Well then make it a sympathetically Too Dumb to Live Catholic priest who believes Tetsuo (or Stu :P) is a sign from God and thinks that helping him is God's will.
or you could play it dark like Sin City did with Roark and Kevin, the priest knowing it's wrong but being so batshit that he believes it's God's doing.
RANT MODE ON
The point of setting this in Japan is not just because it would be faithful to the original movie. At the very least, we want the American remake's lead roles to be given to ASIAN-AMERICAN actors because doing that would make Asian/Asian-American actors more visible in Hollywood and film—and even more importantly, give them visibility in roles that aren't stereotypes.
There are about five new Asian-American actors. Dev Patel was in a horrible, horrible movie BECAUSE THE ONLY OTHER OPTIONS WERE ASIAN STEREOTYPES THAT HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO. The other four are in GLEE. As much as I love Glee, all the new people representing Asians in film can be counted on one hand.
This is why even in an American adaptation, I DO NOT WANT WHITE ACTORS TO PLAY THE LEAD CHARACTERS.
And every time people say "Just don't watch the movie," I WANT TO FUCKING KILL THEM. Yes, preventing racism from making money is a good tactic, but it would be way better if THEY'D MADE IT PROPERLY IN THE FIRST PLACE.
The people saying "Just don't watch" ARE NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE TO DEAL WITH RACISM.
The people saying "Stop worrying about it, you're just being nit-picky" ARE NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE TO DEAL WITH ACTORS OF THEIR ETHNICITY BEING SHOVED INTO STEREOTYPES AND BIT ROLES.
The people saying, "Remakes are better" ARE NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE TO DEAL WITH ASIAN-AMERICANS BEING REPEATEDLY IGNORED.
ASIAN-AMERICAN ACTORS EXIST, HOLLYWOOD. YOU NEED TO STOP USING THE "DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION, LALALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU" EXCUSE, BECAUSE THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM. THIS IS WHY WE WANT AKIRA TO BE SET IN JAPAN.
RANT MODE OFF
In short: Hollywood uses the "different interpretation thing" to get away with hidden racism a lot. This is a very long-standing problem with Asian-Americans because up till now, we couldn't AFFORD to complain about it.
edited 3rd Mar '11 8:48:59 AM by Sharysa
Do you feel a little better now? Not alot to do about the racism, other than hope they get a director that happens to be a fan or something.
edited 3rd Mar '11 8:53:20 AM by NULLcHiLD27
Or they could change a ton of stuff (names and location) and call it a LOOSE ADAPTATION!! Has anyone taken film lit?
Untitled Power Rangers StoryIt seems as though you have a problem with Hollywood having a bias towards white actors, rather than anything actually specific to this film.
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.As well as everyone saying Akira SHOULD be remade in America.
Which isn't bad in itself, but yes—Hollywood's tendency to remake things is REALLY BADLY TIMED, considering it's right on the heels of The Last Airbender in terms of Asian-influenced film.
edited 3rd Mar '11 9:15:21 AM by Sharysa
Nobody's actually saying that, we're just talking about what they'll probably do.
If there were ever a time that there were a chance of an american Akira being made with asian american actors, now (right after The Last Airbender) would probably be the best time, so far, due to the criticism the Avatar movie got for "white-washing" the main characters.
edited 3rd Mar '11 9:19:59 AM by NULLcHiLD27
You can't make something like this in a year unless you have a time-turner or a TARDIS.
It would be awesomely funny it's Its The End Of The World As We Know It played over the credits.
Untitled Power Rangers Story"There are about five new Asian-American actors. Dev Patel was in a horrible, horrible movie"
Dev Patel isn't "Asian-American", whatever the heck that's supposed to mean.
"And every time people say "Just don't watch the movie, " I WANT TO FUCKING KILL THEM. "
Oh, and up till then I thought you had a decent point. Pity you had to go and over-react and spoil it.
Sharysa, you seem to be approaching this backwards. You say the Akira remake should be set in Japan because it would force the movie studio to cast Asian actors. But the whole reason there's a dearth of prominent Asian actors is because of racist decision makers in Hollywood (or at least Hollywood decision makers who pander to racists in their audience). If you could convince the movie studio to set the film in Japan in order to give Asian actors a fair shake, then the movie studio would be sufficiently enlightened that they wouldn't need an Asian setting to force them to use Asian actors. After all, even if the movie's set in America, there's no reason any given role couldn't go to someone of Asian descent.
I still think The Colonel should've been played by Bruce Willis, since in the second half of the story The Colonel Takes a Level in Badass and whips some ass with a staff. Morgan Freeman COULD convincingly show that but whatever..
You can get what you want and still not be very happy.

In the manga, she's a major character; she tries to teach Tetsuo how to control his power and when that fails, she takes steps to deal with him.
edited 2nd Mar '11 11:32:35 AM by RichReeders
Don't you try anything, you baked good you.