During the long period that the live action version of Akira has been in development, it’s become increasingly unclear exactly what direction the Hollywood version was taking and what changes there’d be compared to the manga and anime versions.
However now a casting call has emerged, via Geek Tyrant, which includes a plot synopsis that tells us a lot more about the Jaume Collet-Serra directed movie. Here it is: ‘Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel.
‘Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers.
‘Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.’
It’s largely similar to the original, although Kaneda is now a bar owner rather than teen biker, and he and Tetsuo are brothers rathers than friends. Garett Hedlund will play Kaneda, while the casting call lists Kristen Stewart as Ky, Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Miyako, and Ken Watanabe as The Colonel, although these haven’t bee 100% confirmed. Shooting is expected to start early in the new year.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Sometimes a movie bombing hideously can be a good thing – if you want to make your own movie out of the same story, at least. This time last year The Nutcracker In 3D was released, which normally would have made it difficult for anyone else to get a Nutcracker project off the ground for a few years. 
She’s currently busy being a Wicked Witch in the Snow White movie Mirror Mirror (which is out next March), and now she’s planning for the future, as 
Peter Cattaneo scored a gargantuan hit with The Full Monty in 1997, but he hasn’t exactly managed to follow it up with any other successful movies. Indeed his most recent credits are directing episodes of the TV series Rev. However now 
Back in June it was revealed that director Darren Aronofsky wanted Christian Bale to star in his Biblical epic Noah, although since then we haven’t heard much more about casting on the movie. However, now 
Things are finally moving on apace with Star Trek 2, and the latest news, via 
Since coming back from the dead, Hammer Films has been involved in movies ranging from the cheap and less than cheerful (Beyond The Rave), to the dark and intriguing (Let Me In, The Woman In Black), and now they’re going a little bit steampunk, as it’s been announced they’ve acquired the rights to the novel Boneshaker by Cherie Priest for adaptation to the big screen. The film will be co-produced by Hammer and Cross Creek Pictures.
After a rather fuzzy, watermarked version arrived yesterday afternoon, the full, proper John Carter trailer has arrived, and it’s likely to get people a lot more excited that they might have thought. The first teaser made the film look a little cheesy, but this trailer is a whole new ball game, with a much more interesting, fully realised Martian world. Here’s the synopsis: ‘