London, Nov 17 (IANS): "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart has been reportedly approached to play a lead role in a Japanese animation movie, "Akira".

The 21-year-old actor, who is known for playing Bella Swan in the "Twilight" film series, has been offered to play Kei, the love interest of male lead Kaneda in the movie, reports contactmusic.com.

The original story - focusing on Kaneda and his friend Tetsuo (who is yet to be cast) - was set in post-nuclear war Tokyo in 2019 while the new movie is expected to take place in New York.

Warner Bros Pictures is still looking for an actor to play Tetsuo, and it is said that Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenreich are the top two contenders for the role.

Based on Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk manga, Akira follows Kaneda, a leader of motorcycle gang known as The Capsules who must save his best friend Tetsuo from being a medical experiment of the government.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company is working on the $300 million project for Warner Brothers with Allen and Albert Hughes.