No Leo: DiCaprio to Produce, But Not Star in ‘Akira’

Leo can’t be in Akira! He’s too busy trying to save the polar bears! 

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company has been in a manga/anime kind of mood, acquiring the rights to make live action versions of the Japanese classics Akira and Ninja Scroll. However, don’t look for Leo to appear in either–it’s already been stated that he wouldn’t be in Ninja Scroll, and now, in an interview with MTV’s Splash Page, he makes it clear that he won’t be in Akira. No doubt he’s too busy making another Scorsese film.

Nevertheless, Leo talked a little bit about the progress of Akira.

“We’re waiting for the final draft of the script [for ‘Akira’],” DiCaprio told MTV. “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.”

So there’s not even a script in place, and thus, it seems, no casting either–Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the subject of some rumors, but so far they’re just rumors. It should be noted that Akira was originally targeted for a summer 2009 release. But with no script and no cast here in November, I wonder if that’s already been nixed. And if so, does that mean it will be bumped all the way to summer 2010? We eagerly await more news, Mr. Movie Mogul DiCaprio.