You remember like a decade ago when Leonardo DiCaprio was going to be in a live action Akira movie?

Leonardo DiCaprio is Akira

Well that never really happened, and a few days ago it was reported that the movie was officially shelved. But wait! Turns out that was premature! The movie lives on! Hollywood Reporter reveals that the movie now has a director and writer!

The movie’s director will be Jaume Collet-Serra. Is he any good? No idea. Haven’t seen any of his movies… but you have if you’ve seen Unknown, Orphan or House of Wax!

The script will be adapted by Steve Kloves, who is best known for adapting the Harry Potter books into a number of movies of varying quality. Lots of bitching going on about what people hear about changes that may take place. I love the Akira manga and movie myself, but both are … kind of nonsense. Let’s just wait and see how it turns out before saying it would be better as a mess of scenes with a confusing incomplete story. You can’t very well call yourself a fan of the Akira anime movie and say you wouldn’t want to see a movie that deviates too much from the source material.

Leo will not likely be starring in the film, but he will be producing. The movie is said to take place in New York instead of Neo Tokyo, and casting rumours throughout the years have included Joseph Gordon Levitt, Justin Timberlake, Robert Pattinson, James Franco and Keanu Reeves. If I had more time to kill, I’d photoshop photos of all of them too…

Stay tuned for more on this movie as it will no doubt go through 3 more directors and get shelved for another 5 years only to be released some time after James Cameron’s Gunnm adaptation…

Check out a trailer for the American Akira below…