TRON: Legacy‘s leading man Garret Hedlund is – for better or for worse – said to be the top contender to headline the new Akira movie, which will be an Americanized take on the acclaimed Japanese comic book/animated movie created by Katsuhiro Otomo. However, he could potentially be surrounded by some well-respected acting talent.

Twitch has it on good authority that Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter have been offered roles in director Jaume Collet-Serra‘s Akira remake. Oldman is reportedly being eyed for the role of “The Colonel” – a part previously rumored to have been offered to another beloved actor, Morgan Freeman – and Carter is apparently wanted to play a character known as Lady Miyako (in Otomo’s original comic/movie, at least).

Carter is somewhat similar to Oldman: her filmography as a whole is very strong, save for a handful of big-budget missteps here and there (ex: Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes). However, she has somewhat of a busy schedule right now, seeing how she’s currently appearing in Burton’s Dark Shadows, Mike Newell’s Great Expectations – and is rumored to costar in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables adaptation next spring – around the same time that Akira is expected to begin production.

With all that said: bringing Oldman and Carter onboard for your film is rarely (if ever) a bad move; it could also be a turn for the Akira remake which won’t simply infuriate fans.

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In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

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The 24-year-old Armie Hammer (The Social Network) has already been cast as the masked title character, while Depp will play the Lone Ranger’s Native American sidekick Tonto. Gore Verbinski, who directed Depp in Rango and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean flicks, is helming the film, and Jerry Bruckheimer is producing. Filming is slated to start this fall in Texas and New Mexico, with Disney planning to release the movie on Dec. 21, 2012.

Carter and Depp have previously worked together on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, and are currently shooting Tim Burton’s horror drama Dark Shadows, which is also due next year.

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