6 replies to this topic

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

So, earlier this year we get a look at how "amazing" the script is. Granted, that's a review of the script, and not the full script itself. But what little in contains is horrendously bad.

And now we get news that Orphan director Jaume Collet-Serra is looking into "bringing the script to life", or whatever they call live-action animes these days in Hollywood.

Well, at least Michael Bay isn't directing. I guess there is some silver-lining to this project. And to be fair, it's not that I'm against a live-action remake. It's just that Hollywood doesn't have a good track record when it comes to the quality of these films. And I don't want that script to be filmed as it was in the review. If they at least keep everything in Japan where it belongs (because, you know, the main characters and even the title character have Japanese names), then that would be a step in the right direction. I just haven't heard of any rewrites since the script review posted in the link above, so I'm already worried about it.

[Shadow]

I don't understand this unnecessary need to change the city from Tokyo to Manhattan. What, is Hollywood fucking racist against Japan now?

[John Roberts]

I couldn't really stomach the Akira Anime when I first saw it. I think I'll be avoiding this version.

[DLTN]

I'm not impressed...

[Prime]

I don't understand this unnecessary need to change the city from Tokyo to Manhattan. What, is Hollywood fucking racist against Japan now?

When it comes to remaking/bringing something to the silver screen (or even the small screen) that originated from another country, it's common practice for Hollywood to make it more accessible to the average joe movie goer, and by the "average joe movie goer" I mean American audiences.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

When it comes to remaking/bringing something to the silver screen (or even the small screen) that originated from another country, it's common practice for Hollywood to make it more accessible to the average joe movie goer, and by the "average joe movie goer" I mean American audiences.

Then one would think that a film where the title is named after a very traditional Japanese name would be the furthest from their desires when it came to "making it relevant to Americans". "Akira" is a common Japanese name. There's the Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film score composer Akira Ifukube, and Japanese actor Akira Takarada.

So to "Americanize" everything, one would need to take the Japanese names. The chatacters Akira, Tetsuo, and Kaneda would now have names like Bob, Joe, and Frank; or whatever. But then instead of the movie being titled "AKIRA", after the main character, the film would be titled "BOB", after the main character's Americanized name. But no one's gonna see a movie titled "BOB", because that would fail to drag in the fans of the anime. (Seriously. "Bob" sounds nothing like "Akira".) So the names need to stay the same. But now everyone in "New Manhattan", for some reason, is full of white people with Japanese names and bland American accents, simply to maintain the original name, even though the film was supposed to have been "Americanized". (They probably won't even have Brooklyn specific accents.)

If you really, really want to Americanize a Japanese film, this is the best example with which to do it: Film the events taking place in Japan from a visiting American's perspective. It worked wonders when bringing this Japanese movie to America, despite the fact that most Americans were probably still all sore about Pearl Harbor at the time. I mean, you're not gonna get the same effect that the original film had, but this is a pretty acceptable middle-ground, and a strategic use of story-telling; something that the current Hollywood "AKIRA" script does not have going for it.

[Shadow]