By Last week, the American remake of Akira got greenlit, securing a budget of $90 million and director Jaume Collet-Serra. Garrett Hedlund is a front-runner for one of the leads, and additional casting speculation has emerged given the production’s start date of February/March 2012. (Got to figure there will be a delay, though. The production’s been like a Thanksgiving airport during a freak blizzard for the last few years.)
Both Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter have been offered roles as Colonel Shikishima and Lady Miyako, respectively, though part of me wishes the roles were reversed. Given that the remake is set in Neo Manhattan rather than Neo Tokyo, the character names will likely be different. My money’s on Colonel Sanders and Auntie Mame.
Getting a big name attached to the project would help, though you have to wonder how much that would eat into the budget. These days, $90 million for a futuristic action/sci-fi epic is modest. By comparison, the forthcoming Bruckheimer/Verbinski Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp (as Tonto, obviously) is budgeted at a baffling $215 million. (And that’s down from its original $260 million.) Why so much? Probably because werewolves and ‘splosions.
[Via Collider]