It's not often we get news updates about movies through the medium of them scoring tax credits, but that's just what has happened with Warner Bros. and Akira. With word that the live-action Manga adaptation will be shooting in California after winning financial breaks from the state, we now know that it actually has a plan to shoot.
It's not like it hasn't come close before: this one has been in development for years, with various writers, directors and even actors circling the film before dropping out. Leonardo DiCaprio remains committed as a producer and his Appian Way company has, along with the studio, scored $18.5 million towards its no doubt mammoth budget from California as incentive to shoot entirely there.
According to Deadline, the current plan is for a 71-day shoot that will employ more than 200 "below-the-line" (i.e. not the actors) crew and more than 5,000 employees. Which will be necessary to bring the story of Tetsuo, whose government experiment-boosted psychic powers threaten everything, and best pal Kaneda, the biker who has to find a way to help him, to life.
In even better news, the site has also heard that Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi remains attached to handle the film, raising our hopes that now it might actually get made, it will also be as good as possible.
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