News
Reporter: Warner Considers Fast & Furious' Justin Lin to Direct Live-Action Akira
posted on by Egan Loo
Jeff Sneider, a former reporter for entertainment news sources Variety and The Wrap, said on his Meet the Movie Press video podcast on Friday that Warner Brothers is targeting Justin Lin as the director of the dormant live-action Akira film based on Katsuhiro Ōtomo's manga (mentioned at 13:50 in the linked video. Note: the video has some swearing). Lin directed the critically acclaimed independent film Better Luck Tomorrow, several films in the Fast & Furious franchise and the upcoming Star Trek Beyond sequel. Sneider prefaced the discussion by saying that the news is not yet confirmed.
Mad Max film series director George Miller said in October that he had turned down an offer to work on the project.
In October 2011, Warner officially green-lit the film for director Jaume Collett-Serra (Unknown, Orphan, House of Wax). However, The Hollywood Reporter then posted that production had shut down in January 2012, before filming would have started. Warner had stalled the project to revise the script so it would be less costly. Collett-Serra said in February 2014 that he was still working on the project, but he then told the Collider website that there was no progress on the project as of March 2015.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.
[Via Dark Horizons]
