After numerous stops and starts over the years, we recently found out that the long-in-developmen,t live-action adaptation of classic manga/anime Akira was back on at Warner Bros. – but this time they’re said to be envisioning a trilogy. There are rumors that Christopher Nolan could be involved in some capacity, but no directors have been mentioned in connection with it so far. However, we now know one man that the studio evidently went to about taking the gig: Mad Max: Fury Road‘s George Miller.
While promoting the home release of the superb Fury Road, Miller confirmed to Yahoo! that he was indeed approached to helm Akira (we don’t know if it was just the first instalment or all 3), but simply couldn’t find the time. The Cyberpunk saga was said to be a big influence on his latest Mad Max flick, but Miller also downplays that somewhat here:
There was talk of it [the live action ‘Akira’], but I’ve got so many things on my dance card, I don’t have the time to do everything. Actually, I didn’t [say ‘Akira’ was an influence on ‘Fury Road’], I don’t know where that came from. I’m a huge fan of anime and the precision of that and to some degree Manga, even though I don’t read Japanese, but just the aesthetic of it. So ‘Akira’ might have been one of the many movies but it certainly wasn’t one that directly influenced ‘Mad Max’.
There’s no doubt Miller would have been a spot-on choice for this movie, but alas it wasn’t to be.
Tell us, do you think WB will finally manage to get their Akira movie(s) off the ground this time? And, do you even want them to, or are you against the “whitewashing” of this quite uniquely Japanese tale? Sound off below and let us know.