Scarlett Johansson signs on to star in Dreamworks' 'Ghost in the Shell'

[X-SOLDIER]

I like making the comparison that IF this had managed to be Ghost in the Shell that was produced by Disney & directed by Steven Spielberg – there is NO WAY that Scarlett Johansson should've gotten the lead role. Had that scenario taken place, it would've been 100% white-washing, since they'd've already been totally funded and that role for Motoko Kusanagi would have been available for a minority actress – potentially even as a brand new break-out role – in a way that it never did with this incarnation of the film.

where's james cameron or someone buying up the rights to something when you need it

it's one thing to say that there's no big name japanese/asian stars to carry the role, but there's never going to be one if you don't give them the roles.

(i'm saying this in an idealistic way, since i get why they would pick big name actors and why it's been made the way it is)

Right? I wasn't using Disney & Spielberg hyperbolically either. Disney was still sort of a part of this before DreamWorks split off from them, and I think that things would've been VASTLY different if they'd even managed to put this thing together while they were still all one team. The wiki on the film's release - especially the bits in 2015 have all your answers: (quoting it below)

Ghost in the Shell was originally scheduled by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures for an April 14, 2017 release through their Touchstone Pictures banner. The film was part of DreamWorks' distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios, which began in 2009. In April 2015, Disney moved the film's release date in North America to March 31, 2017, with Paramount Pictures handling international distribution. However, it was reported in September 2015, that DreamWorks and Disney would not renew their distribution deal that was set to expire in August 2016. In January 2016, Disney dropped the film from its release slate after DreamWorks' distribution deal with Universal Pictures was finalized in December 2015. Disney's distribution rights for the film were transferred completely to Paramount, with the latter studio retaining Disney's release date of March 31, 2017.

The bit that I bolded has all your answers. If THAT hadn't happened, we'd be looking at a TOTALLY different film right now. Basically, the more you dig at it, the more apparent everything gets to how things got here.




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[X-SOLDIER]

Also, something that I REALLY want to know/would love to hear opinions on:

I’m curious why everyone is pitching a huge fit about this, but literally no one is mentioning Beat Takeshi’s casting as Aramaki. His presence in the film is giving a big Japan-specific star a chance to become a more Hollywood-recognized name, which could be HUGE for fixing the issue of Asian minority star presence in film – especially since he's not just an actor, but also a notable writer and director.

This is literally the exact thing that you’d have to do to fix the problem that all of this stems from – which is a lack of big Hollywood-recognized minorty actors appearing in high-profile films.




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[Blade]

All I know is (casting of the movie aside), this will definitely NOT be a PG-13 movie if they do the original "Intro" of GitS "Creation of a Cyborg".

 

[X-SOLDIER]

It looks like Sam Yoshiba, the director of the international business division at Kodansha's Tokyo headquarters likes what's being done with the film. It's an interesting set of comments, especially the bit at the end where they talk about America feeling that any Asian would be fine, but Japan being less ok with that and even stating that if they wanted a Japanese cast, they should've made the film in Japan.




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[AvecAloes]

All I know is (casting of the movie aside), this will definitely NOT be a PG-13 movie if they do the original "Intro" of GitS "Creation of a Cyborg"

I don't know, plenty of PG-13 movies have shown tits and ass.

 

[Pixel]

I'm just glad it's not Mila Jovavich

 

[Geostigma]

It really depends on the MPAA. They are inconsistent as fuck and generally useless.

FWIW before PG13 was invented there were actually quite a few movies with nudity in them that were PG as well

Chris Stuckmann has a video about it all though I can't seem to be able to find it right now. There's also a great documentary about it on Netflix... whose name I also can't remember lol.

edit:

Actually it seems the yt video was by good bad flicks and not Chris

 

[X-SOLDIER]

This Film is Not Yet Rated is the Documentary you're probably thinking of.





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[AvecAloes]

Huh. Ghost in the Shell Publisher 'Never Imagined' a Japanese Actress in the Lead Role

source: Kotaku

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Huh. Ghost in the Shell Publisher 'Never Imagined' a Japanese Actress in the Lead Role

source: Kotaku

Just FYI: That is an opiniony version of this article I posted earlier:

It looks like Sam Yoshiba, the director of the international business division at Kodansha's Tokyo headquarters likes what's being done with the film. It's an interesting set of comments, especially the bit at the end where they talk about America feeling that any Asian would be fine, but Japan being less ok with that and even stating that if they wanted a Japanese cast, they should've made the film in Japan.

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[AvecAloes]

You're right I was at first confused by....one of those articles, thinking it was saying that the author of the manga felt OK with ScarJo, not the publisher, so thought they were two different things? That'll teach me to skim

 

[X-SOLDIER]

No worries!




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[Strangelove]

on the other hand, was anyone really expecting someone from the studio or publisher to come out and say 'this is a load of shite' about their own upcoming release? usually you have to wait a few years before cast or crew start badmouthing things

i rewatched the original film (well, the 2.0 version) the other day and thought they could copy the opening sequence. have a japanese actress for the first few minutes but oh no she suddenly dies for some raison and the new body she gets is scarlett johansson

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I kinda feel that that actually would've added MORE fuel to the fire, because then everybody would be screaming that they HAD a Japanese actress and literally didn't use her. Insert comments about how the film is now guilty of both appropriation AND white-washing, possibly even fridging a minority actress, etc. etc. Bla bla bla.

Giving the example that it's the same reason Will Smith was cast in Suicide Squad as a character who is a white person works well, because it isn't about race AT ALL. It's completely about proven Hollywood star power in your main character for your not-so-well-known group ensemble-based property. Then your supporting cast has a lot of diversity to give them a bigger leg up into getting recognized in Hollywood, thus working to alleviate the underlying problem altogether.




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[Blade]

And don't get me started on who would voice the Tachikomas....

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Rila Fukushima joins the cast as… someone.




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[Octo]

Maybe they'll have it that 10 mins into the film the Scarlett Motoko gets blown up and then they put her cyberbrain into Fukushima Motoko instead. Soblem Prolved!

 

[AvecAloes]

Then it'll be like the latest Godzilla movie - all the people who went to see it because Brian Cranston was featured so heavily in the trailers will be the same people who go to see Ghost in the Shell because Scarlett Johanson is cast as the lead actress. 15 minutes into the film and they'll be wondering what the hell just happened, and why they're there watching some weird Japanese-y movie

 

[Tennyo]

Talk about bait-and-switch.

That would actually be rather lulzy.

 

[Cthulhu]

Isn't bait-and-switch basically the core of advertising? Advertise something crappy as the best thing ever and shit.

 

[Geostigma]

Isn't bait-and-switch basically the core of advertising? Advertise something crappy as the best thing ever and shit.

Pretty much.

It wasn't crappy but Drive was heavily advertised as another action movie with Fast and Furious elements. There was even a law suit for false advertising because of it.

Similarly all of M. Night Shyamalans movies post The Village were advertised very poorly. Both the Village and Lady in the Water were advertised as horror movies when they very much were not anything close to that.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

A bunch of set photos: http://kotaku.com/scarlett-johansson-spotted-in-ghost-in-the-shell-costum-1781235815




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[Strangelove]

the market area kind of reminds me of the market from the first film (plus the use of hong kong gives it a similar feel)

 

[X-SOLDIER]

The Producer Steven Paul talks about the casting: https://www.buzzfeed.com/susancheng/ghost-in-the-shell-producer-defends-scarlett-johanssons-role




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[X-SOLDIER]

Apparent Casting Photo leaks. It'll be nice to see officially official ones at some point, but I'm cool with these.


Tawanda Manyimo as Boma

Yutaka Izumihara as Saito

Pilou Asbæk as Batou

Scarlett Johansson as The Major

Beat Takeshi as Daisuke Aramaki

Chin Han as Togusa

Lasarus Ratuere as Ishikawa

It looks like they've done a little bit of poking with the whole crew (Borma especially), but I'm fine with giving a more diverse group for Section 9 to help the rest of the casting fit in place and not just be, "the Japanese actors and the Hollywood actor who sold the film" which would've felt a lot more off. Still, it'll be nice to see how it look when we have proper, meant-to-be-seen-by-the-public photos.




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