Leonardo DiCaprio Wants to Produce Japanese Anime Akira For OTT Platform, Actor Says 'I Am Highly Influenced By The Film'
DiCaprio has also cited Akira as a big influence, and had begun production for an Akira film back in 2019, though the project got scrapped eventually as Taika Waititi who was the film’s director at the time, left the project.
Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has now become more than open to making a film based on the Japanese anime film Akira, which has been a monumental influence on even Hollywood directors, particularly Zack Snyder who has frequently called it one of his favourite films. The former DCEU director had been wanting to direct an Akira live action based movie or series for some time, but currently the project is in development hell, or in other words, rotting in the black void of many scrapped projects. Hollywood has never been much good doing anime adaptations, and has largely tried to stay away from anime ever since their horribly panned movie Dragonball Evolution which was slammed by everyone. However, since the live action adaptation of the popular anime One Piece came out and has become rather successful, Hollywood has been open to doing live action adaptations of popular anime serials, with a live action version of One Punch Man already in the works. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Damein Hirst Painting Sells for $1.3 Million at Cannes Auction.
According to Collider, following that success and the Hollywood megastar’s own interest in the movie, DiCaprio has been more than open to producing a live action version of Akira for OTT platforms, with Netflix being the most considered option. Back in 2013, when Snyder made his entrance in the DC universe with The Man of Steel he had greatly spoken of the influence Akira has had on him, as Snyder is a renowned fan of comic books. He said: “I am still being influenced by 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 added: “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.” Cannes 2023: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Di Nero’s Film Killers of The Flower Moon Gets a Nine- Minute Standing Ovation.
DiCaprio has also cited Akira as a big influence, and had begun production for an Akira film back in 2019, though the project got scrapped eventually as Taika Waititi who was the film’s director at the time, left the project. Based on the 1982 manga of the same name by Katsuhiro Otomo, the Akira film when it hit theatres in 1988 received rave reviews and is considered an all time classic, having earned itself a massive 92 per cent positive score. The story revolves around a cyberpunk biker gang in the midst of a government conspiracy. Set in a dystopian future, the plot dives into a bunch of psychics in a city called Neo-Tokyo and prevents authorities from reviving an unknown powerful entity called Akira. The cyberpunk themed story dives into issues of isolation, corruption, tyranny, technology and more.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2023 04:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).