Scarlett is playing Kusanagi Motoko in a live action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell
Thoughts?

To be honest I'm not surprised. I mean if you look at the history of film adaptions in the US, it's not likely that they cast an actor of the original character's ethnicity (in whatever the film was adapted from). I feel like if they were to cast a white woman, they could have cast someone with a stronger persona. Personally I think Johansson's image does not fit Motoko's (ethnicity aside). Most of the people who will go see this movie once it's out in the future will not have seen or read Ghost in the Shell, so those of us who are complaining don't really matter. It's Hollywood catering to people who like pretty white actresses. I'm just hoping they do the series/author justice and make it well, but I am highly doubtful this will happen.

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I totally Agree with Pikapu. And also...

..Although this opinion will unlikely matter at all, because they've already started filming, for God's sake...just NO! Scarlett Johansson is seriously the worst pick. Ever. She doesn't have the personality, she doesn't have the look, she doesn't even have the feel of Motoko.

This ruined my night.

My opinion can be found all over this ANN thread and i spoke up in ANN´s earlier discussions too. Stalk away! To summarize:
The talented Johansson isn´t that great a fit but should do a decent-ish job and she only signed up as she is looking for a franchise of her own. Disney is sadly reactant to green-light a Black Widow project, yet that one would be a no-brainier to me!
The equally talented Pilou Asbæk as Batou (one of my favorite fictional characters ever) is a way weirder decision to me. The bigger problem is that they want to turn SAC into an event film and erode the cultural context behind it. A SAC film neither "needs" an Asian protagonist (but it would be the ideal way to go!) nor even Motoko as she served no deep role in the Laughing Man case.
They could replace her with an US-Japanese Mike Kusanagi for all i care but the lack of the original purpose and political outlook will drive the story ad absurdum! Trying to do a CG driven event film (expect a PG-13 despite the TV-Ma source) is further deeply questionable and the truly unacceptable parts of the production are the producer Avi F###ing Arad and the 9 year development time. Maybe even one of the writers and the (as of now) bland director. Sigh. We had way more interesting people attached back in the day .
Cyberpunk is my favorite genre but it has further been dead for at least a decade (Matrix 4ever in development says hello!) and they should just hand off the production to the Ex Machina guys and do a mostly original Netflix mini-series that will fit the time.
Or make a mid budget Hong Kong film with John Woo based on the 95 classic.
The RT score and the trailer will decide if i will show up and that is coming from a 2 decade long GitS fan (maybe not of the messy manga trilogy).

Thus i didn´t vote. Johansson ain´t the "real" problem. It´s the utter cynicism around the project and reading about it for over a decade has left me numb. A typical case of Modern Hollywood run amok but i am willing to eat my words if the film turns out good and don´t necessary wish failure on it. I expect a shoot-em-up with an anti whistle-blowing message due to the the press releases / casting calls and the financial success will depend on the budget. A recent string of Sci-Fi remake "franchise non-starters" say hello...

Last edited by residentgrigo at 11:09 am, Aug 29 2016

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

i dont really care
Scarlett Johansson IMO is not very attractive so that might put me off from the whole idea
she is rather bland and average looking at best

the original manga is rather boring and way too long ... a short story of say 20-50 pages would have been good
and the tv-shows and many movies makes the whole GITS universe awful

making a movie and focus on the good parts...like the first animated movie...could work really well

about changing "race" well who the fuck cares

I haven't read or watched Ghost in the Shell so I can't really answer to how well Johansson would do in the role. I just wanted to say I love that this has become an issue. In the past, Hollywood would've chosen a white actor to play a minority's role, and no one would've blinked an eye. It's Hollywood, over course they're going to white-wash everything. But we are realizing that there isn't a reason why this should be acceptable. There are plenty of minority actors who can play the role and do it justice. Hopefully, Hollywood will change how they do things in the future.

This makes no sense is all I'm thinking at first. But of course industry, profits, A list, star vehicle, blah blah blah. It's not oscar bait so the industry is probably thinking, #oscarsowhite doesn't matter. I can also see the attempt at foreign relations for the industry here....I guess....tapping into the "untapped potential" of the anime/manga community? I suppose paramount/dreamworks has various logic behind their decision. Plus Paramount has been sinking in recent years.

Oops necropost. oh well. random forum diving

Last edited by mysstris at 7:45 pm, Aug 28 2016