Warner Bros. is courting Jordan Peele to direct the long awaited film adaptation of the popular anime Akira.
With the success brought his way through his work directing Get Out – a horror film centred on a young black man visiting his girlfriend’s creepy Caucasian family – one can imagine that Peele will be getting one or two high profile directing opportunities thrown his way.
One of those very opportunities is apparently the chance to helm the long in development adaptation of the 1988 anime Akira.
Akira follows the leader of a biker gang who teams up with others to fight a friend that is threatening to unleash psychic powers upon the city. It’s a bizarre project to be sure and will take some serious skill to pull off effectively. And it seems that Warner Bros. think that Jordan Peele is just the man for the job.
According to The Tracking Board, the direction of who will tackle Akira has shifted somewhat “with insiders saying the studio is moving aggressively to lock in Jordan Peele to direct coming off the mega-success of Get Out”.
This will be a pretty great get by WB if they manage to pull it off. Whether or not they manage to lock Peele down to the project however will remain to be seen.
Originally published March 30, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
