That’s the word on the web over the weekend as the Hollywood Reporter stated that Warner Bros. is zeroing in on Reeves to star in the film adaptation of the legendary anime. This is still, of course, just a rumor and Variety even posted an article warning the public not to jump to any conclusions just yet.
Last month, George Takei (the original Sulu from Star Trek) posted a link to a petition on his Twitter which speaks out against casting caucasian actors as characters originally written to be Japanese. Here is the Facebook petition aptly titled “Don’t Whitewash Akira!” In an interview with the Advocate, Takei offers M. Night’s Last Airbender as proof that casting non-Asians as characters written to be Asian doesn’t work.
This is a huge deal, apparently. Asian organizations from all over are up in arms about the actors who are up for the roles of Tetsuo and Kaneda. Here is a pic from IndieWire that will give you some idea.
Not pictured is Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is also being rumored to be considered for one of the roles. Reeves has previously been connected to a live-action Cowboy Bebop but hinted last year at trouble getting the adaptation off the ground. He is currently filming 47 Ronin for Universal.
[Source: ANN]
Loading ...