Why wouldn't they touch Japanese media if they figure it'll earn them a bunch of money? I mean, Japan have loads of their own stories to pull from, yet they've made an anime series from a Swedish story of a Scandinavian girl and her family in early-Medieval times.

"Sex Animal" would be a great name for an energy drink.


Admittedly, it's not like Japan is the pinnacle of originality here. Ghost in the Shell itself was heavily inspired Blade Runner.

But yeah, this movie was gonna gargle balls no matter who they cast.

Here we go again...

Look, this isn't the end of the world. Sure, it'd be nice if the story was in Japan, with a japanese actress playing the lead, but they are adapting this to an american audience. As long as they properly adapt it, i.e. don't have this very white woman be named Kusanagi, or have the story take place in Japan with the lead being the only white person for no explainable reason, but actually adapt it into a different setting while respecting the original themes and plot, it can be good.

Remember people, movies like For a Fistful of Dollars were pretty good, and Clint Eastwood's character sure as hell wasn't called Sanjuro.

That wasn't an official remake though, considering that Kurosawa sued Sergio Leone for plagiarism.

I think people also react differently to this because this is going to be the first live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, rather than something being remade in the same medium. For some inexplicable reason, fans tend to wait longingly for live-action movies of their favourite comics, videogames, books, etc.; as if that's the only thing that can give those stories "legitimacy". It's pretty dumb.

So much drama about this....

I never really got the impression that Kusanagi is meant to look especially asian or anything, she has an artificial body after all, so she probably could look any way she wants. Also, the whole setting is very much a globalised urban environment anyway - it doesnt really matter where the story takes place i think, it could be any futuristic city....

(and yes, Blade Runner and Neuromancer are the inspiration here, so "ripping off the japanese original" ... i dunno).

Personally i dislike the casting choice though, cant really see her pulling of a somewhat harsh character like that... but well, we will see.

The principle is exactly the same though, the movie wouldn't have worked had they not adapted it into a different setting. Same goes for The Magnificent Seven. If you want a more official adaptation, someone mentioned earlier Edge of Tomorrow which was also pretty good.

It's probably going to be terrible, sure, same as the live action adaptations that the japanese themselves make that are all garbage. But lets at least wait till we know what they're doing with this before we pronounce a verdict.

You act like you're not from America or something and don't know how we are.

This movie is going to be so bad.
But maybe the "So Bad, It's Good" rule will apply. :P

Honestly in this case I don't think it's really an issue that's it's a non Japanese actress playing her given that the major body is nearly totally artificial since she was a child, and her physical apparent is purely a cosmetic choice on her part that doesn't necessarily reflect her "biological ethnicity".

On the other side I am pretty sure that the lead actor will probably the least problem of this movie and I strongly suspect it will probably be a lot closer to yet another one super hero movie rather than anything related to the original source material.

Oh. Didn't recognize him. Good to know.

Hm, I`ve seen the original anime movie about 15 years ago, andd I can`t help, but I feel that Scarlett doesn`t really fit into the movie. Besides the fact, that I don`t like Scarlett Johansen that much.

Funny because her acting skills and range are exactly that of a table lamp.

Well, that is at least more acting skills than Daniel Craig has!

Yeah, I don't think ScarJo would fit that flavor of Motoko. GITS Movie (1) version was one of the more grimdark takes on the major. ScarJo could probably handle trying to do a live action version of the manga or the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series versions IMHO