The only thing Warner Bros. Pictures has done right in developing a live-action Akira was hiring young up-and-coming director Ruairi Robinson. Since then they’ve gone back to their big-headed suit way of thinking and brought on Allen and Albert Hughes to direct, while also dabbled with the notion of tapping Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield or James McAvoy for the role of “Tetsuo,” and Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake or Joaquin Phoenix for “Kaneda.” Keanu Reeves was then offered the lead, and (thankfully) declined.

Deadline is now reporting that the Hughes brothers have parted ways citing creative differences and that Warners is on the hunt for a director to quickly replace them. The project is still on fast track and now the studio is once again flirting with the aforementioned inept list of actors.

The idea of bringing the budget down always is a good idea to me, but if you’re going to embark on a daring journey, why not grow some balls and give an up-and-comer a chance to direct, and cast some no-namers so we can actually find ourselves immersed in the post-apocalyptic tale? Sigh.

The rewrite by Steve Kloves “sets the film in a rebuilt New Manhattan, where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment.”