‘Akira’ Finds New Life With ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi In Talks
By Ben Pearson/Sept. 19, 2017 5:53 pm EST
Now, yet again, WB has breathed new life into the project and has attached another fascinating director to potentially translate the story into a massive blockbuster. Taika Waititi, the New Zealand-born filmmaker responsible for films like What We Do In The Shadows and the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, is the latest person to get sucked into this film’s whirlpool. Will he be the one to finally break the curse and get this damn thing made already?
Deadline has the news about Waititi’s involvement, which is currently only at the “he’s in talks” stage. So nothing’s been signed yet, but it’s easy to see why Warner Bros. would be interested in locking him down for this ambitious project: he’s proven that he can make funny, character-driven comedies with movies like the delightful Hunt For The Wilderpeople, and from everything we’ve seen so far, he’s done the impossible over at Marvel by making a Thor sequel that looks colorful, epic, and a heck of a lot of fun. And as a person of color himself, Waititi is an inspired choice to direct this movie; assuming he’s interested, I’d much rather have him on board than someone like Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Life), who was attached earlier this year.
Espinosa and Lights Out helmer David Sandberg were reportedly in contention for the director’s chair earlier this year, before Get Out director Jordan Peele was offered the movie and ultimately turned it down to make more original projects instead. I imagine many of us are hoping that Waititi makes a similar decision, but again, if we’re going to get an Akira movie eventually – and it seems like WB executives are going to make that a certainty – maybe Waititi has the right sensibilities to give us a version of this that won’t feel burdened with the weight of ten years of development on its back. (Look no further than The Dark Tower earlier this year for another long-in-the-works project that fell flat on its face upon finally being released.)
