TwitchFilm have reported this week that Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy star, Gary Oldman and The King’s Speech Oscar Winner, Helena Bonham Carter have been offered roles in Jaume Collet-Sera’s (Orphan, The Unknown) US remake of anime film, Akira. The film has now officially been green lighted by Warner Bros. and the casting is now on the top of everyone’s list.
Word began to circulate late last week that Tron: Legacy star Garret Hedlund is in talks to play Kaneda and while Twitch is indeed hearing those talks are ongoing – albeit in the early stages.
Twitch has learned that Gary Oldman has been offered the role of Colonel while Helena Bonham-Carter has been offered Lady Miyako.
Akira is a manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo, which is set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo. Initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, the works were collected in six volumes by Japanese publisher Kodansha. The comics were first published in an English language version by the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics, one of the first manga works to be translated in its entirety.
An identically titled anime film adaptation was released in 1988, shortening the plot, but with its structure and scenes heavily informed by the manga and its serial origins.
