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INTEREST: Writer: Live-Action Akira Would Have Been Set on Japanese-Owned Manhattan


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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 924
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 5:26 am Reply with quote
Bah.

Japan-of-today is a bad match for the Japan-of-akira. Times change, countries change, but the thematics of "akira"-worthy-of-the-name remain the same.

It's like casting a frail seventy-year-old man as the lead in a swashbuckler remake because he played the role originally forty years before. Keeping Akira "japanese" is just fanservice, and shitty fanservice at a high thematic cost. Pretty much the best solution would have been to strip out japan entirely and make it USA and 100% &c -- the japan of the bush years being remarkably similar to the bubble-era Akira was written in response to -- but it's too late for that now. What was topical becomes trite.

Maybe set it in guangzhou or something. Or Mumbai, that would work.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 6:52 am Reply with quote
Dodged that bullet.
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rockman nes



Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 7:24 am Reply with quote
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mrsticky005



Joined: 06 Nov 2008
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 7:52 am Reply with quote
Sounds like a lot of pointless b.s to "westernize" (i.e give an excuse to star white actors and have everybody speak English) Akira.

Better idea:

1. Set it in Japan. In the future. Like how it's supposed to be.

2. Have Future Japan have a diverse population.
It doesn't really matter WHY it does just do it.

3. Have English be the future's official global language.
Or whatever language the audience speaks.
Again it doesn't matter why. Just do it.

4. Don't just hire white people for starring roles.
There's really no real reason why we HAVE to have
a white Kaneda or a white Tetsuo. There's plenty of
great non-white actors and actresses out there.

The problem is that Hollywood thinks that having
an Asian in a starring role that isn't Kung Fu or whatever
isn't gonna get a lot of revenue. But I disagree.
I think Hollywood is stuck in an old mindset.
Now yes, big names do sell movies. But with a title like
Akira you don't NEED a big name actor to sell the movie
the title itself will do just that.

Now if they NEED a big name actor there's no reason
why they would have to westernize Kaneda that is to say
make him white. Because we all know that's what westernization
means. When's the last time you've seen them westernize
something and make everyone black? Yeah I didn't think so either.
They could get another character it doesn't need to be a major
character and say have him play by I dunno...Tom Cruise.
It could be a cameo for all I care and they can say
Tom Cruise is in AKIRA. Sure it's a lie but as long as the movie is
GOOD who's gonna really give a shit except die hard Cruise fans?
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2333
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 8:16 am Reply with quote
I still think John Cho and Kal Penn would have made excellent Kaneda and Tetsuo (not necessarily respectively). And at the least, get NPH to play the Colonel.
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TopGunman



Joined: 21 Dec 2010
Posts: 498
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 8:29 am Reply with quote
I call bullsh*t.

They stated that it was going to be set in Manhattan. This idea was probably thought up AFTER negative reactions.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:35 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
They didn't even have to go that far: in the 80's, the Japanese did own Manhattan! Laughing

Anyways, such machinations kinda remind us of the different ways the Japanese have manipulated their own islands to include non-Japanese in sci-fi settings like Ghost in the Shell, Scryed, Code Geass, etc.

And actually, the Japanese population and economy are on the downslide, so unless they really get tired of living in tight quarters or parts of Japan become like Fukushima, overpopulation would be an alleviating issue.


True that, after reading this article I did find the live-action universe and premise somewhat not good. I don't think this live-action would've been very good from looking at this premise.
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paperfanofdoom



Joined: 15 Mar 2013
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:18 am Reply with quote
Why would the Japanese want to buy Manhattan? It's on the Atlantic Ocean on the far-east side of America and completely out of the way for travel between Japan and America. It's not feasible even by BS Sci Fi logic, especially if they're bringing up the economy. California would've made more sense if they wanted to find a reason to whitewash the cast since there's more of a pre-established Japanese American population anyways.

Really there was no way around it. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too and shot themselves in the foot for desperately wanting an all-white Akira set in New York. From the whole roundabout the script tried pulling to bring the setting to Manhattan to the studio's desire to create a cast out of well-known celebrities, it was doomed to fail. Maybe this and other cancellations will serve as a lesson that maybe, just maybe, the American audience can sit through a movie that has a cast that (GASP) isn't white.
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blindworm



Joined: 12 Apr 2013
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 11:27 am Reply with quote
so to leave Manhattan and go to japan, they would have to go through customs to get into the american are, then go through customs to get into the japanese area

it could work. as long as u don't think about it at all

seriously though, i'm starting to think that stallone should direct this. at least in rambo 4, all the burmese people were asian. he knew how to represent something competently. it'll suck but it would probably suck less
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 11:32 am Reply with quote
So there going to run it threw a paper shredder and give it a dump truck full of cash and set it all on fire then call it Akira
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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 2171
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 12:39 pm Reply with quote
That sounds really stupid. I haven't seen Akira in over a decade but I don't recall there being anything about a foreign invasion in it.
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blindworm



Joined: 12 Apr 2013
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 5:04 pm Reply with quote
i get change and that it's sometimes needed, but here's an idea, make a series of movies based on the manga...that story was amazing and can easily be transferred to the screen with a movie per volume or a trilogy

honestly, take a chance people and stop trying to make it one movie
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 362
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 11:23 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I've never figured out why Akira HAD to be set in Japan. It's not like there was anything particularly Japanese about the story in the first place. I think switching it to Manhattan (no pretext of Japan buying it) and turning Kaned and Tetsuo into a couple of white boys named Kenny and Tommy O would have still allowed them to be quite faithful to the original story.

Your villain is even the titular Japanese boy named Akira. Throw in a couple of B-list actors who's names people will recognize and you have a movie tailor made for the American movie-going audience.

I think the studio really dropped the ball on this one in not pursuing it more aggressively. I don't think it would have taken much to market the show I described and have it make piles of money.
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MagusGuardian



Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 589
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 2:48 am Reply with quote
looking at some of these replies to this latest shit stick in the pile that is the westernized Akira remake I remember why I got out of the argument originally. nargun it isn't particularly keeping it japanese that's upsetting most people what is upsetting them is that Warner Brothers, wants to completely white wash the entire cast, and this isn't the only anime to live action movie adaptation they want to do this with, I don't remember if this ever got anywhere but I remember reading a while back that warner brothers wanted to do full metal panic which has a diverse cast spanning from the middle east to japan, to the use and elsewhere and when talking about the lead character Souske (originally from the middle east) they wanted to cast some preteen twat whose only appeal was to preteen brats, I'd bring up other suggestions but insomnia is keeping me from thinking or remembering well. TJ_kat do you honestly think a sci fi movie called Akira with no real connection to the source media other then the name and the bare minimum for the theme, with name changes that either don't make sense or just sound stupid, with setting changes, and a cast of high end celebs who care more about their pay checks and screen time that they get in the movie would've honestly done well enough to warrant a One Hundred Million dollar budget? well I've dropped more then my two cents so I'm out of here
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Ryo Hazuki



Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 363
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 3:39 am Reply with quote
TJ_Kat wrote:

Your villain is even the titular Japanese boy named Akira. Throw in a couple of B-list actors who's names people will recognize and you have a movie tailor made for the American movie-going audience.


Have you read the manga or seen the movie? I sure don't remember Akira being a villain in either of those. Besides, the actions of the American military is something that wouldn't work in an American setting.
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