Willis To Star in “Neuromancer?”

The rumor of the day is that actor Bruce Willis has signed on to star in the big-screen adaptation of Neuromancer.

Based on the novel by William Gibson, Blastr reports that Willis has been connected to the role and may have already accepted the lead. Peter Hoffman is serving as producer for the project and trying to drum up interest. Willis’ involvement could do just that.

IndieWire reports that Willis’ agent says he’s only reading the script right now and hasn’t signed on yet.

Live Action “Akira” Moving Forward

Warner Brothers is moving forward with a live-action version of Akira.

The studio gave the green light to the movie this week. According to Variety, Jaume Collet-Serra will direct the movie and Tron: Legacy’s Garrett Hedlund could be the leading man in the film.

Akira will be based on the original manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, depicting a sci-fi cyberpunk dystopia, but will relocate the action to “New Manhattan” rather than “Neo-Tokyo.”

Hedlund’s involvement is only tentative at the moment, but he would up be for the part of the original story’s Kaneda (there is not yet word on whether or not the character names will be changed).

Budgeted at $90 million, Akira could shoot as early as February of next year.

Warner Brothers Taps Director for “Akira”

Jaume Collet-Serra has been tapped to direct the live-action version of Akira. After years in development, the project which will adapt the popular anime feature as a live-action film could finally be moving forward.

Harry Potter adapter Steve Kloves has written the most recent draft of the screenplay, which is designed to turn Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic graphic novel into a tentpole with a mid-level budget along the lines of WB’s Clash of the Titans.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way are producing with Andrew Lazar of Mad Chance.