Keanu Reeves Turns Down Akira Movie

[bomber567]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: why oh why in God's name do they need to make a Hollywood remake of Akira? The original was great to begin with, don't fix what ain't broke. And from everything I've heard about it so far, I'm convinced that this remake is going to suck. With that in mind, I'd call this a good move on Reeve's part.

 

[Callate]

That's not necessarily a bad thing either, as fans would undoubtedly prefer that the movie was made right, rather than quickly.

Um, how about "not at all"? Is "not at all" an option?

So much of what I've heard about this movie so far has been downright awful. Sacking the pre-viz team doesn't suggest to me that they're taking a step back to reconsider the property they're re-making; it could be as simple as finding a scapegoat to blame for how things are going thus far, or just getting rid of people who are sitting idle while concept ideas remain in flux.

I've said before that I don't hold anime to be some perfect artform that no one may change or make accessible to anyone outside the elite otaku legions lest they be cursed for a thousand generations. But this is Akira- it's not just anime, it's pretty much the historical entry point for non-child-centric foreign animation into the Western market. This is the movie they want to turn into a PG-13 action flick taking place in New York and starring Keanu Reeves. And a bunch of twenty-something white boys who look good without shirts, in hope of pulling in the Twilight audience.

For an American Akira to be worth a damn, its creators have to have some faith that its audience can withstand some bumps and shocks and doesn't need to have its hand held and a reassuring voice explaining the significance of the pale floating children. What we seem to be witnessing is the creation of an Akira-branded product that's been spun, marketed, focus-tested and homogenized with every other movie remotely similar until it's perfectly smooth and flat.

So right now, anything that delays my seeing the first Akira poster in the theater is welcome, but I'm still waiting for anything that resembles good news to come out of the project.

 

[Bon_Clay]

Keanu Reeves is above this project imo the way its turning out. Akira is one of my favourite movies ever, its ridiculously awesome. But this will probably turn out as an Americanized, dumbed down, PG13 piece of shit.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Well Mr Reeves it seems you will live to see another day....for now!

Now we can all use our mental hate and point it towards Warner Bros...and hope to stop this before it happens...


If you want Akira so bad....re-release it in theaters...Ill pay your outlandish price...but Im still sneakin in my own goodies because we have a dollar store nearby...and I refuse to pay that much for skittles...

 

[tahrey]

This could be good and/or bad news... and yes, my intense skepticism over the potential quality of this movie is colouring this judgement, but I think there's still quite a bit of objectivism in it...

Positive 1: It's not going to have Keanu Reeves in it.

Positive 2: They're now less likely, we hope, to continue trying to cast someone in their LATE FORTIES for the role of one of anime's more well-known TEENAGERS. Honestly, what the fuck?

Negative 1: They care so little about the established canon and the whole feel / theme of the story that Reeves was actually a preferred option for Kaneda for gawd's sake.

Negative 2: Less star power, particularly, one less star who's known to enjoy and work well in this kind of dystopian sci-fi feature. He could have been in some other role. I mean, go work out for a bit, regain his Point Break physique and get a mighty tache, and he could pass for The Major. Or possibly just slob around for a while and end up playing Nezumi. He's going to be 47 by the end of the year, he can't play young man roles any more. The Matrix itself was 12 years ago. High time he had a go at a genuine "mature" part.

Negative 3: It hasn't been canned entirely yet. Really, the best thing for everyone involved would be to trash this cancerous nightmare before any serious money is actually spent on it and start over.

Perhaps Hollywood could just keep from trying to make live action versions of anime and cartoons altogether? It never seems to end well. At least, the direct ones. The Matrix, for example, was by the creators' own admission massively influenced by Ghost in the Shell and I could swear robbed at least a couple of scenes wholesale. A Hollywood original film heavily influenced by, but NOT an attempted remake of Akira could be awesome.

 

[tahrey]

*comment deleted because it contained very mild pro piracy statements and didn't appear for an age, so i figured it had been auto-filtered and wrote the post appearing below in its stead*

 

[tahrey]

If you want Akira so bad....re-release it in theaters...Ill pay your outlandish price...but Im still sneakin in my own goodies because we have a dollar store nearby...and I refuse to pay that much for skittles...

Dude. No. Don't pay for a ticket for this crap, particularly if you think you're going to hate it. Go see something else that's better quality, more worth your time, and more worthy of rewarding the studio that made it. Or at least, pool the ticket cost for yourself and a couple buddies and get the blu-ray version of the original.

Also, buy something from the concession stand already. Theatres are like gas stations, they make relatively little off the actual tickets (or fuel) that are supposedly their main business. Hence gas stations coming with overpriced convenience stores attached, and theatres selling costly food & drink. The regular joe working the counter, who probably hates the film just as badly as you, still needs to get paid. Go on. Have some chili nachos.
(similarly, if you're getting the BD? brick & mortar store, and be sure to pick up some beers and chips)

If you really, REALLY want to see it, even for the trainwreck value ... wait til it hits the movie channels. Then watch it at a friend's house. Or netflix it, watching and dropping back in the post on the same day.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

If you want Akira so bad....re-release it in theaters...Ill pay your outlandish price...but Im still sneakin in my own goodies because we have a dollar store nearby...and I refuse to pay that much for skittles...

Dude. No. Don't pay for a ticket for this crap, particularly if you think you're going to hate it. Go see something else that's better quality, more worth your time, and more worthy of rewarding the studio that made it. Or at least, pool the ticket cost for yourself and a couple buddies and get the blu-ray version of the original.

Also, buy something from the concession stand already. Theatres are like gas stations, they make relatively little off the actual tickets (or fuel) that are supposedly their main business. Hence gas stations coming with overpriced convenience stores attached, and theatres selling costly food & drink. The regular joe working the counter, who probably hates the film just as badly as you, still needs to get paid. Go on. Have some chili nachos.
(similarly, if you're getting the BD? brick & mortar store, and be sure to pick up some beers and chips)

Watched it on youtube....it was...oddly better then almost anything Ive watched really.. I mean it was anime and I enjoyed it...a lot of it reminded me of like Heavy Metal and Rock n Rule (ya know...without the beastmode 80s soundtrack of metal...)

 

[Quellist]

I cant see any negatives to Reeves leaving the project, in fact considering just how bad this is likely to be i guess every setback should be treasured.

 

[DevilWolf47]

It's hard to take solace in Reeves staying the fuck away when he was offered a position in the first place, telling you the people behind this movie are likely total retards.

 

[beema]

Well, I guess this is good news, unless they get someone even worse for the part (which could easily happen).

I still don't see this being anything other than a giant pile of crap.

What was Otomo thinking when he granted the rights to make this thing? Is he hard up for money? Was he so naive as to think there could ever actually be a faithful and well-made live action adaptation? Does he just not give a shit how is work is represented?

 

[tahrey]

(re: Akira anime)

Watched it on youtube....it was...oddly better then almost anything Ive watched really.. I mean it was anime and I enjoyed it...a lot of it reminded me of like Heavy Metal and Rock n Rule (ya know...without the beastmode 80s soundtrack of metal...)

O_O... ok ... right ... either your experience of animated movies is exceptionally limited, and for some reason encompasses only early 80s cult films, or you're just trolling now.

I mean, seriously?

*facefaults*

Also go rent or buy the DVD already, it's only going to be a single digit cost these days. Unless you were referring to the nascent Youtube movie rental service rather than some camrip that's been cut up into seven 15-minute chunks and uploaded in 240p with the wrong aspect ratio and awful sound?

What was Otomo thinking when he granted the rights to make this thing? Is he hard up for money? Was he so naive as to think there could ever actually be a faithful and well-made live action adaptation? Does he just not give a shit how is work is represented?

I doubt the creator/author/screenwriter/whatever gets a great deal of say in these cases. The request goes to the studio's lawyers, who grant or deny permission, probably on a sole basis of how much money they think they'll get in return for one of their properties being exploited by someone else (and therefore the original possibly making less than it otherwise might, or losing lucrative kudos if they drag it through the dirt), and the first the creator or even the studio itself hears is when the licensee's press release hits the news feeds.

Which is kind of ironic, because the remake is increasingly looking like the kind of movie you'd get if you licensed an iconic, groundbreaking piece of animated cinema, then handed over the production of a live action remake TO a bunch of lawyers and made a point of asking them to count the beans very carefully.