Likely just after the first Heavy Metal movie, I would have to say that Akira is likely the movie that was most inspirational to me in the area of animated film for the awesome visuals and intense storytelling. Ever since I heard mumblings that they were going to attempt a live action Akira movie I was excited and worried at the same time.
With a little bit of progress, we catch that ComingSoon.net found out:
Warner Bros. Pictures has hired Oscar-nominated Irish director Ruairi Robinson to helm the big screen Akira adaptation. Robinson received a nomination in 2001 for his animated short film Fifty Percent Grey.
Now I honestly don’t know much about this guy, though he seems to come with some acclaim, so I have little hope that this project is in good hands. I checked out the short film Fifty Percent Grey and it is pretty amusing and thought provoking in its delivery, however that is such a different world of storytelling than a live action feature film.
This is such a massive undertaking to attempt to bring life to a movie so deeply set in the minds of Anime fans as an untouchable classic. Then to take it live action makes me wonder just HOW they are going to pull this off and not ruin it all. This guy seems to have a notable history with computer animation, but how this will translate over to directing a feature length live action film?
This reminds me of a certain movie that shall-not-be-named, and its producer’s insistence that some fancy effects specialist be giving the big comfy seat helming another movie of epic fanbase. And we all know how confident we are in that project.
