More 30-year-old 'teenagers' than the original 90210...

Things are shaping up for the new Akira film to move forward: Warner Brothers has apparently sent the recently revised script to several actors to read for the two leads. According to Deadline, the script has been sent to Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Social Network), James McAvoy (Wanted, X-Men: First Class) and Robert Pattinson (Twilight), who are being considered for the role of the hero, Tetsuo. Actors who received the script with a nod to the second lead, Kaneda, include Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), Chris Pine (Star Trek), Justin Timberlake (The Social Network), and Joaquin Phoenix (huh?)

So there are some interesting pairings here: maybe we could have a Social Network reunion with Garfield and Timberlake; or an X-Men: First Class reunion with McAvoy as the hero and Fassbender as the anti-hero, as they play Professor Xavier and Magneto in the new movie, respectively. Garrett Hedlund did a great job riding the light cycle in Tron: Legacy; he might be a decent choice as the leader of a motorcycle gang. All of these actors, however, have one thing in common: they are all too old to play the teenagers from the source material. It's not to say that a group in their late 20's and early 30's are over the hill: they certainly are not. But couldn't Warner Brothers cast a bit more appropriately for the story? It was previously rumored that Zac Efron (High School Musical) was being considered for the role of Tetsuo; and while that made many fans cringe, at least he is closer to being an actual teenager than the group above. Other casting rumors that have apparently fallen to the wayside include: James Franco as Kaneda, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the two leads, and Morgan Freeman as the Colonel. Actually, let's hope that last one is still a possibility; Morgan Freeman would be a fantastic Colonel!

The rights to the live-action remake were acquired back in 2008; but the recent upsurge in casting rumors comes from the fact that a revised script was delivered that has executives at Warner Brothers excited enough to begin the search. The script was written by Steve Kloves, who worked on each of the Harry Potter screenplays except for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and more recently was part of the team that wrote The Amazing Spider-Man. There will be two films, each covering three books of the manga epic. The first live-action Akira film is due out in 2013, and may start filming as soon as August 2011.

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