Ghost in the Shell is an upcoming American science fiction crime drama film directed by Rupert Sanders and written by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han and Juliette Binoche. It will be released on March 31, 2017, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.
- Margot Robbie was considered for the lead role. However, negotiations broke down and the role was offered to Scarlett Johansson.
- Had been filmed in Wellington, New Zealand
- Based on a manga and anime of the same name.
- Matthias Schoenaerts was considered for the male lead of Batou. Pilou Asbæk was cast instead.
- The film’s villain was originally intended to be the Laughing Man, the antagonist hacker of the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002), but has been changed to the second season’s antagonist, Hideo Kuze, to help make the story more personal for the Major, as they both had a past together on the series.
- This film’s production was met with controversy over the choice to cast the lead role of Major Motoko Kusanagi (a Japanese character in the original source material and previous adaptations) as white, with the role going to Scarlett Johansson. Online protests over Hollywood whitewashing flared up in April 2016 when Paramount Pictures released the first promotional image of Johansson in costume. The anger toward her casting was exacerbated by reports that Lola VFX, the company behind the character-aging effects in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), was commissioned to manage tests on visual effects to make white actors look Asian, though the results were reportedly rejected immediately upon their review.
- Like her earlier science fiction film Under the Skin (2013), Scarlett Johansson appears nude in this film.
- Sam Riley was in talks for the role of the Laughing Man, but Michael Pitt was finally cast.
- Touchstone Pictures was originally involved in the project, but after the contract with Dreamworks expired, Paramount took over the distribution rights.
- Scarlett Johansson and Pilou Asbæk have previously starred together in Lucy (2014).
- Three of the cast members have also taken part on Game of Thrones (2011). This includes Pilou Asbæk, Joseph Naufahu and Rila Fukushima. They respectively portrayed Euron Greyjoy, Khal Moro and a Red Priestess.
- Scarlett Johansson doesn’t wear a black wig in the movie and it is her own hair, which was dyed black for the film.
- The third science fiction film which Scarlett Johansson has black hair. The first science fiction film was Under the Skin (2013). However in Lucy (2014), Johansson’s character Lucy Miller wears a black wig as a disguise.
