Director Jaume Collet-Serra Talks About His Vision For AKIRA

Back in 2011, Jaume was set to direct the live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga and cult 1988 anime, with Garrett Hedlund in the in the lead role as Kaneda.However the studio decided $90 million budget was too big for the film and pulled the plug on the project. A year later the director, got back on the project and is currently trying to scale it down. Here's what he had to say when asked if he was still working on the project,

"I'm still working on "Akira," so that's part of my life". says the director, It's great that they're waiting for me. It's different, because you have to be respectful of the source material. Otomo adapted his own work from a manga into an anime and both things are completely different and genius. The only way to do a live version of "Akira" is to take the spirit and adapt it. It will be as different as the anime was from the manga.

The interviewer then asked if the director was going to bring something new to the table,

"I hope that I can bring strong characters. In the original source material, I don't think the main characters are the protagonists. What I'm hoping is to bring characters. The director added, "Yeah. So hopefully in my version that will be strong, and you'll have a story that happens in that world that will show you a little bit of the mystery. Then, if you're interested, they'll make "Akira 2 & 3" then you can get deeper into it. I love the world, a lot of people love that world, so why wouldn't we indulge in it a little bit and see how it would be if it was real? Like you say I don't have to explain everything, but wouldn't you like to spend two-hours in a world of "Akira" and follow a character and be like, "that's cool"? That's all I want to offer, is two-hours in a world you can actually feel. We're working on it.

Seems like the director is passionate about the project and wants to make it work. If all goes well, we could see the film in the next few years or so. If you want to read more about Jaume's vision for Akira, I've provided a link for the full interview down in the source below. What do you guys think? Leave your thoughts down below.

Source: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Edwardo2K14/news/?a=94313