Until British comic book artist Chris Weston (The Book of Eli) shared concept art from the film on his blog. It's nothing less than mind-blowing.
Here's what he said on his blog. "Here's some of the storyboards I drew for Albert Hughes' live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic graphic novel,"Akira". Here's a few of them; hopefully they reveal just how much love we had for the source material and how faithful we were going to be to it."
If the movie was even half as stylish as the storyboards it would have been awesome. I'll fight anyone who disagrees. Unless they're bigger than me. Then I'll just give them a firm tongue-lashing.
Check them out (Click the images to enlarge). The level of detail is striking. It also has sections of the script in it.
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| Akira (???) "Tetsuo Hospital" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Alert" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Chopper Interior" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Kid's Room (Kyouko, Masaru and Takashi)" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Chopper 2" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Tetsuo!" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Flypast" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Boardroom" by Chris Weston |
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| Akira (???) "Cryo Chamber" by Chris Weston |
Official Synopsis:
Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers.
Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.
See more of Chris Weston's portfolio at chrisweston.blogspot.ie
By the way, this tip was sent in by a reader. If you come across cool sci-fi concept art or storyboards please click the link to contact me! I'd love to see it.
What do you think of the illustrations? How would the Akira movie have been? Are you glad the project was cancelled?
@ Copyright Mad Chance, Appian Way, Lennox House Films, Chris Weston All rights reserved
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He needs to take those ideas and storyboard a new movie.
ReplyDeleteAlex, he should crowd fund it. I'd buy in.
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