Netflix is all set to risk out its neck one more time with the release of the live-action One Piece series. Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t that far behind in adapting anime to the live-action genre as he too is planning to release his own anime to live-action movie soon.
With DiCaprio as the producer of the movie, it seems that the live-action is surely going to happen sooner rather than later. Being one of the great recommended movies by Zack Snyder, the live-action film Akira is currently in development hell!
Leonardo DiCaprio Is Producing An Anime To Live-Action Film
Following in the footsteps of Netflix’s One Piece, it seems that Hollywood is slowly turning its head towards creating live-action projects out of anime. Seemingly being a massive failure in the past, some projects did try their level best to get up to par with the anime.
Back in 1988, an anime film titled Akira was released. Getting rave reviews from the people and depicting a cyberpunk biker gang in the midst of a government conspiracy, Akira became one of the classic anime movies for the people. As per the reports, a live-action adaptation of the manga is in the works and Leonardo DiCaprio is the producer!
Akira will be based on the manga of the same name by Katsuhiro Otomo with DiCaprio as one of the producers of the project. Joining DiCaprio for the ride, Taika Waitit (from Thor: Love and Thunder fame) is set as the director of the project. There have been numerous delays with Waititi jumping from one project to the next without paying much attention to Akira.
Filmmaker Zack Snyder Was Also Inspired By Akira
Being a man who loves to adapt comic books into movies, Zack Snyder has adapted 300 and Man of Steel into movies which received an overwhelmingly positive response. Back in 2006 when the director was creating 300, Snyder revealed that he was indeed inspired by some scenes from the 1988 film Akira.
“I am still being influenced from “AKIRA”. This has been true since long ago and I am still receiving it now. I think that the scene where the internal organs of the character gets chipped out is amazing and I am trying to maneuver in my work many times.”
He further continued,
“To AKIRA and Man of the Steel, from a scene where several characters are talking intimately, it spreads to a large scene where a town is suddenly destroyed, and it seems like it will be shown in parallel There are places where similarities are similar, such as places, and there are many parts that are being influenced.”
The 1988 anime film received a rating of 8/10 on IMDB and a whopping 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Akira is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
Source: Collider
