Once again, I think my icon speaks for itself! "DiCaprio Considers SMAP for Ninja Scroll Film"
Taken from Anime News Network linkage here!
A little snippet: According to Nikkan Sports, casting is in progress with DiCaprio's expressed intention to "cast with Japanese people." In November, DiCaprio told MTV's Splash Page that he is producing both this project and the proposed live-action adaptation of the Akira anime for Warner and Appian Way, but emphasized that he does "not really" have any interest in acting in them. In the same interview he professed to be a big fan of both Akira and Ninja Scroll, and added, "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."
That's very interesting! I had to double take when I saw SMAP in the headlines on that site though. Bizarre!