After gaining critical acclaim for ‘Memento’ in 2000, Christopher Nolan became a bona fide hit-maker for Warner Bros. The studio has distributed all his projects (either solely or jointly) since 2002, including ‘The Prestige’, ‘Inception’, ‘Interstellar’, and his Dark Knight Trilogy. But now a rumor has surfaced saying that WB is bringing him in on yet another one of their biggest properties: ‘Akira.’
Once they acquired the rights to create a live-action remake of the cult classic anime in 2002, Warner Bros. tried time and time again to get the project off the ground. However, each attempt was plagued with all sorts of issue. After going through a number of writers, directors, and stars as recently as last year, the studio’s latest attempt at an adaptation is being written by ‘Daredevil’ season two co-showrunner Marco Ramirez, but no director has been named yet.
But according to a new report from Den of Geek, WB’s new approach to this apparently uncrackable property is to turn it into a trilogy and enlist the help of Nolan to develop it. Not only that, the filmmaker may have a hand in selecting who will helm the project as well. Apparently, Nolan “has met with a previously attached filmmaker (who we can’t name here) within the past three months to talk about the project.”
Before anyone gets their hopes up, just because Warner Bros. scheduled Nolan’s next film for July 2017 doesn’t mean that it will be ‘Akira.’ First of all, the epic sci-fi action thriller based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s iconic manga has barely started pre-production. In the long journey to the big screen, this film hasn’t even gone to the bathroom one last time before everyone gets in the car. Secondly, a film of this magnitude will likely need more than a little over twelve months to be written, shot, and edited. Not even someone like Christopher Nolan can work on a major motion picture such as this in that amount of time.
A more likely scenario is that Nolan will join forces with Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way in producing the film. He could also take a consultant/godfather sort of role similar to what he was rumored to have done for the new DC Cinematic Universe. That would explain why he’s talking to filmmakers regarding ‘Akira.’
That being said, if WB is planning a trilogy, who’s to say that Nolan couldn’t take on the second or third installment? He definitely has the star-power and the talent to reinvigorate this production that has been stuck in developmental hell for over a decade and get audiences excited for it once again instead of rolling their eyes every time it pops back into headlines after long periods silence.
But at the end of the day, it’s probably best not to get your hopes up until Warner Bros. or Christopher Nolan himself drops some kind of official word. Until then, what do you think about Nolan potentially working on ‘Akira’? Do you think that he could be the one to finally bring the project back from the dead? Let us know in the comment section.
