A couple weeks back, it was reported plus confirmed that Warner Bros. were in talks with actor Keanu Reeves to pen a deal that would see the star play a main role in the live-action remake of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Manga classic “Akira”. Given the opportunity to play the bike riding world savior Kaneda (Yup, American guy with a Japanese name), Keanu has decided not to further pursue the opportunity and thus back away from the role, according to ‘JoBlo’…

Set to be directed by Albert Hughes (The Book Of Eli) the project is not dead as Warner Bros. have been keen to stress, stating instead that they will keep searching as obviously finding your main stars is the pivotal moment of how a film can turn out towards the public.

“Production on ‘Akira’ has not halted or been shut down,” Warner Bros. responded in answer to allegations that the film might be in trouble, “as the film has not yet been greenlit and is still very much in the development stage. The exploratory process is crucial to a project of this magnitude, and we will continue to sculpt our approach to making the best possible film.”

Despite a shortlist leaked which Keanu Reeves was not apart of, the reason for that being the people over at WB admit that they’re taking an “exploratory” approach to the adap, meaning their final decision really could be anybody. Still, the thought of Andrew Garfield playing Kaneda is rather fitting, even though it is still daft a little calling them different cultured names. It may as well be a CGI adapt at least.

Something does seem strange however, as Keanu Reeves has previously stated how much he loves Akira. So to walk away from a practical golden opportunity, you have got to wonder what exactly will the story seem like exactly? I do once again turn peoples attention towards this:

Let us know your thoughts whatever the case – What actor can you see playing Kaneda?