Robert Pattinson in Allen Coulter’s Remember Me (top); Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine in J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek (bottom)
Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, James McAvoy, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix. Those are the names included in a Deadline.com piece about performers who have been "considered" for the roles of the surely-to-be-renamed Tetsuo and Kaneda in the live-action, English-language adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s series of graphic novels, Akira.
Pattinson, Garfield, and McAvoy were lumped together as potential Tetsuos, the friend-turned-enemy who develops creepy psychic powers; the other five actors are in the running for Kaneda, the biker who will try to save the day.
Well, at least that’s what an unnamed source told Deadline’s Mike Fleming. This roster, of course, could be merely a publicity ploy to heighten the buzz for Akira, a major Warner Bros. project that a while ago lost Black Swan’s Mila Kunis to Oz: The Great and Powerful. Zac Efron and James Franco had been mentioned as possibilities as well, in addition to Brad Pitt. Somehow, Josh Hutcherson, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Dev Patel, Taylor Lautner, Matt Damon, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth, and Julia Roberts have been left out.
Albert Hughes has been named director of the revamped Akira; the screenplay is currently being rewritten by Steve Kloves.
Directed by Otomo himself, an animated version of Akira came out in 1988.
Photos: Remember Me (Myles Aronowitz / Summit Entertainment); Star Trek (Industrial Light & Magic / Paramount)
