Todd Brown over at Twitch has had his finger on the pulse of Akira casting since the project received a green light in October, and he reports that Watanabe has been offered the part of The Colonel. You may remember that this is the very same character Gary Oldman could very well have played, but evidently the studio was unable to close a deal with Oldman, and they've moved on Watanabe.
The actor has appeared in many a Warner Bros production, starting with his Oscar-nominated American debut in The Last Samurai. He appeared with Oldman as the decoy Ra's Al-Ghul in Batman Begins, though the two actors shared no scenes, and he played a major role as Saito in Christopher Nolan's Inception.
Originally set in Neo-Tokyo, with the action transplanted to New Manhattan for the live action version, Akira follows Kaneda and Tetsuo, the leader of a futuristic biker gang and the meeker friend of whom he is protective. Tetsuo eventually discovers previously untapped psychokinetic powers and begins a transformation that could very well destroy the city. The Colonel is an authoritarian presence attempting to stop Tetsuo by force.
With Hedlund more or less locked as Kaneda, the biggest question is just who will play the second lead, Tetsuo. Last week, Collider reported a list of actors who are set to test for the all-important role. These actors include Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla), D.J. Cotrona (GI Joe: Retaliation), Rami Malek (Larry Crowne), Alden Ehrenreich (Twixt), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), and Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood).
Most of these guys are just as much in the leading man mold as Hedlund, if not moreso. Hell, Cotrona was set to play Superman in George Miller's abandoned-at-the-last-second Justice League movie. Madden has done great work as Robb Stark on Game of Thrones, but he might just be too charismatic. Warner Bros is probably at least a little keen on Kebbell, as he's playing the sidekick in next year's Wrath of the Titans, but Paul Dano is the obvious choice here. He looks the part and he's proven his dramatic chops, playing his Little Miss Sunshine role to perfection and going up against Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood.
No word as of yet on whether Helena Bonham Carter or Kristen Stewart will actually be involved in the film.
Akira is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who last helmed the Liam Neeson-actioner Unknown. Much development was done under Albert Hughes, before he amicably departed the project and WB went back to the drawing board with Collet-Serra in July. The latest drafts of the screenplay are by Steve Kloves, the man who adapted every entry in the Harry Potter franchise with the sole exception of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Kloves also recently contributed revisions to Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man.
