Monday November 10, 2008 Japan Movie star and producer Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Aviator) told MTV's Splash Page that his Appian Way production company is waiting for the final script draft for the live-action film version of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga. He added, "I'm a big fan of Japanese anime — that and another project called Ninja Scroll we're trying to get developed and made into a movie, and I know there a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we're going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we're not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape." He also emphasized that he is producing in these two projects, and that he does "not really" have any interest in acting in them. The Variety entertainment news source reported in February that Warner Brothers and Appian Way had re-licensed the rights to remake Akira from the manga publisher Kodansha. The two companies originally planned to make two films, each of which would cover three volumes of the renowned science-fiction manga about a governmental genetic project and a teenager's attempt to save a fellow biker gang member. Otomo himself directed a popular 1988 anime film based on his own manga. Variety also reported last month that Warner Brothers and Appian Way had licensed the rights to adapt Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll action anime film from the Madhouse anime studio. credits: ANN
