Taika Waititi Doesn’t Plan to Whitewash ‘Akira’ if he Directs it
Hollywood has been enveloped in a series of whitewashing scandals lately. As it seeks to get its live-action Akira movie back on track, Warner Bros. hopes to avoid the same fate.
Recently news came out that Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi was in talks to helm the film. During his Thor press tour, he told IGN if he made the film, he would not whitewash the cast.
“Yeah, actually Asian teenagers would be the way to do it for me and probably no, not, like no name, I mean sort of unfound, untapped talent,” said Waititi. “Yeah, I’d probably want to take it a bit back more towards the books.”
Source: IMDB
In the 1988 anime classic a secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
The film has been stuck in development Hell for quite some time and it’s only been in the last two years that it has become a priority again.
Waititi’s involvement could get things back on track. However, if Ragnarok is a huge success, Marvel may want to lock him down for more work in its Cinematic Universe.
Do you want Taika Waititi to direct Akira?
Source: Comic Book, IMDB
