It’s all but a done deal that Garret Hedlund will be taking the lead role of Kaneda for the recently revitalised Akira remake, so now all eyes are on the other roles. Whilst the new movie is set in America – Neo New York to be specific – they’re keeping the original character names. Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter are rumoured for roles and now comes the news that Keira Knightley and Ezra Miller (We Need To Talk About Kevin) are in the running too.
If they accept/win the roles, it’s likely that Knightley would play love interest Kei, whilst Miller would get the big role of Tetsuo, Kaneda’s brother who develops insane telekinetic abilities. It remains to be seen whether or not they’ll actually end up in the roles, but the fact that they’ve been approached speaks volumes about the movie – they seem to be looking for talent and not just stars. There has been controversy in the past though at the lack of Asian names amongst rumoured casts, so don’t expect that do die down any time soon!
