Hollywood To Remake Akira, Knows No Shame
February 23rd, 2008 in Animation, Directors, Fantasy, Movies
Akira was the first anime to really grip the mainstream, not just in Japan, but across the world (despite both Lucas and Spielberg deeming it unmarketable in the US- hey, you can’t get them all right). And rightly so, it is an astounding piece of cinema, creating a dense mythology of a future city and of the evolution of mankind.
But Hollywood, never ones to hold anything sacred, and too afraid to take risk and produce original scripts, have decided to remake the story, based on the original manga comic books. And it’s live action. That’s going to be a difficult task to realise, at the very least.
Well, even still there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the producers have realised the density of the story, and have decided to make it into two films instead of one. At least, I hope that’s the reason, and it’s not just another cynical excuse to make even more money. However, the bad news is that the director is going to be Ruari Robinson. Who? Well, I know of him through the Irish film industry, which is pretty much all he has seemed to be involved in. He directed a mildly witty animated short called Fifty Percent Grey, which was nominated for an Oscar. And then he directed another short called Silent City, which you can watch here. But I suggest you don’t bother. It’s a silly piece of adolescent garbage that may look half-decent, but is about as interesting as a cut-sequence from a video game. Bloody hell, if Robinson can get such a great gig, should I be expecting Hollywood to knock down my door and offer me to remake Citizen Kane?
The new Akira, or at least the first part, will be out sometime next year.
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February 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Wow — give the guy a chance. I mean, he’s got an Oscar nomination. What the hell do you have?
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
If you had bothered to conduct a little research you may have discovered that this guy has quite a bit of experience and a wealth of talent. For the most part, he put Silent City together himself. Who exactly are you then? What have you done? Who is eoin o’faolain? Who cares…
February 24th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Fair enough guys, although I don’t consider it sour grapes as I myself would hardly put myself forward to take anything even closely as great as that. You’re right Chris… who am I? Who cares? My point isn’t that I’m not directing this film, my point is that this director, who has never directed a feature, is given the task of remaking this huge project. I mean, surely you’d think Hollywood would wait until he’s directed a relatively low-budget feature first before handing him this mammoth task?
Chris, Ruairi has done a few ads, but he’s mostly known for his two shorts. And I don’t care if he put Silent City together himself, it’s still frivilous junk. I’ve seen tons of better short filsm than that. His body of work has failed to display any sense of character, which is why I feel he’s too inexperienced to take on the epic that is Akira. Hell, I’m not saying Akira shouldn’t be remade, I’m just saying leave it to the experts.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Ridley Scott started out doing ads. Someone took a chance on him at some stage in his career to make the leap to features. Hollywood execs are not known for their artistic flair but they’re not dummies either. I’m sure they’ve done their homework before they prepare to fork out a rather large chunk of money to make Akira.
So you think Silent City is junk….you’re missing the point - he made it and it looks good. It’s very difficult to make this stuff and very easy to slag it off
Come on…give him a chance. Wait until you see it before you slag it off.
February 24th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Well, Ridley Scott did a few TV episodes before he went into cinema. And his first feature was the lowish-budget The Duellists, before he was given money for Alien (and I think the budget was doubled after they saw the storyboards). He did work his way up, although admittedly it was a sharp rise.
Anyway, it’s a fair enough point about Robinson. My conern is that while Silent City may look good, to make a decent feature you need more than a visual sense, and Hollywood has a habit on relying on visually imnpressive directors who can’t comprehend character. The recent assigning of McG to Terminator 4 is a sad example of this.
But hey, who knows, perhaps our Ruairi has his head screwed on and will do a good job.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
oh wow this is amazing some more people other than people i know are commenting on the site welcome world
February 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I see that you are a researcher Eoin. I would Imagine you should do some before making sweeping generalisations about something you know absolutely nothing about. How do you know what they have in Mind for this film?
February 26th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Nick, I recognise your name, and know that you worked on Ruairi on The Leveller, so obviously you’re going to get upset. He’s your friend. But look, here’s what I’m saying. Of course I don’t know anything about the meetings between Robinson and Appian Way, etc, and his vision of the project. All I am saying is that I have seen Robinson’s work so far, and it does not, to me, display enough talent to take on one of cinema’s most important sci-fi films. You’re only as good as your last picture, as they say, and if that’s true, then I just can’t see how someone like Robinson can take on remaking Akira. And I’m NOT referring to the way the film looks, but about its complexity of story, of character, of style.
Of course, what I am saying is just OPINION, but everyone has the right to an opinion. And I have explained mine logically. These kind of opinions are everywhere, and I seriously doubt that you yourself have not bemoaned a director/actor/etc , local or international, being assigned to some film at some stage.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Robinson definately cannot make a good film out of the Akira remake, I am just saying that I have my doubts based on what I, and other, has seen previously. And I am not saying that I hope Robinson fails, I just really REALLY hope that Hollywood doesn’t screw up another classic by remaking it.
Bloody hell, the only reason I wrote that post with such vehemence is because I didn’t think anyone would read it! I guess this means I’ll have to start writing properly now…
February 26th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I am not getting upset, and not saying you can’t have an opinion. Amazed at the reaction, or more to the point, how it seems so many people jump to conclusions that are so wrong. All I’s sayin’ is that do you think that something like this would be going ahead if the director was in incapable?
February 26th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Well, it’s not like bad films don’t exist, so just because established directors put their faith in a new director, that doesn’t mean they’re going ot be right.
Look at Oliver Hirschniegel, who directed the excellent Downfall. Hollywood producers brought him over to remake Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, and it turned out to be a critical and financial disaster.
At least I’m fairly certain whatever Robinson does with Akira, it won’t be as bad as The Invasion!
February 26th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
“Bloody hell, the only reason I wrote that post with such vehemence is because I didn’t think anyone would read it! I guess this means I’ll have to start writing properly now…”
See how we have helped you hone your craft?
February 27th, 2008 at 3:45 am
lol, I’ll dedicate my Pulitzer to you guys
February 27th, 2008 at 5:51 am
As a viewer, a vast reader of manga/comics, and a huge fan of Akira, all i can really say is i hope it’s done right. If not, oh well, i still have the anime and manga to comfort me… If it is done right, excellent. Who knows, perhaps this will gain more respect for the world of japanese comic books among a marvel dedicated fan base. All the viewers can do is hope, i know i’ll still go and see it for my love of Katsuhior Otomo, at least he’ll be there to oversee things.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:57 am
[...] things are moving on, with almost everything Frank Miller spilt ink on becoming a movie, as well as Akira, Watchmen, [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Why on earth would hollywood try to remake Akira? I still watch that movie after seeing it for the first time when i was like ten years old, I’m twenty four now and I’m still in love with it. No live action version will do it justice, I’m sure it will be dumbed down like crazy in order to ensure lowest common denominator movie goer approval. Akira is perfect the way it is and if they really want to remake it they should wait a few more decades when a remake will not be so noticeably flawed, because honestly why try to improve on or westernize a movie that is still at the top of its game? This remake will do nothing but illuminate the lack of fresh idea’s in hollywood as well as piss off every person who appreciates classic badass anime. This idea reminds me of a collection of funny horrible movie idea photoshop poster posts i saw recently. Remaking this classic in live action is just stupid, the reason the original rocks is not only the story but the super tight 2-d animation, I for one have no interest in seeing the sure to be more boring CG’d up live action version that should never be made, at least not in this century. The arrogance of the people backing this idea is mind blowing, to think they can improve on perfection. I’ve got a crazy idea for those hollywood producers….here it is…come up with a cool NEW idea and then make it happen instead of lazily re-hatching an iconic movie that most fans will see as pure naive arrogant blasphemy. It’s not a comic come to life people (,well i guess the anime comes from a comic but you know what i mean), it’s a gorgeous animated feature with few equals and i shudder to think what the minds that brought us Jumper,The spirits Within,Dragon Wars, and like a bajillion other sci-fi big budget flops will do to bastardize one of my all time favorite movies.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Well said, Chris, I feel the exact same. The only difference is that this is becoming such a common issue that I’m no longer shocked by Hollywood’s lack of inventiveness. They’re already finishing off the move of Dragonball. What’s next, Evangelion? (good luck with that). It’s only a matter of time before a comic-book adaptation bombs and makes Hollywood all shook up.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Anime has been “mainstream” in Japan since the middle of the last century. Tezuka, Nagai, Matsumoto, Takahata, Miyazaki, etc were household names long before Akira was made. From your first sentence, you sound like you no nothing about anime.