Two weeks ago, when news broke that Warner Bros would officially go forward with Akira after months of setbacks, Garrett Hedlund was said to be the frontrunner to play Kaneda, and it was almost a foregone conclusion that he would be involved.  Negotiations with the actor could not begin until the project had its budget in place, though.

Last year, Hedlund starred as Sam Flynn in TRON: Legacy, which Disney clearly hoped would result in a tentpole franchise.  Since then, he's been careful about another high-profile role; he was a candidate to play Captain America, but opted against donning the superhero's shield.  He'll next play Dean Moriarty in Walter Salles' On the Road, adapted from the book by Jack Kerouac. 

Both Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter are rumored to be in talks for supporting roles in Akira, but the big question is just who will play the film's second lead, Tetsuo.  Set in futuristic New Manhattan (filling in for the original's Neo-Tokyo), the story follows biker gang-leader Tetsuo and his best friend Tetsuo, of whom he's very protective.  The more timid Tetsuo manifests latent psychic powers, leading to a potentially devastating scenario as he mutates into something else entirely.

The shortlist that first associated Hedlund with Kaneda also had actors such as Andrew Garfield and Robert Pattinson listed as possibilites to portay Tetsuo, but it's a mystery whether they'd still be in the running or if they would even be interested at all.

Jaume Collet-Serra boarded the project in July, following the amicable departure of original director Albert Hughes.  The director, who last helmed the Liam Neeson thriller Unknown, engaged in some budgetary wrangling to bring Akira's pricetag down to a figure with which Warner Bros would be comfortable.  Writing the latest drafts of the screenplay is Steve Kloves, who previously penned all but one entry in the studio's massively successful Harry Potter franchise.