Everything We Know About Ghost In The Shell

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Masamune Shirow’s forward thinking, cyberpunk manga, Ghost in the Shell is 25 years old and it still has the power to captivate readers with its philosophical musings on the nature of life and its brutal, bloody action. 

It was 20 years ago that Mamoru Oshii's feature-length anime adaptation was unleashed in cinemas. Stylish and intelligently written, it still ranks as one of the best animated films to hail from Japan and next year, we’re getting a live-action adaptation, which stars Scarlett Johansson as a cybernetic law-enforcer fighting hackers and futuristic criminals in the 21st century.   

Synopsis 

The official synopsis reads: 

"Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, Ghost In The Shell follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic’s advancements in cyber technology."

Cast 

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Staring as The Major, Johansson will co-star alongside Beat Takeshi Kitano as Chief Daisuke Aramaki, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt, who will play a villain called The Laughing Man – who is possibly an update on the original film's Puppet Master character, Pilou Asbæk, and Kaori Momoi.

Meanwhile, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara, and Tuwanda Manyimo will round out the supporting cast as members of Section 9. 

It would be disingenuous to talk about casting without discussing the backlash surrounding the whitewashing of Asian roles. The choice of Johansson for the title role was hit with immediate uproar with fans of the original manga agreeing that the role should have gone to an Asian actor. Around the time the first image of Johansson was released, the controversy grew when producer Steven Paul told Buzzfeed that Johansson’s character wouldn’t be referred to by Motoko Kusanagi, they decided to just call her by her rank, the Major, as it’s clearly an Asian name. However, japanese actress and Memoirs of a Geisha star Kaori Momoi was cast as the Major’s mother, so the character appears to be, at the very least, half-Japanese depending on her father.  

Paramount have also recently denied rumours that they were considering using CGI digital effects to make Johansson appear more Asian – with screen tests commissioned to see if computer VFX could shift the ethnicity of background players to make them appear more Asian. 

In a statement, Paramount said: 

“A test was done related to a specific scene for a background actor which was ultimately discarded. Absolutely no visual effects tests were conducted on Scarlett’s character and we have no future plans to do so.”  

Those who joined the growing chorus of condemnation include Ming Na-Wen, the voice of Disney's Mulan and current star of Marvel television series Agents of Shield, and comic writer Jon Tsuei; who argued the original manga is deeply rooted within Japanese identity.

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In a bid to stave off some of the controversy, The Wolverine star Rila Fukushima was added to the cast in a prominent, undisclosed role. 

One group who have defended the decision the Japanese publisher of the original manga; claiming that Johansson is "well cast", and that "we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place." 

First Trailer and Teasers

UPDATE: We've now had the first trailer and it looks incredible - not only has it captured the look of the original animated classic but the feel and tone of its very unique mix of philosophy and extreme violence. Take a look below

The overall look of the film is being kept under wraps but paramount have released five teaser images which play into the idea of hacking, being as they are short bursts of random clips interspersed with static. We get brief shots of Takeshi Kitano as Chief Daisuke Aramaki, a mechanical geisha and, of course, Johansson as The Major. 

The teasers also lean heavily on the graphic images of the novels themselves which is no surprise as director Rupert Sanders has a wealth of beautiful images to draw from. 

Release Date

Ghost in the Shell will be downloaded into cinemas on March 31, 2017. 

Ghost in the Shell
The exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in f...
Release Dates
30 Mar 2017-Cinema
25 Jul 2017-DVD
7 Aug 2017-Blu-ray
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