Joseph Luster
April 9, 2018 
It’s been a while since we heard about the live-action Akira, but that project still looms on the horizon to a degree. The latest mini-update comes from a recent Dazed interview with Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson and director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), who discussed everything from their New Zealand roots to, you guessed it, Hollywood’s long-gestating take on Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira.
Waititi didn’t confirm his exact role in the project, but he did have this to say about what he wants to adapt:
I haven’t really started to get my head around it yet. What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’ A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.
The Akira project has been in flux for years at this point, so we’ll just have to wait and see if anything comes of it this time around.
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