The boys at JoBlo have heard a few distressing(or joyous depending on your opinion on this adap) things about WB's live action version of Akira. Here is an excerpt from their article..
Early Thursday morning, some time after receiving word from Reeves' reps that he would be passing on the project, Warner Bros. shut down AKIRA's pre-viz department and most of the staff that was working on the film was let go. While it may be easy to draw conclusions when you see both events taking place in the same week, I'm told that one has nothing to do with the other. Warners, who has a close relationship with Reeves after the MATRIX films, was disappointed he passed but are still actively looking for a lead.
When asked to comment on the production shake-up, Warner Bros. released the following statement: "Production on ‘Akira’ has not halted or been shut down, as the film has not yet been greenlit and is still very much in the development stage. The exploratory process is crucial to a project of this magnitude, and we will continue to sculpt our approach to making the best possible film."
Mmmm. Is this doomed? We know that Albert Hughes has signed on, we know that Steve Kloves was brought in to work on the script, and we know that practically every leading man in Hollywood has been offered the lead! Reeves passing means WB are either going to have to keep searching for an actor with some serious star power, which they have been doing, or go a different route. Maybe cast someone under 40 for a character written as 15 in the comic? I dunno, might help ease the fans into the whole thing anyway.
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