DreamWorks' Ghost in the Shell Slated For April 2017

The thing is though Ayase we know nothing about the production at the moment other than its lead actress - and we haven't even been told the name of the character she's signed on to play. Due to the nature of the source material the character could still be Motoko Kusanagi, just using a cyborg body with a Caucasian design. I think if DreamWorks really wanted to, they could use the casting as a symbol for the theme of the relationship between identity and cyberisation (the "ghost" and the "shell" so to speak). Like how Motoko has asked herself at times whether she was ever a real person or is just an A.I. with false memories, the audience might end up asking themselves whether Motoko is still Japanese even if she has Caucasian skin.
If it turns out that Motoko Kusanagi is now Mary Sue of the FBI's Section 9 however, then I'll grab my pitchfork as well. Until then though, all we can do is wait until we find out more.

The idea that characters can only appeal to people if they belong to the same race or gender belongs in a different goddamn era and if that is the reality of how audiences feel, we should probably be addressing that rather than just going along with it.
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It's not about that at all; the focus on Scarlett Johansson being an important piece for this movie has nothing to do with her race but rather, her status as one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood right now. Sadly, the Western film industry has a terrible pool of diverse actors and actresses (which I would like to see fixed) and a project as niche as "Ghost in the Shell" would no doubt have needed some big names to slap on the top of promotional posters to attract investors; never mind customers.
 
The problem is that it's a self-perpetuating situation; nobody casts Asian leads because none are famous enough in the west, so none ever become famous. Asian films aren't given a proper chance to succeed in English-speaking territories these days either. I get that nobody wants their own pet project to fail just because they tried challenging the status quo for once, but it's still maddening that all anyone does in this kind of situation is wring their hands and say "This is unfair, yeah, but it's the only way things can be right now". It's that attitude which makes people feel they have to really fight for change.

(Seriously, that episode of SHIROBAKO was just perfect in showing the way films are cast ;_; )

It could be interesting if they make it part of the plot and have the Major played by other actresses too in different parts of the film to pay tribute to the familiar Kusanagi and explore her nature. Whatever they do, I hope they teach the actors how to pronounce Japanese names properly.

R
 
I think it's rather interesting to think about where people we suddenly see in the spotlight have actually come from. For example, while many people would consider Jennifer Lawrence to be an overnight success due to her age and the close proximity of her major roles X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games, she had actually been working since 2006 on TV series' and movies that frankly, I had never heard of until I looked up her Wikipedia page (except for her debut, which was in a single episode of Monk).

I think that when it comes to a studio taking risks with things like unproven talent, there are clearly projects where they can be taken and those where they can't (regardless of race). I'd guess that DreamWorks consider Ghost in the Shell to be the latter, considering the line of directors who were clearly waiting for a chance to jump on this movie and how quickly a release date was announced following the Johansson news breaking.
 
Not much surprise me any more, but I continue to be incredulous at the fact that a majority of posters even over at ANN are also "What's the big deal? It's fine, it's fine to just disregard the source material, it's fine to change the race of the actors and the setting and therefore the entire world of the franchise. Geez, these US megacorps have to make money you know. So what if that means basically just taking an anime property's name and doing what they like with it?" - Self declared fans of anime, ladies and gentlemen. The climate feels as though people would actually defend that "American Akira" parody if it was pitched as a real film now.
 
I think - and this is partly my perspective to - is that if even a small percentage of the people that see/hear about the live action adaptation come away switched on and interested in consuming more anime, then it's a win. Yes, the film may end up really sucking, but stuff like this is what creates the next generation of anime fans/helps spread the awareness out beyond the already converted. That's how I see it anyway.
 
ayase said:
Not much surprise me any more, but I continue to be incredulous at the fact that a majority of posters even over at ANN are also "What's the big deal? It's fine, it's fine to just disregard the source material, it's fine to change the race of the actors and the setting and therefore the entire world of the franchise. Geez, these US megacorps have to make money you know. So what if that means basically just taking an anime property's name and doing what they like with it?" - Self declared fans of anime, ladies and gentlemen. The climate feels as though people would actually defend that "American Akira" parody if it was pitched as a real film now.
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Because most people are realists about this and realise that this was always more than likely to happen with Hollywood and would rather the film attract a big name that can at least give it half a chance of being a success and therefore bring the franchise to the notice of a wider audience.
 
Lutga said:
Yes, the film may end up really sucking, but stuff like this is what creates the next generation of anime fans/helps spread the awareness out beyond the already converted.
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I really wish that was the case, but people are incredibly cynical by nature and primed and ready to rag on something they don't like. I fear it'll be a case of 'huh, that new ScarJo film was crap, but what did we expect? It's based on anime.'

Something really DOES need to be done to encourage new fans, that's for sure. I'm not sure that a live action movie would do it, for the same reasons that comics don't necessarily see a spike in sales whenever there' a new Marvel movie.

(Maybe not charging sixty quid plus for a bakers dozen of episodes of something? Just putting that out there.)
 
Rui said:
It could be interesting if they make it part of the plot and have the Major played by other actresses too in different parts of the film to pay tribute to the familiar Kusanagi and explore her nature.
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Missed this at the time, but I really like the idea of having Kusanagi played by multiple actresses. It seems entirely approrpiate for the material and might even be taken as a cheeky nod to her controlling several bodies at once during Solid State Society.
 
Lutga said:
I think - and this is partly my perspective to - is that if even a small percentage of the people that see/hear about the live action adaptation come away switched on and interested in consuming more anime, then it's a win. Yes, the film may end up really sucking, but stuff like this is what creates the next generation of anime fans/helps spread the awareness out beyond the already converted. That's how I see it anyway.
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robot monkey said:
Because most people are realists about this and realise that this was always more than likely to happen with Hollywood and would rather the film attract a big name that can at least give it half a chance of being a success and therefore bring the franchise to the notice of a wider audience.
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I dunno if I really want more normal people interested in anime though. Normal people have a tendency to spoil every little niche and subculture they infect. Something I've come to realise over the years is that the larger the number of people in a community, the more mainstream and "cool" something becomes, the lower the quality of that community. The internet is a prime example of this, ah for those early days when morons didn't own or know how to use computers.
 
ayase said:
Lutga said:
I think - and this is partly my perspective to - is that if even a small percentage of the people that see/hear about the live action adaptation come away switched on and interested in consuming more anime, then it's a win. Yes, the film may end up really sucking, but stuff like this is what creates the next generation of anime fans/helps spread the awareness out beyond the already converted. That's how I see it anyway.
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robot monkey said:
Because most people are realists about this and realise that this was always more than likely to happen with Hollywood and would rather the film attract a big name that can at least give it half a chance of being a success and therefore bring the franchise to the notice of a wider audience.
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I dunno if I really want more normal people interested in anime though. Normal people have a tendency to spoil every little niche and subculture they infect. Something I've come to realise over the years is that the larger the number of people in a community, the more mainstream and "cool" something becomes, the lower the quality of that community. The internet is a prime example of this, ah for those early days when morons didn't own or know how to use computers.
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Being niche will not see the market last longer term especially in places like the UK.
 
It's done okay for the past 20 years by getting people who like the look of Japanese cartoons to watch Japanese cartoons without having to ease them into it by way of live action Hollywood movies.

That and I really don't understand this obsession with "growing" the economy. It just ultimately leads to population increase to grow the consumer market, which is actually the opposite of what we need.
 
Joshawott said:
I think Jerome's pretty darn spot on there. Yes, it could certainly help if we had some more well-known Asian actors and actresses in the Western industry but right now, we don't. I imagine the production needed the weight of Scarlett's involvement to get the green-light too, so casting a relatively unknown Asian woman and using the movie as her "break-out role" wouldn't have worked.
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She may be a little diminutive for the part, but Rinko Kikuchi would I think suite pretty well
 
The scene looks pretty accurate up to the point where the major emerges. The SFX don't look convincing and niether does that body suit. I will reserve judgement until I see a full trailer.
 
crashmatt said:
The scene looks pretty accurate up to the point where the major emerges. The SFX don't look convincing and niether does that body suit. I will reserve judgement until I see a full trailer.
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The FX that gets put in teaser trailers is usually preliminary, and gets polished for the final film. I don't believe GITS has stopped shooting yet, so post production work and editing wouldn't really have started proper. It's even possible the footage won't be in the final film. Remember the Spider-Man WTC trailer? But as an example of the filmmakers aiming for authenticity with the source material, the teaser is an interesting point for debate. I think it is pretty faithful.
 
I feel like I'm probably the only one in the whole world who wants this film to be largely different from it's source. Really dislike the original Ghost in the Shell, so if this one is just going to be a copy of that, I'm definitely uninterested.
 
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