Morgan Freeman Up for Akira

You've heard the story often.

A genre film needs an accomplished actor to add a weight of class to the project. When the filmmakers pin-point said actor, they're offered one of two options: either a bunch of money upfront or a smaller paycheck in favor of a piece of the box-office. In most of those cases, they say, "Just give me the damn money right now!" thinking nothing will become of the silly little movie they're doing. Until the movie becomes a smash and egg gets thrown in their face for passing up what would be a gold-mine.

Something tells me Morgan Freeman knows that story by heart. How many big productions, especially comic-related, has he shown up in the past decade? The Oscar-winner has appeared in two Batman films (soon to be three, that is), Bruce Almighty, The Sum of All Fears, Wanted and the still-in-theatres hit Red to name a few.

Bloody-Disgusting says another could soon be added to that list: the Hugh Brothers' Akira adaptation. He's said to be circling the role of the Colonel. This comes hot off the heels of a /film scoop that Zac Efron has been offered the lead of teenage biker, Kaneda – presumably to be renamed for American audiences. "Kenneth?" Sounds a bit too Jack McBrayer for my tastes.

My Movie Moan co-host Ed Hocken said off-air how if done properly the audience would be throwing up by the third act (Check out the anime to know what he’s talking about!) and that the subject matter was better suited for David Cronenberg. Plus, it'd so damn expensive to pull off.

Don't see the pros for Warner Brothers to be moving forward on this.