Movie Madness: "Akira" Film Project Finally Casts a Japanese Actor ... Maybe

No, really!  The Cinema-Mad Sibling and I were just discussing this.  It's supposed to be the live-action version of "Akira" -- "AKIRA" that icon of Japanese animation!  -- for goodness sake, yet the casting so far has been a whole bunch of non-Japanese actors -- and frankly I haven't been impressed with the caliber of these choices either.  Garrett Hedlund?  Kristen Stewart?  Are you freaking kidding me?

Now, though, there's a report that Ken Watanabe has been offered a role.  Watanabe is always fantastic -- do see him in "The Last Samurai" and "Inception" if you haven't yet.  Will he soon be running around dystopian futuristic Neo-Tokyo?  Here's hoping.


UPDATE: As I said in this digression:

"Akira" is Japanese to its last pixel.  This thing is a cultural, cinematic landmark.  In this case, I'm trying to make a point about source and adhering to the source.  I suppose what the next question is should be: is the new movie supposed to be a total remake in the sense that "The Departed" was a remake of "Infernal Affairs," or is it a live-action version of the original and therefore set in the particular, already defined, and now-iconic world of Neo-Tokyo?  Dude, I hope so.  Having people running around Neo-Los Angeles or Neo-New York just wouldn't be the same.