Thor: Ragnarok Director Taika Waititi Still Working on the Live-Action Akira Film

In an interview with Dazed, director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) confirmed that he is still working on Warner Brothers' live-action Akira film project. 

Waititi also confirmed that he plans to adapt the original manga, not the anime film as the director stated in his comment for IGN last October and at the same interview that the original anime film doesn't need a remake. The director stated: 

I haven't really started to get my head around it yet. What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, 'cos a lot of people are like, 'Don't touch that film!' and I'm like, 'I'm not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.' A lot of the people freaking out haven't even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It's so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.

The live-action Akira film has a really long history of delays and director changes. The current story for the project thus far is that it will take place in a rebuilt New Manhattan in which a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment. The project is said to be composed of two films, with each film tackling three volumes of Katsuhiro Otomo's original work. 

The film is produced by Mad Chance's Andrew Lazar alongside with Leonardo DiCaprio and Appian Way Production's Jennifer Davisson. 

[Source: Anime News Network]