Scarlett Johansson Gets Another Comic Book Movie (Kind Of) With Ghost In The Shell
By Nick Tylwalk
Are we stretching to call Ghost in the Shell a comic book movie? Maybe just a tad. But since the franchise started as a manga series, and manga and comic books are, at the very least, cousins, it’s close enough for our purposes.
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In any case, Variety is reporting that Scarlett Johansson has agreed to star in Ghost in the Shell, following earlier reports that she had been approached but hadn’t made up her mind about the project. She’ll almost certainly be playing some version of Motoko Kusanagi, the main protagonist in the manga and its anime adaptations.
A live-action version of the property seems like it’s been rumored forever, but it’s only been since 2008 that DreamWorks had secured the rights to tackle it. Rupert Sanders will direct the film, with Avi Arad and Steven Paul as producers. Stephen Spielberg himself is said to be the driving force behind making the movie a reality.
American fans have some familiarity with Ghost in the Shell already, as both seasons of the excellent Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime series have aired numerous times on U.S. television. The casting of Johansson is certain to be met with some resistance by fans of the original material — just check out the comments section of the Variety article for examples of this — and there are always natural questions when a Japanese IP undergoes obvious Westernization.
Those fans will have to hope Spielberg insists on something that stays true in spirit to the source material, and content themselves with the idea that a bankable star like Johansson may have been necessary to get the movie to be green-lit in a Hollywood that is still somewhat skittish about action-oriented movies headlined by females. At the very least, we know that ScarJo is no stranger to the world of comic book movies, and she already knows how to convincingly kick some butt.
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