The problem i had is that most of the actors approached were far too old to play 15-18 year olds, I mean Keanu Reeves is in his 40's thats ridiculous, on top of that if they were to completely westernise the film , what would they call it, ADAM, ALAN ? they would have already changed too much for that name to have any real relevance ?
Another thing I wanna point out to one of the main themes of Akira is nuclear warfare the fact it starts with a nuclear explosion , already would have lost it's impact if in an American setting , no other country on earth knows devistation , and personal trauma of nuclear warfare other than Japan, they were the first and so far the only country to experience the trauma and horror of a nuclear warfare, so right off the bat this comes of as a heavy, personal topic, it doesn't carry the same kind of weight when used against the USA especially when they were the only country to use such a weapon as an offensive during war.
"The stuff that dreams are made of."
reply
share
putowithcheese
12 years ago
It's true that the explosion imagery has a special power and meaning to the Japanese viewer, but at the time the story was written in the 80s, the Cold War was still going on. The plot of the first three volumes of the manga boils down to the arms race revolving around this little boy, so it was a topic that would have been relevant to an American reader. Nuclear anxiety wasn't just a Japanese issue, it was felt globally.
For me, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with changing the setting of the story, because the themes are broad enough to apply to basically any industrialized country. Government corruption and secrecy, urban rootlessness, youth violence, the conflict between the old who are in power and the young who desire change, the impermanence of society, overheated economic growth that fails to trickle down to the underclass...what country doesn't deal with these problems to some degree? I honestly think that you could change the setting to the near future of any industrialized nation with a sprawling metropolis and have it work. You would just have to change the names and races of the characters.
I wouldn't have a problem if they took the story of AKIRA and set it in America. I would have a problem if they took out everything that made it an international movie and made it an American movie for a domestic audience.
And they definitely need to keep the actors in their teens. I just can't imagine this teenage love-hate bromance/rivalry thing happening with 30-40 year olds. That is not a 30-something-guy dynamic.
reply
share
Karneda92
12 years ago
I have nothing against setting it NYC, I think the themes of corruption, gang violence, child delinquency would work extremely well if not better in an American setting in general, to my knowledge no other country has documented gang violence as in depth as the USA.
Speaking of I like to see Akira as an alternative reality to post WW2 Japan, what if the Japanese post-war economic miracle didn't occur ? you pretty much get the state of the country depicted in Akira, it's themes like post-war country/ Nuclear warfare that hit so much closer to Japan than it ever would to the states
"The stuff that dreams are made of."
reply
share
Etherdave
12 years ago
This is a major part of why the film is currently in Production Hell. I think if a major Japanese director were to get involved some progress could be made, but I really don't want Takashi Miike making this film.
reply
share