Yesterday, a whole bunch of character breakdowns from Taika Waititi’s Akira live-action movie leaked. The information seemingly confirmed Warner Bros. would be ending their mission to whitewash the Japanese story and hiring young Asian actors to play Japanese roles in the film.

There is another interesting tidbit we were able to uncover.

HN Entertainment was able to get our hands on Kaneda’s audition scene which might hint to Taika and Warner Bros. aiming for a mature adaptation of the manga.

The language in the scene I’m not terribly focused on as you’re allowed to cuss a little in a PG-13 film, but the crux of the scene is a drug deal which isn’t going pass mustard with the MPAA.

CHARACTER #2: Hey, these are duds.

KANEDA: What? No, there they’re not man. Give it some time. They take at least an hour to take full effect.

CHARACTER #2: Bullshit! I know these pills they only take ten minutes to release. Five minutes if you “shell” them, which I did.

KANEDA: Ew, that’s gross bro. Too much information.

CHARACTER #2: These are duds, so that means we need to renegotiate.

KANEDA: Fine, sure, we can do that. But right now I got to save my best friend that got himself into a situation with the Vipers. And it’s frustrating because I’m always bailing him out of trouble ever since we were kids. I know what you’re thinking right now, ‘Cut him lose. Forget about it. Focus on our renegotiation’.

But, I can’t bro. Cause at the end of the day, family is family and I love him to death and I can’t let him die.

CHARACTER #2: Will you shut up? You never stop talking.

I wasn’t serious about renegotiating. That was code for ‘I’m going to stab you in the throat’.

KANEDA: Okay, what? You can’t be serious…you are serious. Wow. Okay, that’s impossible for anyone to decipher even myself.

CHARACTER #2: Stop fucking talking.

KANEDA: The thing about the pill I gave you it actually does take immediate effect, not in the way you wanted or hoped, obviously. But yeah, 65% dramogren or dramoupe. Dude, these names are super confusing. Anyways, enjoy your ride and we can talk later.

There is drug abuse, crime, drug dealing gangs, and gory violence throughout the source material. I wouldn’t expect them to go this faithful with the casting and then avoid the mature nature of the manga. It’s not a smoking gun, but there is enough there in this scene to suggest that they might not be aiming for a PG-13 movie.

Set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, the original story revolves around a teen, Tetsuo, who discovers he has powerful telekinetic abilities that threaten the world. Once a member of a biker gang, the only person who seems to be able to stop the all-powerful and dangerous teen is his childhood friend and gang leader, Kaneda.

Warner Bros. recently announced that Akira will go head-to-head against John Wick: Chapter 4 on May 21st, 2021.

SOURCE: HN ENTERTAINMENT