It sounds like Jordan Peele has successfully avoided the live-action anime adaptation trap. Blumhouse.com reports that the comedian and director—whose recent Get Out launched him from “former Comedy Central star” to “next big Hollywood director”—has turned down the director’s chair for Akira, which he was rumored to have been offered earlier this year.
“I think [I could do it] if the story justifies it,” Peele said at an event to celebrate Get Out’s success and its upcoming DVD release. “Akira is one of my favorite movies, and I think obviously the story justifies as big a budget as you can possibly dream of. But the real question for me is: Do I want to do pre-existing material, or do I want to do original content? At the end of the day, I want to do original stuff.” Peele has said he wants to do more stories about the social demons plaguing America, and building his own version of Neo-Tokyo would presumably get in the way of that. There’s also the question of how viable such a film would or will be: Hollywood’s latest manga adaptation, Ghost In The Shell, brought in disappointing box office concerns (not to mention accusations of whitewashing and racial insensitivity).