Akira Loses Director Albert Hughes, Goes Back to Pre-Keanu Plan

Man, directors are dropping like flies out of high profile projects these days. Hot on the heels of David O. Russell's departure from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune comes news that Albert Hughes is leaving Warner Bros.' Akira adaptation. Chime in with your favorite proposed Akira director below, but consider the bigger question for now: Just what kind of Akira movie does Warner Bros. want to make?

From Deadline:

"The intention of the studio is to keep the picture on a fast track, which means they will find a director quickly. The studio has been wrestling with the approach on the film for the past year. Last March, Warner Bros put together a short list of up-and-coming actors after getting a strong rewrite by Steve Kloves that set the film in a rebuilt New Manhattan, where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment...

Then, the studio had a change of heart and, given the budget, wanted to have an established box office star in the movie. That led to a flirtation with Keanu Reeves that ended recently."

But now that Reeves is out of consideration -- perhaps in part thanks to the outcry of protests that hit the web when WB first floated the idea of the 46-year-old starring, which didn't quite jibe with fans -- it looks like the young bucks are once again under consideration, which brings us right back where we started: Arguing over whether or not the likes of Robert Pattinson and Garrett Hedlund are themselves age-appropriate, not to mention wondering how a Hollywood remake of Akira might resolve the complete cultural transposition of Japanese characters and names onto a non-Asian cast.

So start up the Akira debate one more time! My vote's with an RPattz/Hedlund team-up in the roles of Tetsuo and Kaneda, mostly because both pretty much already have anime hair.

· Albert Hughes Exiting 'Akira' At Warner Bros [Deadline]