New Screenwriter Hired For Live-Action Akira Remake; Albert Hughes Talks PG-13
It’s taken a while for Warner Bros. to get a plan together with respect to the live-action adaptation ofKatsuhiro Otomo’s six-volume mangaAkira, which Otomo previously directed as anime. That 1988 version became a landmark effort in anime, setting a bar for the remake that many fans consider impossibly high. But the anime, massively condensed from the manga and with an alternate ending, has an awkward, exposition-heavy narrative that isn’t nearly as engrossing as the beautiful animation.
So, yeah, there’s some leeway for a live-action adaptation that has the space to stretch the story out between two films. Or I thought there was, until I heard the writer ofHenry Poole is Herewould be penning the latest draft.
Colliderspoke with producerAndrew Lazar, who gave an update on the film.First up, he seems to emphasize in the interview that onlyAlbert Hughes, not Albert and his brotherAllen Hughes, are directing.
Albert Torres' only produced credit isHenry Poole is Here, the fairly terrible 2008Mark Pellington-directed film that starredLuke Wilsonas a guy who buys a house in his childhood neighborhood to live out what he thinks are his last days. He discovers a stain on the side of his house that looks like Jesus, and the image is taken as a miracle.
Some of the problems with the film definitely lie in Pellington’s overtly music video direction. (There are sequences, as when Poole wanders the LA river, where the movie just turns into a music video, to no good effect.) But the film’s schmaltz and cloyingly heavy sentiment seem lodged in the screenplay. Seeing Torres on something likeAkira, a story that led to a top-heavy script laden with dull exposition even when the original creator wrote it…well, I’m not thrilled.
There’s another reason I’m not thrilled. Albert Hughes just appeared on aWashington, DC radio show(viaFilm School Rejects) where he talked about the film being PG-13 and the idea that he might only direct the first of two planned films. (One adapting the first three manga volumes, and the second volumes four through six.)
PG-13 isn’t a big deal, nor is it a surprise. This is going to be a massive production, and afterWatchmenI can’t imagine that Warner Bros. is terribly eager to drop $150m+ on an R-rated film with niche fan appeal. IfThe Dark Knightcan work as a PG-13 film then so canAkira. As Hughes says in the interview, it’s a challenge, but it can be done.
But I don’t think I’m imagining a bit of pessimism, or at least weariness, in Hughes' voice when he says he might only do the first of the two projected films. “I’m not into sequels,” he says. “I don’t even know if I wanna be around for the sequel. I’m just focusing on the first movie.” In most circumstances, focusing on the first movie is a great idea, but in a situation like Akira, when that is literally only half the story, that doesn’t seem like the best plan.
Torres draft, which is being written with Hughes, is evidently due in September, so there’s still a ways to go before we hear any real new info on their approach.
