Who are the actors up for the roles Tetsuo and Kaneda? Keep reading to find out.
Deadline has revealed the actors who are currently the frontrunners for the roles of Kaneda and Tetsuo, the best friends turned enemies, in the live action adaptation of anime artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s 6-volume graphic novel ‘Akira.’ Plans are for two movies to be made, each of which covers three books in the series.
The manga, which was initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, is set in the post-apocalypse Neo-Tokyo of 2019, a vast metropolis built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by an apocalyptic blast of unknown power that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when dormant paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, who becomes a target for a shadowy government operation, a group who will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like that which leveled Tokyo. And at the core of their motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear: a fear of someone — or something — of unthinkably monstrous power known only as… Akira. And Akira is about to rise!
So who will play these teenage friends? Hmmm… well it seems the studio thought they should cast older, as you will see from some of the actors named.
Actors said to be the frontrunners for the role of the anthology’s protagonist, Kaneda, are Garrett Hedlund (‘Tron: Legacy’), Michael Fassbender (‘Inglourious Basterds’), Chris Pine (‘Star Trek’), Justin Timberlake (‘The Social Network’) and Joaquin Phoenix (‘We Own the Night’).
Up for the role of Tetsuo Shima, are Robert Pattinson (‘Twilight’), Andrew Garfield (‘The Social Network’) and James McAvoy (‘Wanted’). All of the actors have been given the script and the two leads are expected to come from those groups of actors.
Albert Huges is set to direct from a script rewritten by Steve Kloves. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson (‘Orphan’) Killoran Andrew Lazar (‘I Love You Phillip Morris’) are set to produce.
What do you think of the frontrunners? Which two actors would you pick from the lists?