Warner Bros.'s AKIRA Gets New Life With A New Writer

Writer Marco J. Ramirez will be stepping in with Doug Petrie to carry on the story for Netflix's Daredevil series upon its forthcoming second season. Beyond that, Ramirez's name bares mentioning with reports now making the rounds that he'll be penning the script to revive Warner Bros. long-awaited film adaptation of the 1982 classic manga/anime property, Akira.

The report comes less than six months after it was reported that original author Otomo Katsuhiro would be launching his own efforts to get a live-action film going, ultimately in response to the last thirteen years of stops and starts in Hollywood. Much of the stagnation had been reportedly due to budget, scheduling and script issue, with Non-Stop and Run All Night helmer Jaume Collet-Serra eventually stepping down at the time after being attached back in 2013.

Proceeded by its feature-length anime in 1988, Akira centers on a post-apocalyptic future in the city of Neo-Tokyo where two childhood friends, Kaneda and Tetsuo, find themselves in the throes of government corruption and secrecy in a series of events that could endanger Tetsuo's life, and in turn, millions more. Akira is long considered a staple of Japanese science fiction, cyberpunk and action entertainment culture, in addition to adding to much of Otomo's acclaim as one of the most prolific innovators in the world of film and entertainment.

Tron: Legacy actor Garrett Hedlund was previously mentioned as one of three actors for a role in the film prior to reports thereafter pertaining to the now-shelved Tron 3. With that in mind, I suppose now would be a good time to get a talk going.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way are producing with American Sniper producer Andrew Lazar. Meanwhile, Netflix's Daredevil airs its second season next year.

H/T: THR

Watch The Official U.S. Trailer For RUN ALL NIGHT Starring Liam Neeson

Grizzled gangster drama, dangerous hitmen, murder, bloodshed, danger and intrigue...all in the course of an evening set in the urban jungle of New York City with starring duo Liam Neeson and Joel Kinnaman in the upcoming new crime thriller, Run All Night! Tis a good season for Neeson fans after last month's Taken 3 as the film prepares its releases between now and the summer, and with this, the official trailer is finally here for the film's newly dated U.S. release on April 17 (following last month's teaser trailer) which you can check out at the bottom of the page, as well as a U.K. trailer from last month and four character posters.

From Warner Bros. Pictures comes the action thriller “Run All Night,” starring Oscar nominee Liam Neeson (“Schindler’s List,” “Non-Stop”), Joel Kinnaman (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), Vincent D’Onofrio (“The Judge”), and Oscar nominee Ed Harris (“Pollock,” “The Hours”), under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Non-Stop”). 

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective (D’Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass. 

But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself…at the wrong end of a gun. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right. 

“Run All Night” stars Neeson, Kinnaman, D’Onofrio, Bruce McGill (“Ride Along”), Genesis Rodriguez (“Identity Thief”), Boyd Holbrook (HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra”), Holt McCallany (“Gangster Squad”), with Common (“Now You See Me”) and Harris. 

Collet-Serra directs from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby (“Out of the Furnace”). The film is produced by Roy Lee (“The Departed”), Brooklyn Weaver (executive producer, “Out of the Furnace”), and Michael Tadross (“Gangster Squad,” “Sherlock Holmes”), with John Powers Middleton (TV’s “Bates Motel”) serving as executive producer. 

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Martin Ruhe (“The American”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“Argo”), editor Dirk Westervelt (“Journey to the Center of the Earth”), and costume designer Catherine Marie Thomas (“The Heat”). The music is by Oscar nominated composer Alan Silvestri (“The Polar Express,” “Forrest Gump”).

There's No Place To Hide In The New Trailer For RUN ALL NIGHT!

Actor Liam Neeson is getting some big screen this weekend with the latest run of Oliver Megaton's new film, Tak3n. Bearing this in mind, while it should also be noted that Neeson is not entirely ruling out a fourth film, clearly the actor's penchant for playing gristled badass roles extends beyond the franchise with any number of his movies in the last several years, and his upcoming third film with Unknown and Non-Stop helmer Jaume Collet-Serra for the new eye-for-an-eye crime thriller, Run All Night, is no exception.

Set in the urban jungle of New York City, Brad Inglesby wrote the script which pits Neeson and Robocop star Joel Kinnaman, as former mob hitman, Jimmy, and estranged son, Mike, on the run for their lives when the actions of the son of old friend, aging crime boss Shawn, force Jimmy's hand. Ed Harris, Vincent D'onofrio and Common also star, and judging by the brand new trailer out this week, two things come to mind: Firstly, this, coupled with the modestly good feedback received by Inglesby's co-scripted work on 2013 drama, Out Of The Furnace should be a great measuring scale on how well his writing will serve the necessary elements on the currently-developing remake of The Raid. And second, considering the fatigue and frustration behind Hollywood adaptations of Japanese properties in lieu of Collet-Serra's longstanding attachment to an Akira adaptation, I'd say he's just fine where he is. We need more grounded, original action movies anyway, and with Run All Night opening on April 17, I'm not complaining.

Check out the riveting new trailer below!

RUN ALL NIGHT Gets New Stills With Liam Neeson And Joel Kinnaman

Actor Liam Neeson is eagerly kicking a lot of ass in the last several years. The Taken Trilogy wraps this weekend with the third film starring Neeson as a CIA operative whose retirement essentially died with every kidnapping and murdering asshole he's had to kill in his career afterlife. It's entertaining in all it's delight while Neeson himself has taken (no pun intended) on this image in similar fashion in films like the recently released crime thriller, A Walk Among The Tombstones, as well as Jaume Collet-Serra's Unknown and Non-Stop

With that in mind, the year will move on with Neeson and Collet-Serra having paired once agian back in late 2013 for the production of the Warner Bros. hitman thriller, Run All Night with Robocop actor Joel Kinnaman. Having been too damn busy with my own hectic day-in/day-out worklife, I was unable to stalk the set myself as it was here in the borough of Queens in New York City where the film was shot. Nonetheless, it's pretty cool that my suburban neck of the woods are worth the screentime, and I'm pretty sure Neeson fans will have a blast with this one as much when it opens on April 17, 2015.

SYNOPSIS:

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days.  Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective (D’Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years.  Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.

But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago.  With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself…at the wrong end of a gun.  Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.

New stills are finally circulating the interwebs, and you can check those out now in the album below, courtesy of USA Today. Also starring are actress Genesis Rodriguez, and actors Ed Harris, Common and Bruce McGill.



H/T: Collider, City On Fire