Ghost in the Shell Live Action - March 31, 2017

[akt_m]

Why are people so upset about Scarlett Johanson?

Motoko is a full cyborg, she could look like anybody.

[big F]

I reserve judgement untill I see at least some footage or cast costume shots.

[Keith]

Yup, Motoko more than anyone would appreciate looking like Scarlet.

[renegadeleader1]

Hmmmm......

Why are people so upset about Scarlett Johanson?

Motoko is a full cyborg, she could look like anybody.

This...

I reserve judgement untill I see at least some footage or cast costume shots.

This...

Yup, Motoko more than anyone would appreciate looking like Scarlet.

And this pretty much sums up how I feel so far about this.

[Chronocidal]

I'll admit that this may have more to do with the style of character art the series always used, but when you consider that there are some characters that are absolutely drawn to look distinctly of Asian descent, I don't think the Major has ever really looked Japanese to begin with, by comparison.

I'll reserve any kind of judgment until more material is shown, but I'm curious to see how they'll treat the storyline, and which particular story arc they'll focus on.

[Valkyrie Driver]

I'm not too upset about this, but at the same time this has the potential for this to go horribly wrong. I'll reserve judgement though...

[JetJockey]

I'll admit that this may have more to do with the style of character art the series always used, but when you consider that there are some characters that are absolutely drawn to look distinctly of Asian descent, I don't think the Major has ever really looked Japanese to begin with, by comparison.

It's not just her look in the various anime and manga. As I've said, in the original movie she looks more Western. I believe the people that are against this are against it for the right reasons. The reasons for it seem to be the corporate talking points going around. It feels like Star Trek Into Darkness and other "product" movies.

Ghost in the Shell shouldn't be a product. There are tons of other anime, cartoon, comic, etc. for Scarlett to pick from and make successful going from the corporate reasoning used to make this movie.

[JetJockey]

Sometimes it's clear when a bad movie is incoming. The Khan slip by the actors in a Star Trek into Darkness interview was one of those moments. Even though most knew it was Khan and a bad idea. That slip got them off the prepared marketing direction. This might be one of those times.

http://screenrant.com/scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-shell-movie-2017/

Scarlett is the reason this movie is supposedly going ahead. Why doesn't she know more? Why isn't she saying how she read the manga or saw the original movie and TV series. How she's looking forward to doing a live action version of the character and treating that character with the respect she deserves? That she saw concept art, read the script, and is excited about the project. I believe this interview answer is the scripted answer until the studio decides how they will sell the movie. Which isn't a good sign.

[M'Kyuun]

I'm thinking it'll be another Aeon Flux. Or just another generic cop movie where the protagonist just happens to be a cyborg, that being the token factor tying it to GITS. They'll divorce themselves of all manga, movies, and tv shows to preserve "creative vision", Westernize it entirely, change the think tanks into spindly Bayesque looking bipedal mechs, and pretty much make a movie that is Ghost in the Shell in name only. My prediction, but I hope I'm wrong.

[Black Valkyrie]

Don't ask . Would you prefer Rinko Kikuchi ?

Edited April 14, 2016 by Black Valkyrie

[SchizophrenicMC]

Feeling It Status: Not so much

[UN Spacy]

I'll allow it.

[Golden Arms]

At least she has Motoko's trademark hair. Hopefully we will see her in one of Motoko's racier costumes!

[electric indigo]

Scarlett is Motoko.

Interesting to hear that Production IG is involved in the production.

[big F]

There is still time for it to get canned.

[Negotiator]

i'm all in to see how major black widow turns out. it's all about the script. make it too complicated and everyone is gonna bitch and cry it didn't make sense. simplify it and everyone is gonna bitch and cry it's not Gits. w/e. i'm watching this sh!t.

[Marzan]

I don't have too much confidence in Hollywood nailing this, but at least she looks the part from that shot.

[JB0]

Don't ask . Would you prefer Rinko Kikuchi ?

It looks like they have an entire decade's worth of asian roles in Hollywood. Either in response to complaints they were whitewashing the major, or because they always intended to, they have managed to avoid whitewashing the cast.

And based on the one single still image, Johansson makes a good Major(and as I said before, the Major's one of the few characters you can reasonably justify whitewashing).

[SchizophrenicMC]

At the end of the day, the character has a robot body, so there's a lot of justifiable flexibility in casting. I just remain unsold on Johansson's ability to perform the role, until I have something more to go on than the first promotional still. I'm convinced she can make a good Action Cop based on previous work, but will she be Motoko Kusanagi? That depends on script and direction I guess.

Don't know if I'm gonna spend the money to see it yet. I'll wait for the second trailer.

[sh9000]

She would look good if there were nude scenes.

[aaajin]

hmm.. interesting. I wonder if they can capture all those cheesy moments.

a fan of GITS and watched all series SIC, 2nd Gig and Arise and the movies, but not too sure they can replicate it in silver screen. Hope it'll be good tho.

[renegadeleader1]

At the end of the day, the character has a robot body, so there's a lot of justifiable flexibility in casting. I just remain unsold on Johansson's ability to perform the role, until I have something more to go on than the first promotional still. I'm convinced she can make a good Action Cop based on previous work, but will she be Motoko Kusanagi? That depends on script and direction I guess.

Don't know if I'm gonna spend the money to see it yet. I'll wait for the second trailer.

It really depends on which version of Motoko Kusanagi they intend on playing. The differences of the major between the manga, the Oshii directed movies, the SAC, and the newer shows are pretty huge.

[kajnrig]

I have next to no interest in this, but a friend of mine, who is infinitely smarter than I am and also a fan of the series, has had misgivings about this from the very beginning. Me, I don't plan on watching it anyway, so it's no loss to me personally. Still, it does seem to show all the signs of being yet another disappointing but not surprising anime to Hollywood film adaptation.

Interesting to hear that Production IG is involved in the production.

All I've heard them being mentioned is as the studio behind the anime. Where are they said to be involved in the movie?

[JB0]

At the end of the day, the character has a robot body, so there's a lot of justifiable flexibility in casting.

Particularly if you come at it from the comics version, where her background is vague enough that we don't even know her birth name, much less her original face.

I just remain unsold on Johansson's ability to perform the role, until I have something more to go on than the first promotional still. I'm convinced she can make a good Action Cop based on previous work, but will she be Motoko Kusanagi? That depends on script and direction I guess.

Don't know if I'm gonna spend the money to see it yet. I'll wait for the second trailer.

And there's the rub. Johannson isn't inherently a problem, but Hollywood has a proud history of jacking up an easy win.

[electric indigo]

All I've heard them being mentioned is as the studio behind the anime. Where are they said to be involved in the movie?

From the link above:

The film (...) is produced by (...) Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, whose animation studio Production I.G produced the Japanese Ghost in the Shell film and television series

-

I doubt that they'll go back to the (Manga) source material, the franchise is best known for the first Movie and S.A.C.

And Scarlette can definitely pull off an Oshii Kusanagi.

[Save]

For the life of me, I don't know why so many would want Rinko Kikuchi as the Major.

[raptormesh]

Yaiks, that looked like a fan made shot. I think Scarlet's a real beauty but that shot did not do her justice at all.

[kajnrig]

From the link above

Oh. That basically says what I said, then. ProdIG aren't involved in this. Ishikawa is, but the studio itself isn't payrolling this or doing animation work (at least not yet).

[azrael]

Exclusive: ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Producers Reportedly Tested Visual Effects That Would Make White Actors Appear Asian

Not sure if clickbait or what and even though it appears the idea was dropped, the fact that this even came up is disturbing.

[electric indigo]

Oh. That basically says what I said, then. ProdIG aren't involved in this. Ishikawa is, but the studio itself isn't payrolling this or doing animation work (at least not yet).

I still think it's good to have someone with a certain sensibility for what made the original movie good in an important place.

[big F]

I wonder how long it will be till they rename all the characters with westernised names to make it easier for all the non Asian or knowledgeable viewers to pronounce.

[seti88]

http://screencrush.com/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-scarlett-johnasson-vfx/

thats hollywood or wherever movies comefrom nowadays..

Edited April 16, 2016 by seti88

[Black Valkyrie]

At least they should have taken a well known Eurasia actress.

[SchizophrenicMC]

http://screencrush.com/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-scarlett-johnasson-vfx/

thats hollywood or wherever movies comefrom nowadays..

Oh come now, the studio directly replied to those allegations, stating it was a test shot on a background character that they dropped immediately, and this rag maintains their original statement?

And I still think this is the one character you can do this to. The Major's key physical features (the features of her ROBOT BODY) are ghostly white skin and unsettling blue eyes. If this was any other franchise, I'd lend some credence to the whitewashing argument, but this is a movie based on a manga where the main character is literally a robot with a human mind, and that robot body is deliberately made so white it makes me a little uncomfortable. All things aside, at least Johansson fits the bill of the character physically. Making the Major physically Japanese just because the show is Japanese, even though the source material goes out of its way to portray her as something other, would be closer to racism, in my mind. This isn't like casting Sokka and Katara as white people in that Avatar adaptation that didn't get made, no matter how real the nightmare was. It's like casting Taiwanese actor Jay Chou to play Japanese teenager Takumi Fujiwara in the 2005 Hong Kong live action adaptation of Initial D.

Or, what, was that mainland Asian-washing that cast? Oh, right, it only counts if a white person does it. Gotcha.

[big F]

To be fair they could body stocking the actor and just CGI in a body later and do almost whatever they want.