It’s a bit difficult to know whether to take this seriously or not, but Ecartelera and JustJared both suggest James Franco is in talks for the live action version of Akira, which has been in pre-production limbo for ages. However it’s tough to know whether there’s any real info behind this, or if it’s just a spurious rumour that been blown out of proporation, partly because Franco has to be reported to be in talks for just about every film going at the moment.
Last we heard (back in November), Zac Efron was supposedly mulling over the movie that the Hughes Brothers (Boos Of Eli) are supposed to be directing, but nothing seems to have come from that. That doesn’t necesarily mean Franco is interested though, especially as he already has about a thousand projects on the go, from tiny little indie movies to Disney’s massive Oz The Great And Powerful.
Akira was originally announced about two and a half years and put on the fast track, but a succession of actors and directors joining and leaving the projects has seen it continually delayed, to the point where many think it’s pretty much dead. However the Hughes Brothers don’t want to give up on it yet.
The plan is that the action will also be moved from a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo to New Manhattan, where two friends in a biker gang deal with the after-effects of an accident that gives one of them psychic powers. How they’re going to deal with the utterly bizarre ending of the original hasn’t been revealed, but I’m already expecting fans to be pissed at the changes, because I can’t imagine a studio greenlighting a live action version without toning down the denouement.