DiCaprio to Star in and Produce Akira
The anime and manga classic Akira is finally coming to the big screen in the US as a live-action film! According to HollywoodReporter.com, Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. are getting the adaptation off the ground with the help of Ruairi Robinson, who will direct the two-part epic while Gary Whitta will script.
Ain't It Cool News is reporting that DiCaprio will star as the film?s antagonist, Tetsuo, the teen biker gang member who begins demonstrating awesome new powers after becoming the subject of a government experiment.
The original story is set in the post-nuclear war ?New Tokyo? of 2019, but the new adaptation will relocate the tale to "New Manhattan," a city rebuilt by Japanese money. The DiCaprio-produced film is set to release in summer 2009 for the first film; however, dates for the second have not been released.
