Woooh! Keanu will destroy anime, manga, and japanese cinema

Keanu may star in a live action Akira film! This has got to be the worst stunt casting in history. Calling this guy wooden would be an insult to trees! Why him? He's part asian isn't really marketable. And he doesn't even look it. Keanu with a bowl cut?? Hahahaha!

Can this get any worse? Yes. Keanu is cast as a samurai in the 47 Ronin. WTF is going wrong with hollywood. This is as bad as Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai. We've still haven't gotten past Carridine in Kung Fu. This is so ridiculous it is beyond belief.

Yes, i'm asian. And this is insulting.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – "Akira," the English-language, live-action take on the landmark anime and manga property, is zeroing in on its star, and it just might be Keanu Reeves.
Warner Bros. has been having a tough time finding the two leads of the movie, to be directed by Albert Hughes. In the script, the action moves from Neon-Tokyo to New Manhattan, where a biker gang leader tries to save his best friend from a medical experiment that threatens to unleash destructive powers.
Actors ranging from James Franco and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Robert Pattinson and Michael Fassbender have circled the project in some form or fashion as the studio sought to find an A-list lead.
Now comes word that Reeves has held talks with the studio, with whom he already made the massively successful "Matrix" movies, for the part of Kaneda, the gang leader. Reeves doesn't yet have an offer for the role, but we hear the talks with his representatives have been going well.
Reeves anchoring the project could serve as a strong lure for another A-lister to take the role of Tetsuo, the best friend.
Reeves is currently shooting the samurai action film "47 Ronin."

It's not the worst rumour I've heard about live action Akira (does Shia LeBeouf's name have to come up for *every* movie? Do I have to claw my eyes or parts of my brain out? Does Wayne Brady have to choke a Beouf?), but I'd like to hear, you know, a rumour I could actually get behind.

Then again, I already knew I couldn't watch it-- aging up the characters in a COMING OF AGE STORY? Setting one of the most quintessentially Japanese films, animated or live action, that I've seen, in NEW YORK? So far, I haven't read much about live action Akira that hasn't left me shaking with rage.

(I could see Keanu as Spike in the long-rumoured live-action Cowboy Bebop without necessarily raging out, but that's because Spike doesn't really emote, which works well for Keanu's style, plus he's not supposed to be a young teen, which, yeah. And being from Mars and animated, works as any race or mix of races. But in Akira? Not right, not right at all.)

I hadn't even heard he was doing a 47 Ronin remake, either. That is something I would have liked to see, had it not been whitewashed, because I'd always loved the story, but... man. Does not work for me.

it's not insulting. it is so stoooopppppiiiiidddddd!!!!

they need to quit thinking of doing a live action or whatnot.

They're going to have to "dumb down" that a lot for it to have 'mainstream' appeal, I think. I guess Keanu would be a step in the right direction.

Ugh. I was behind this when Leonardo DiCaprio was mentioned, he's a decent actor and could have actually pulled of an American Kaneda pretty well, and I could even almost see Shia Lebouf with a decent script and director holding his hand, but WTF are they thinking of even mentioning Reeves?

The last time he displayed any emotion beyond "Wat?" was in "Bill and Ted".

This whole live-action Akira business is a disaster from the word go. Everything I've heard about it is so ridiculous that I pretty much find it completely believable in terms of how they're "Americanizing" Akira for mass audience appeal.

Seriously, if you look around online you can find descriptions/outlines of the supposed script, and if it's true, well...it'll make RoC look like a masterpiece of faithful adaptation.

Originally Posted by topnotch97

it's not insulting. it is so stoooopppppiiiiidddddd!!!!

they need to quit thinking of doing a live action or whatnot.

Actually, it is kind of insulting. It isn't just one movie, it's a long history of Hollywood casting white actors to play Asian characters (if they deign to allow the characters to remain Asian to begin with). And Asian men in American TV and films are almost always portrayed as essentially sexless. They get to be the inscrutable sidekick, never the love interest. Asian women don't get off much better, relegated to the role of 'dragon lady' or 'demure housewife/daughter', allowed from time to time to be sexualized, but rarely romanticized, frequently more object than character.

The Asian-American road to pop-culture acceptance has been a long and trying one, and for some reason, Hollywood is able to make and get away with changes that would get them called to the carpet for racism if the characters they were whitewashing were black. (which is not to say that there are no social/pop culture issues left to fix there, just that a lot of people seem to not notice Hollywood's ongoing problem with portraying Asian-Americans and Asians)

@ Glasgowsmiles

Couldn't have said it better. I often see a female asian actor (if they're lucky to find work in hollywood) paired up with a white actor as on screen couples. Can't find any asian males? You're right males are portrayed as sexless and women as mere sex objects. Hence the asian/white couples. This is very irksome.

I bought the entire Kung fu series on dvd to see what it was all about. Why it is held in such high esteem? I recall it in reruns as a kid but couldn't remember much. Watching it as with an adult perspective opens your eyes to Hollywood's ignorance and stereotyping of foreign cultures. No better than Hollywood's depiction of Indians. Many of whom were white. Not much has changed in 40 years.

In the tv series Flashforward (2010), there was a scene set in present day Hong Kong. It was obviously a outdoor set. The street was filled with people wearing cone hats, traditional dress, red lanterns and rich shaws. Hong Kong is a modern western metropolis. I just rolled my eyes at Hollywood ignorance and stereotyping.

I don't really have a problem with Keanu in Akira... IMO the anime Akira was mostly about the futuristic cyberpunk atmosphere anyway... and of course... the bike. LOL. Kaneda's "sit down" motorcycle was like the coolest thing ever back then. LOL. And Keanu being Keanu in every movie shouldn't be too big of a problem for this film IMO; if I recall correctly character development wasn't really a major strong point of Akira... all people usual remember from the anime is the bike and the WTF ending. LOL.

The Hughes Brothers though... that worries me a little bit. I do admit I did love the look of Book of Eli. But I am a bit worried that they will make the visual look of Akira too slick and stylized for its own good. I am hoping for a more traditional look of the special effects for the futuristic landscape, like how it was in the movie Minority Report. That's why I have big hopes for the Ghost in The Shell live action, cuz Speilberg is gonna do that one probably. And it's a pretty safe bet that Motoko ain't gonna be Asian in that one neither. LOL.

Originally Posted by Kungfuguy

Yes, i'm asian.

Hey, I'm asian too! Well, mostly asian (lol). *high five* LOL.

Actually I heard Keanu bailed. George Takei was openly against homeboy playing Kaneda in Akira too.

There are somethings that shouldn't be turned into movies. The fact that Akira was made into an anime was already risky IMHO, trying to compress the ass ton of pages of the manga into a few hours' movie is a bit much. I like both, respect both, but found the manga to be more richer and substantial. Sometimes some series turn out better than their manga predecessors, Akira wasn't one of them.