It was only last week we learned TRON: Legacy star (it seems odd typing “star” for people I just heard about) Garret Hedlund was who Warner Brothers and director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, Unknown) want to play Kaneda in the just-greenlit Akira. Now Twitch is confirming that rumor and also reporting that two more actors are even closer to being cast, having received offers from the studio.
Gary Oldman has been offered the role of Colonel Shikishima, and if any white guy can pull off being named “Shikishima”, it’s Gary Oldman. Well, okay, they’re just calling him “Colonel” for now. No Shikishima.
Helena Bonham-Carter has been offered the role of Lady Miyako, a high priestess and former test subject of a secret government project led by the Colonel. The movie reportedly has a $90 million budget and will not be set in the 2030 post-WWIII Neo-Tokyo, but instead will take place in New Manhattan, with Kaneda still trying to free his psychic friend Tetsuo from the government project. When asked which psychic kids he wanted for his secret project, the Colonel totally said, “EVERYONE!“