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Taika Waititi Comments Briefly on Status of Live-Action Akira Film
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Video game news website IGN posted a video excerpt on Friday of an interview with director Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) regarding the indefinitely delayed live-action Akira film.
In the above video, Waititi explained that the filming schedule for Akira kept getting pushed back due to the staff "working really hard on the script," until production began to overlap with Waititi directing Marvel's Thor 4 film. He added, "Now we've had to take Akira and shift it around to the tail end of Thor and move it down a couple of years." Waititi ended the discussion by stating, "we're still gonna make it."
Entertainment news website Variety reported in July that Warner Bros. has delayed the film indefinitely. The film was previously slated to begin production this fall, and its release was scheduled for May 21, 2021.
Waititi was reportedly in the process of choosing the two lead roles from among Japanese actors, and the studio originally delayed the project to allow him time for the that process. However, Variety noted in July that there may be "more creative disagreements over the project."
Waititi said in an interview in April 2018 that he planned to adapt the original manga as opposed to the anime film adaptation.
