in worldwide ticket sales — it's no wonder that Warner Bros. is hoping to glean some of that movie's success by marketing its new movie starring Academy Award-nominee Liam Neeson, Unknown (formerly Unknown White Male), as being kinda-sorta related to Taken.
In fact, the just released theatrical poster for Unknown is so similar to the teaser poster for Taken that they could have been shot on the same day, using the same wardrobe. Not only that, but the first word on the Unknown poster, well above the title, is "Take," just one letter short of the title of Morel's movie.
See the still images and trailer for Unknown >> Posted 11.27.10 by BrentJS -
The first trailer for director Jaume Collet-Serra's (Orphan) new thriller, Unknown (formerly Unknown White Male), is now online. Academy Award–nominated actor Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris, a happily married man who awakens from a coma following a car accident to find that his wife (January Jones) doesn't recognize him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Now, hunted by mysterious assassins and beginning to question his own sanity, Martin turns to an unlikely ally (Diane Kruger) to aid his quest to uncover the truth.
watch the trailer >> Posted 10.24.10 by BrentJS -
Frank Langella has signed on to star opposite Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, and January Jones in the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed thriller Unknown White Male, according to Variety.
The script is based on the Didier Van Cauwelaert novel Hors de moi (Out of My Head) and tells the story of a man (Neeson) who wakes from a coma following a car accident. He finds that his wife of ten years (Jones) does not recognize him and has struck a relationship with another man who has stolen his identity.
Both Kruger and Langella will portray characters that help the protagonist in his quest to recover his identity and his relationship with his wife.
This will be the fourth project for Langella following his Oscar-nominated performance in Frost/Nixon. He had a memorable role as the enigmatic Arlington Steward in Richard Kelly's The Box and has completed shooting on Andrew Jarecki's thriller All Good Things and Oliver Stone's sequel Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
Posted 12.09.09 by reelz -
Academy Award-nominated actor Liam Neeson's star is (finally) on the rise. Though a Hollywood stalwart since the success of 1999's Darkman, Neeson has only flirted with stardom over the years. Neeson won over critics as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List and collected a fan following thanks to roles in Star Wars: Episode I and Batman Begins. However, despite these notable roles, Neeson has never quite made it into the upper echelons of leading male actors.
Now, thanks to the surprise success of Taken, in which Neeson played a retired CIA agent who tracks down the slave traders who kidnapped his daughter, Neeson is set to star in a rapid succession of high-profile movies. Neeson will portray Zeus in the remake of the Ray Harryhausen classic Clash of the Titans, and is preparing to star in a big-budget adaptation of TV's The A-Team, in which he will play the team's leader, Col. John "Hannibal" Smith. After that, Neeson may be donning a beard and a top hat to bring Abraham Lincoln to life in a Steven Spielberg biopic.
The latest news has Neeson in negotiations to star in Unknown White Male, a thriller being directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan). Based on the novel Out of My Head by Didier Van Cauwelaert, Unknown White Male tells the story of a doctor who awakes from a coma to find that he has been replaced by a sinister imposter. Joel Silver is producing with Leonard Goldberg and shooting is scheduled to begin in January in Berlin.
Posted 08.06.09 by reelz