Akira (Taika Waititi??)

[BuffaloWilder]

Holy crap, this is turning out awesome.

[number8]

The rumor of James Franco playing Tetsuo is the first piece of news that got me excited.

[megladon8]

The rumor of James Franco playing Tetsuo is the first piece of news that got me excited.

I didn't know until just the other day that it's now "neo New York".

So when I heard the rumor that James Franco was playing Tetsuo I was thinking this was going to be sssoooo terrible if they were going to be casting white actors as characters that are clearly supposed to be Japanese.

So I imagine his name will not be "Tetsuo" in the movie.

[number8]

I would imagine that the only Japanese person on the movie will be Akira, just to keep the title.

[BuffaloWilder]

In the screenplay I read, there's a giant Asian cultural influence over the newly rebuilt Neo-New York - so, a lot of people end up with Asian first names. Tetsuo being one of them, if I'm remembering right.

[Sycophant]

Thought I read somewheres that "Tetsuo" would become "Travis."

[Watashi]

I really want this to get made.

Am I in the minority for that?

[Ezee E]

I'm all for it with the Hughes Brothers behind it.

[Stay Puft]

I didn't know until just the other day that it's now "neo New York".

So when I heard the rumor that James Franco was playing Tetsuo I was thinking this was going to be sssoooo terrible if they were going to be casting white actors as characters that are clearly supposed to be Japanese.

So I imagine his name will not be "Tetsuo" in the movie.

I would imagine that the only Japanese person on the movie will be Akira, just to keep the title.

In the screenplay I read, there's a giant Asian cultural influence over the newly rebuilt Neo-New York - so, a lot of people end up with Asian first names. Tetsuo being one of them, if I'm remembering right.

Brilliant.

Taking the story out of Japan... what is the point of all of this.

Nobody answer that.

[Watashi]

Akira never screamed "Japan" anyway. The story could be set anywhere.

[Sven]

Akira never screamed "Japan" anyway. The story could be set anywhere.

Ummm....

[Dead & Messed Up]

Akira never screamed "Japan" anyway. The story could be set anywhere.

As I remember it, Akira was distinctly Japanese, given its nuclear origins (Neo-Tokyo is created atop the ruins of an atomic explosion) and motifs (the explosion at the end purposefully evokes that level of destruction), both of which connect to Japanese fears of nuclear holocaust. That connection isn't quite as blunt as what you'll find in Godzilla, but I'd have trouble saying there isn't a strong connection between the original film and its setting.

[Skitch]

I get nervous every time this thread resurfaces.

[number8]

As I remember it, Akira was distinctly Japanese, given its nuclear origins (Neo-Tokyo is created atop the ruins of an atomic explosion)

Not exactly on top. Neo Tokyo is on a man-made island near the old Tokyo's crater.

I wouldn't say that it's untranslatable, given that post-war economic and social unrest and nuclear fear are universal feelings, but the world of AKIRA directly mirrors Japan right after WWII, yes, so I do think it would lose something there.

[Sven]

I wouldn't say that it's untranslatable, given that post-war economic and social unrest and nuclear fear are universal feelings, but the world of AKIRA directly mirrors Japan right after WWII, yes, so I do think it would lose something there.

Sure those feelings are universal, but I would think it would be a retarding of subtext to transplant the story to the country that H-bombed Japan in the first place.

[number8]

Ha, totally didn't even think of that. That would be a huge insult, wouldn't it?

[Sven]

I really want this to get made.

Am I in the minority for that?

After dwelling on this project for a bit, I sure hope so.

[Morris Schæffer]

Pattinson, Garfield or McAvoy eyed for Tetsuo role while Fassbender, Pine, Phoenix, Timberlake or Garrett Hedlund may play Kaneda.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30480

[Mara]

Maybe it's just the big-eyed, androgynous way that anime draws men, but I always thought of the main characters as being far, far younger than they seem to want to cast them. I always thought they were, like, 19.

[D_Davis]

Maybe it's just the big-eyed, androgynous way that anime draws men, but I always thought of the main characters as being far, far younger than they seem to want to cast them. I always thought they were, like, 19.

In some anime that style is true, but not with Otomo. That's one of my favorite things about his style - the characters tend to look their age, and the guys look like guys. 19 is right around the right age for the main biker characters in Akira.

[Skitch]

I thought they were 16-17...late high school age.

[Mara]

Then they need to stop tossing around the names of guys in their thirties.

[number8]

Pattinson is 24, and he can probably pull off a pretty good Tetsuo, actually.

[Mara]

Pattinson is 24, and he can probably pull off a pretty good Tetsuo, actually.

I've never seen him in anything. Oh, except HP. He was okay in that.

Wouldn't kill them to find a talented unknown.

[D_Davis]

I thought they were 16-17...late high school age.

I always imagined Kaneda's gang being 15-19 with the Clowns being a bit older.