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INTEREST: Chris Weston on Redrawing Akira Bike for Live-Action


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GoldenAvenger7



Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:44 pm Reply with quote
Why drastically change the bike? If you are going to change the design, only do it slightly to keep it practical, and keep the fire-engine red color scheme. I already don't like the direction this is going...it's almost like they are trying to piss fans off and make this a flop. These people are incompetent.
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Sunday Silence



Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 2047
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:58 pm Reply with quote
You figure with the sheer amount of custom motorbike shops out there, one could theoretically make a perfect representation of Akira's bike. What, was OCC or Paul Jr. Designs too engrossed suing the living daylights outta each other? Was Jesse James too engrossed in being a Nazi the day they called?
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Apollo-kun



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1213
Location: City 7, Macross 7
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:29 pm Reply with quote
Dear lord, they're going through with this . . . I personally never adored "Akira", because I read the manga first and by comparison, the film felt very simplified and clouded with muddled messages. So, the American version will be a simplification of a simplification, essentially. With this interview about changing the bikes up, and other tidbits of news leaking out sporadically, I'm really afraid of what's going to become of this bastardization. I'd rather Hollywood screw up bad anime than screw up something that is generally acknowledged to be a great film. While, once again, I've never been the biggest fan of the film, I appreciate all of the effort that went into it, and understand why so many love it. The fact that Hollywood is screwing up something people truly love like this is nothing new, but the fact that it's to a classic like "Akira" is both sickening and infuriating.
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teferi



Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 400
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Apollo-kun wrote:
Dear lord, they're going through with this . . . I personally never adored "Akira", because I read the manga first and by comparison, the film felt very simplified and clouded with muddled messages. So, the American version will be a simplification of a simplification, essentially. With this interview about changing the bikes up, and other tidbits of news leaking out sporadically, I'm really afraid of what's going to become of this bastardization. I'd rather Hollywood screw up bad anime than screw up something that is generally acknowledged to be a great film. While, once again, I've never been the biggest fan of the film, I appreciate all of the effort that went into it, and understand why so many love it. The fact that Hollywood is screwing up something people truly love like this is nothing new, but the fact that it's to a classic like "Akira" is both sickening and infuriating.


Remember Dragonball: evolution? Everyone complained in the same exact manner that you are, and guess what? No one cares about it anymore. If Hollywood makes a poor adaptation of something it doesn't affect anything aside from the studio. If on the other hand they actually make a quality adaptation we all benefit. Acting like there is some sort of potential loss for the fanbase is absurd.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:10 pm Reply with quote
I kinda feel sorry for the guy. he's being hired to change something he knows is iconic and no matter how hard he tries to keep as much of the original design as possible yet still please the people who want him to modify it most of the fans are still going to be pissed at him despite all his efforts.
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MagusGuardian



Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 589
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:20 pm Reply with quote
what?!?!? people are still talking about the live action Akira bastardization? I thought the whole thing was stuffed onto the back burner to never see the light of day ever again
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ommadon



Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:55 pm Reply with quote
I won't judge it till I see it.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:04 am Reply with quote
Apollo-kun wrote:
Dear lord, they're going through with this . . . I personally never adored "Akira", because I read the manga first and by comparison, the film felt very simplified and clouded with muddled messages. So, the American version will be a simplification of a simplification, essentially.


No, the Hollywood remake, if it ever gets made, will be based on the manga, not on the anime film.

They probably want to make the bike road-safe with practical fighting tricks as well as looking bad-ass because some stuntman will actually gonna be riding this thing while fighting gangs, not looking like this, as the blog states: Laughing

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sokpupet



Joined: 22 May 2004
Posts: 133
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:41 am Reply with quote
So all he really did was add some heft and peel away bits of casing, but kept the overall design the same. Yeah, what a bastard Rolling Eyes

Getting the bike right won't make the movie any better, but making an exact copy sure as hell wouldn't do it any favors. Civilization is in the crapper, and bitch be riding a_Kool-Aid® fruit punch red superbike? I'm sorry, but no. In comics and cartoons that works like a kid in a coal mine, but it simply does not translate well to live action.

We should all rest easy though, because this isn't going to happen. Even if it does, it's just like teferi said: It'll come and go, and we'll all survive.

edit: thing wouldn't put the k in cool-aid. see? did it again!
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:49 am Reply with quote
sokpupet wrote:
…but it simply does not translate well to live action.

A sound aphorism, worthy of being annexed to many of the official statements made regarding this project.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:10 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
...
No, the Hollywood remake, if it ever gets made, will be based on the manga, not on the anime film.

They probably want to make the bike road-safe with practical fighting tricks as well as looking bad-ass because some stuntman will actually gonna be riding this thing while fighting gangs...

First I'd like to comment on how hilarious that picture is.

That said, I feel a bit bad about now ragging on your theory about stunts. Hollywood has eschewed real stunts in favor of heinous CG. Thanks to directors such as George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez real stunts have sadly gone the way of the dodo. I'd bet money that the motorcycle fight scenes in the Live Action Akira will be done with poor CG, such that even the fights in the now-ancient Final Fantasy Advent Children would look better. All other fight scenes will be done with the shaky camera work and quick panning and editing that are used in almost all movie fight scenes these days, as cutting from locus to locus in a fight conveys a sense of action (supposedly) without having to actually have a detailed fight choreography or actors trained in fighting.

Other than Inception I can't think of a recent Hollywood movie which even tried to use real stunts as the core of its production, but I can think of dozens which abuse cheap CG, to the detriment of the movie.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:01 pm Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
...
No, the Hollywood remake, if it ever gets made, will be based on the manga, not on the anime film.

They probably want to make the bike road-safe with practical fighting tricks as well as looking bad-ass because some stuntman will actually gonna be riding this thing while fighting gangs...

First I'd like to comment on how hilarious that picture is.

That said, I feel a bit bad about now ragging on your theory about stunts. Hollywood has eschewed real stunts in favor of heinous CG. Thanks to directors such as George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez real stunts have sadly gone the way of the dodo. I'd bet money that the motorcycle fight scenes in the Live Action Akira will be done with poor CG, such that even the fights in the now-ancient Final Fantasy Advent Children would look better. All other fight scenes will be done with the shaky camera work and quick panning and editing that are used in almost all movie fight scenes these days, as cutting from locus to locus in a fight conveys a sense of action (supposedly) without having to actually have a detailed fight choreography or actors trained in fighting.


So....... you're saying they're cutting corners copying anime fight scenes now? Laughing

But you may still turn out to be correct. Yet, if people really want the Akira bike to look exactly alike and badass, CG may be the best option.
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Toriko36



Joined: 09 Nov 2010
Posts: 205
Location: Hoboken, NJ
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:28 pm Reply with quote
"..Westen says that he was immediately asked to redesign Tetsuo's iconic crimson motorbike."

It's actually, Kaneda's bike. Not Tetsuo's.
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Toa Phoenix



Joined: 08 Jul 2011
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:30 pm Reply with quote
There were similar worries and cries of woe when news of a live-action Transformers movie was coming out, there were similar cries of woe and fandom outrage. I remember that people were REALLY angry that Optimus Prime was a long-nose truck instead of a flat nose, and that he had flames. FLAMES!!?? Blasphemy!, the fans cried out. Once we started seeing the trailers and when the film came out, however, all but the most hardcore and close-minded of fans (who would remain pissed no matter what the outcome) fell silent, and some, including myself, think it made look, just a little more interesting, since in his robot mode, the flames were configured to look like ribs (not to mention Peter Cullen, the original voice actor for Prime, returning to voice the character, probably soften the blow as well).

It was Revenge of the Fallen that pissed off fans. (I won't get into TF3, as I am indifferent on it right now, and I'm getting off topic anyways)

Now, Akira, in many ways, has a set of other issues fanwise than Transformers did, to the point that it might even be a whole different beast.

Still, I think what the artist was going for was to not deviate to far from the iconic design of the bike, such as making sure that it stayed red for instance, but bringing a sense of realism to the bike, so since it is a battle bike, it make sense that there would be dings and scratches and be dirty and have few pieces missing, because, only in anime physics would battling bikes fight and not receive damage any damage.

As I do not know if any concept art was released of what the bike would look like, and the film having never come even close to showing any footage, I think it's a bit hard to judge that it would be terrible and be an insult to fans.

If you are so concerned, take comfort in the fact that this bike will not be coming to fruition anytime soon, but that can also mean that whoever does ultimately design the bike may not have as much respect or praise for the original movie design.

UPDATE: Many of my comments I believe are echoed in this article, though I used a different example: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/GraphicCity/news/?a=41771

Toa Phoenix
At least there won't be an Akira 2


Last edited by Toa Phoenix on Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:51 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Toa Phoenix



Joined: 08 Jul 2011
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:37 pm Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
...
No, the Hollywood remake, if it ever gets made, will be based on the manga, not on the anime film.

They probably want to make the bike road-safe with practical fighting tricks as well as looking bad-ass because some stuntman will actually gonna be riding this thing while fighting gangs...

First I'd like to comment on how hilarious that picture is.

That said, I feel a bit bad about now ragging on your theory about stunts. Hollywood has eschewed real stunts in favor of heinous CG. Thanks to directors such as George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez real stunts have sadly gone the way of the dodo. I'd bet money that the motorcycle fight scenes in the Live Action Akira will be done with poor CG, such that even the fights in the now-ancient Final Fantasy Advent Children would look better. All other fight scenes will be done with the shaky camera work and quick panning and editing that are used in almost all movie fight scenes these days, as cutting from locus to locus in a fight conveys a sense of action (supposedly) without having to actually have a detailed fight choreography or actors trained in fighting.

Other than Inception I can't think of a recent Hollywood movie which even tried to use real stunts as the core of its production, but I can think of dozens which abuse cheap CG, to the detriment of the movie.


Of all things I shouldn't give Micheal Bay credit for, the least I could give him is his emphasis on realism. In all the Transformers movies, alot all the destruction, explosions, and devastation, usually the only thing that isn't real in those scenes are the robots themselves and only the robot modes.

Ex. the famous scene from the first film where Scorponok is jumping out the sand as the soldiers run away, the only thing not real is Scorponok. Everything else (explosions, faces of terror, and all) are real.

Toa Phoenix
I doubt you want Micheal Bay, though
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