George Miller Turned Down The Live Action Akira Remake (Exclusive)
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ director George Miller is being linked with every big project in Hollywood right now following the runaway success of his dystopian blockbuster, but one project he says he’s turned down is the long-mooted live action remake of ‘Akira’.
He told us he’d discussed it with the studio, but he doesn’t have the time to make it.
“There was talk of it [the live action ‘Akira’],” he said, “But I’ve got so many things on my dance card, I don’t have the time to do everything.”
Talking to Yahoo Movies UK about ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, we’d asked the filmmaker about the influence of the classic 1988 anime film on ‘Fury Road’, something he’s reportedly talked about in the past.
Above: Miller on the set of ‘Mad Max Fury Road’
“Actually, I didn’t [say ‘Akira’ was an influence on ‘Fury Road’], I don’t know where that came from,” Miller explained.
“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’.”
Read More
- George Miller Still Keen on Man of Steel 2
- McConaughey Goes Fat and Bald
- New Spectre Footage In Music Video
A live action remake of ‘Akira’ considered by many as one of the greatest animated films of all time, has been in development for years now with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to produce.
Set in a dystopian megacity called Neo Tokyo, ‘Akira’ sees rival biker gangs embroiled in a plot involving telekinetic superbeings and has recently been linked with Christopher Nolan at Warner Bros. who reportedly want to adapt the source comics into a movie trilogy.
Biker gangs, dystopian futures, it all sounds very much in George Miller’s wheelhouse, so it’s a shame he declined to get involved in ‘Akira’. We’ll have to chalk this one up as a dream project we’ll never get to see.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is out now on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD. Watch a behind the scenes clip below.
Image credits: Manga/Warner Bros.
