Blade Director to Adapt 'Akira' For Western Audiences

dswensen writes: "According to the Sci-Fi Channel web site, Steven Norrington (director of Blade) is going to write and direct an adaptation of the classic anime Akira. Norrington says his story 'preserves the tone, the visual and the epic scope of the original, whilst telling a somewhat more accessible story [to Western audiences]." The article doesn't mention whether the adaptation will be animated or live-action. Given Norrington's track record and the butchery that usually takes place under the guise of making something 'accessible,' it's hard to take this as extraordinarily good news."

Comments

Fortunately, we recently got the 'pure' version.

[2Flower]

The latest Akira DVD release has a completely redone script / sub track / dub track that's a more accurate translation of the original. That means we've got as perfect a version as we can get (and with decent dubbing, too!). Stephen can go and make his version; maybe it'll be entertaining.

Now, if they pull the DVD off shelves or never released one in the first place, assuming that the watered down hackjob version Mr. Blade is gonna produce is the best one, then I'd be raging upset. As is I'm only mildly amused, but slightly perturbed at what this means for the future...

If more movie hauses decide this is the way to go -- remake rather than port over. Anime's just starting to get a slim toehold on American theatres (Princess Mononoke, Vampire Hunter D) and having remakes shove them aside is not good.

Here's why adaptations get made.

[Fantastic Lad]

There are three reasons film adaptations get made.

1. Because somebody with more than enough creative power to write and produce their own high grade work, gets electrified by another artist's idea to the point that they are willing to pour their own skills into realizing that work in film.

Examples of this are films like Stand by Me and The Bridges of Madison County and The Terminator.

2. When through a purely accountant driven system, a great foriegn film is decided upon as the next studio project. No soul, no creative verve, and nobody except executives salivating to get it made. Point of No Return is a perfect example of such a film.

It should be noted that projects like this, can sometimes turn out well if a powerful creative mind becomes very excited and is given a pivotal role in the film's production, but this rarely happens.

3. When dreamers with only moderate skill or creative talent of their own find themselves in positions of power, and get electrified by a brilliant artist's vision, and set out to realize that vision in film. --The problem is that such creators usually miss the nuances of a work and provide only the surface glitter and an over-amplified approximation of what they were moved by in the original form but did not understand the mechanics of.

These creators are not professional artists so much as they are Fans-boys with budgets. And there are rather a large number of them out there.

Their works include films like, Fellowship of The Rings, and Stargate, which admittedly was not an adaptation, but a wasted idea nonetheless. (The same can be said of any film made by Emmerich and Devlin!), and of course, Blade.

Akira struck me as a very cold film with a lot of neat looking effects and interesting takes on psi-power, but which ultimately had no heart and virtually nothing significant to say at all.

Unfortunately, while there is a handful of rather amazing exceptions, this could describe nearly all of the media which comes out of Japan. A very 'obedient' nation which spends a great deal of energy actively punishing anybody who dares express their individuality, and anybody who comes up with anything even remotely resembling a new idea. Careful shadings of old ideas are all that are acceptable. --According to a few friends who moved away as soon as they were old enough, I am assured that Japan was NOT a fun place to grow up.

-Fantastic Lad