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[GavinUK86]

http://www.slashfilm.com/gary-whitta-unproduced-projects-interview/

The idea was basically that in the future Japan had been forced to deal with an economic and population boom by essentially purchasing an abandoned Manhattan island in a massive land deal from the American government, which itself had been driven close to economic ruin by the destruction of the city of Manhattan in the original Akira incident. So what had once been Manhattan became Japanese sovereign territory as New Tokyo, with ten million Japanese living there; it just happened to be located on the east coast of the United States. I thought it was an interesting way to fuse eastern and western cultures in the movie, and allow a mix of actors from both, rather than just “white-washing” the film, which is what I think a lot of people were anticipating.

Aside from what we did to try to fuse the eastern and western worlds with the setting, the original plan was that the movie be split into two parts. This was back in 2007, long before the current trend of splitting movies up into multiple chapters. It’s important to remember that we were not adapting the animated film that most people know and which is only a small part of the overall AKIRA story, but Otomo’s original manga, which runs to six very fat graphic novels. It’s a huge amount of material that goes way beyond what you see in the anime, and we wanted to tell that larger story, but the only way to do it was with two films – or three, I suspect, if the first one had been a big hit. The script I wrote took you up to the destruction of New Tokyo and the rebirth of Akira, and the rest of the story that plays out after that in the manga would have been told in the subsequent films.

It's pretty much been Gary Whitta week there, due to the release of his new novel:

This week, we've been running portions of our extensive interview with screenwriter Gary Whitta (Book of Eli, After Earth) as a five-part feature we’re calling “/Film’s Week Of Whitta.” Promoting the pre-order of his first novel, Abomination, Whitta talked to us not only about his career thus far, but the future and unproduced projects that haven’t happened.

Today in the fourth part, Gary Whitta talks about the projects he’s worked on that have not made it to the big screen, which include the American live-action Akira movie, an Escape From New York reboot, a big screen adaptation of Blizzard’s popular MMORPG video game World of Warcraft. I also ask Whitta about the rumors that he may be working with Blizzard on a a Diablo or Starcraft project. I always love hearing about the movies that could have been, so for me this segment might be the most interesting. Read the Gary Whitta unproduced projects interview after the jump.

It's all an interesting read if you have the time.

 

[A-V-B]

Eh..

 

[Diprosalic]

dodged a bullet there.

 

[JDSN]

Im sorry but..

TRAVIIIIIIIISSS!!

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

I wonder if Gary's seen the Akira Project yet and how he feels about a production in such a direct style.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Didn't he write After Earth?

...yeah... maybe not touching one of the most hallowed anime / mangas of all time is a better idea.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Poor Gary Whitta

What's his novel about?

 

[Skellig Gra]

Hmm, I didn't know Whitta worked on the WoW movie.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

On the one hand, a trilogy trying to adapt all of Otomo's manga? Good idea.
On the other hand: Travis.

 

[Stet]

As if Akira adaptations needed another way to demonstrate how creatively bankrupt they are.

 

[RedNumberFive]

The animated movie already rushed too much of the story into a 2 hour package. I can't imagine a live action version doing it any better.

 

[SteveWinwood]

are there gaf mentions in the book

 

[Nappuccino]

He should adapt BARTIKA

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/768-artists-are-drawing-a-simpsons-akira-mashup-comic#.puad2M23o9

 

[Dennis]

But what does he say about us?

 

[UnluckyKate]

We'll it does sound more interesting than every other project we heard and I have faith is Gary Whitta. But I guess we won't ever see this

 

[FStop7]

But what does he say about us?

bad stuff until he gets a job with GAF and then he'll go back and surreptitiously delete it all

 

[Acorn]

bad stuff until he gets a job with GAF and then he'll go back and surreptitiously delete it all

Zing

 

[afternoon delight]

dodged a bullet there.

Yeah, I'm not so sure about a live action Akira trilogy.

 

[jediyoshi]

I suggest listening to the Kinda Funny podcast ep with him, brings this up a bit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCKy8DZHhYA

 

[M.W.]

But what does he say about us?

After Earth was based on GAF.