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Director Jordan Peele Explains Why He Isn't Directing Live-Action Akira

Blumhouse Productions reported on Friday that director Jordan Peele (Get Out) is not expected to direct Warner Brothers' dormant live-action Akira film, and Peele explained why in an interview. Peele was reportedly in talks to direct the film.

Peele's comment is as follows:

I think [I could do it] if the story justifies it. Akira is one of my favorite movies, and I think obviously the story justifies as big a budget as you can possibly dream of. But the real question for me is: Do I want to do pre-existing material, or do I want to do original content? At the end of the day, I want to do original stuff.

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.

Source: Blumhouse Productions (William Bibbiani)

Thanks to Erik Jansen for the news tip.