Ghost in the Shell cast photos apparently leak

[MatParker116]

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/08/24/is-this-live-action-ghost-in-the-shell-section-9-in-costume

This is actually one of the more diverse casts for a big tentpole I've seen in a while, want to see a trailer before I make my first judgement though although the screenwriter has a good track record and the director has a flair for the visual so I'm optimistic.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ok ignoring the whole "accuracy" to the source material (and excluding Scarlett as we already seen her)-

Ishikawa- Look ok.
Togusa- Abit old looking?
Saito- Look cool.
Borma- I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting that guy who played as The Thing (don't know his name) from the first FF movie to be Borma.
Batou- Look right.
Aramaki Look right.

 

[MatParker116]

Ok ignoring the whole "accuracy" to the source material (and excluding Scarlett as we already seen her)-

Ishikawa- Look ok.
Togusa- Abit old looking?
Saito- Look cool.
Borma- I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting that guy who played as The Thing (don't know his name) from the first FF movie to be Borma.
Batou- Look right.
Aramaki Look right.

I think those things on his eyes are markers for CGI which I assume Asbaek had trouble with so they ditched them.

 

[Zontar]

Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....

For the same reason those casting cared as little about race factoring in as the Japanese audience does: the factors involved had nothing to do with it and everything to do with bankability.

Sad as it is she's the biggest lead actress right now in terms of box-office draw, likely a result of her staring in 5 MCU movies which all worked to propel her career forward based purely on her looks when she has an inch thick layer of makeup on her face.

It's all about money with Hollywood. Hell, her appearance likely factored into why the movie got pulled out of development hell in the first place. This movie was on the shelf for 15 years.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Major - OK
Ishikawa - Looks OK. So i guess they are going for multi-ethnic section 9 after all.
Togusa - ...what the hell? He looks fifty here.
Saito - Looks Great.
Borma - Eh? Not what i expected.
Batou - Meh. Are they really ditching cyber-eyes?
Aramaki - Looks good.

 

[Frezzato]

Looks fine to me.

.

A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?


Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....

A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?

Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....

I believe you answered your own question in the same post. Hey, they can't all be Fassbender.

 

[Angelblaze]

A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?

Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....

Even if the major is a robot she is
1. Canonically Japanese
2. Named Mokoto Kusanagi -- a Japanese name.
3. A Japanese woman working in government under positions such as PRIME MINISTER, positions of Japanese government
4. In a Japanese created piece of fiction
5. Is played by Scarlet Johansson who at this point feels like Megan Fox, overhyped and shoved down throats to all hell. Between this, Lucy, Her, Jungle book and Avengers I'm sick of her being go-to action/attractive white girl. I really fucking am. If you had to cast her in this movie, make her the body of the Puppet Master who is far more like Scarlet Johansson:

An attractive physical prop whose only defining characteristic is having their tits out while all of the interesting speech that comes from them is spouted in disinterested, vaguely engaged, robotic but not quite -- like they're high as balls, even when the words they are saying are, unfortunately at the very cost of those words, well written. (The only reason it works for the puppet master is because this actually plays into his point about being 'programmed'.)



And because 'Scarlet Johansson gets crowds' or at least that's what the completely intelligent and I'm sure the not totally not entirely mistaken 'the race of Mokoto Kusanagi doesn't matter' audience who probably never watched all of the GITS, have no inclination to watch and will probably not see the movie despite defending the whitewashed 'inventive' casting, will say.

On topic: Yeah looking like Mokoto there. Sure. Uh huh. Lemme go not drink that kool aid.

 

[Dansen]

They all look mostly fine. Borma looks nothing like the original but he is a nothing character so I'm okay with it. He still has eye augments so I'm cool. Now, Batou, if that actor demanded that they ditch the cyber eyes I might actually ditch the movie just on that, Borma has them so their is no reason that Batou shouldn't have them. They better show up in post production. My final gripe is the Togusa casting choice. He is supposed to be the rookie of the team and a father of an infant child. He looks like he's in his late fifties, he would be more suited to being an old veteran if the team had someone like that. No Paz

Not sure why this forum has so many people that loath Johansson, say what you will about her skill as an actor, I've never found any of her performances to be particularly offensive. I think she is capable of pulling off The Major, but only time will tell if she can do it justice.

 

[MatParker116]

A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?

Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....

Watch Lost in Translation or Girl with a Pearl Earring or Her I could go on.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Why do I keep getting the feeling this is going to bomb like Jupiter Ascending?

 

[09philj]

snip

Have you seen her performance in Under the Skin? She's very creepy and inhuman. If that's why they want her, that's a good thing.

 

[MatParker116]

Why do I keep getting the feeling this is going to bomb like Jupiter Ascending?

Unlikely Scarlett's one the hottest action leads on the planet and the producer has a great back catalogue expect this to do Lucy numbers.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The major looks bad. As I said on another forum, anime doesn't translate into real life. They shouldn't try to match the look so closely, they should create their own. What's the point in being a redundant imitation? Give her a sensible, realistic haircut, for god's sake.

Things like haircuts and fashion aren't really anime driven as much as they're driven by genre. That kind of stuff is quite typical for cyber-punk. Ultimately what really matters is creating the right kind of atmosphere that makes you think that haircuts like that one and all the other oddities that you see really belong in that world. It can't feel out of place inside its own universe. And that's not something that we can know until at least the first full length trailer gets released.

snip

And Spider-Man is canonically American and he's called Peter Parker. But nobody gives a flying fuck about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNdt7na4eQ

You know why? Because it doesn't matter.

Let's cut the crap with this fake outrage. It doesn't matter in the slightest who plays The Major. It's kind of hilarious how selective people are about what they're going to be outraged about. People want black Bond but they don't want a white woman playing a robot? Jesus fuckin' Christ...

 

[Zhukov]

Togusa and Borma look... not how I'd expect. I realise that there's only so much you can when matching illustrated characters to flesh and blood, but those two are just jarring.

Aramaki looks fucking perfect though. Liking Saito and Ishikawa.

Jury is out on Batou till I see him with his eyes. (They're doing the eyes, right? You just can't have that dude without the blank disc eye thingies.)

As for Johansson as the Major... skipping right past the whole race thing because that conversation has been had and it's not like I have anything to add... I think she pulls off the look pretty well. Obviously they're going for the animated movie look, not the anime or comic look, which is probably just as well.

?Ghost in the Shell? follows a female special ops cyborg who leads an elite task force called Section 9 for Hanka Robotics. Section 9 is devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, led by The Laughing Man whose singular goal is towipe out Hanka?s advancements in cyber technology.

Wut?

They changed the story! Ruined! Ruined forever!

A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?

Welcome to literally every single time I have seen this topic discussed.

You were beaten to that particular punch hundreds of times, at least.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And Spider-Man is canonically American and he's called Peter Parker. But nobody gives a flying fuck about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNdt7na4eQ

You know why? Because it doesn't matter.

Let's cut the crap with this fake outrage. It doesn't matter in the slightest who plays The Major. It's kind of hilarious how selective people are about what they're going to be outraged about. People want black Bond but they don't want a white woman playing a robot? Jesus fuckin' Christ...

That doesn't seem like a "serious" attempt at portraying Spider-Man though, seeing as it's Saturday morning cartoon antics meant for younger viewers. Also, Japan is pretty culturally secluded and doesn't exactly have the amount of international contacts/resources as Hollywood. I reckon you make an MCU Spider-Man where Peter Parker is Japanese and people would at best scratch themselves behind the ears.

The reason people want, or wouldn't mind, a black Bond is because that would make Idris Elba the obvious choice, and he's a hot actor at the moment. Also James Bond doesn't exactly have one definitive look or portrayal.

It'd just be nice if this first live-action venture of Ghost in the Shell would have the main character, who looks Japanese, speaks Japanese, has a Japanese name, and works for the Japanese government, actually be portrayed by someone who is... Japanese.

OT: ScarJo and Kitano look fine, everyone else looks like garbage. Seriously, Batou looks like fucking shit. And what's with the guy with the pieces of candy over his eyes!?

 

[McElroy]

And Spider-Man is canonically American and he's called Peter Parker. But nobody gives a flying fuck about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNdt7na4eQ

You know why? Because it doesn't matter.

Let's cut the crap with this fake outrage. It doesn't matter in the slightest who plays The Major. It's kind of hilarious how selective people are about what they're going to be outraged about. People want black Bond but they don't want a white woman playing a robot? Jesus fuckin' Christ...

It'd just be nice if this first live-action venture of Ghost in the Shell would have the main character, who looks Japanese, speaks Japanese, has a Japanese name, and works for the Japanese government, actually be portrayed by someone who is... Japanese.

While it's a fine idea on its own, a lot of people don't seem to realize it wouldn't be a Western (Hollywood) adaptation in that case but a Japanese movie.

OT: Looks just fine. Now I need spider-tanks WITHOUT stupid voices, ty.

 

[Asita]

OT: ScarJo and Kitano look fine, everyone else looks like garbage. Seriously, Batou looks like fucking shit. And what's with the guy with the pieces of candy over his eyes!?

Borma. The guy has eye implants like Batou. That being said...they look more like googly-eyes in that picture. I really hope that they'll fix that in post-production because I can't take those googly eyes seriously. This looks good. This on the other hand just makes him look very surprised.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It'd just be nice if this first live-action venture of Ghost in the Shell would have the main character, who looks Japanese, speaks Japanese, has a Japanese name, and works for the Japanese government, actually be portrayed by someone who is... Japanese.

While it's a fine idea on its own, a lot of people don't seem to realize it wouldn't be a Western (Hollywood) adaptation in that case but a Japanese movie.

By simply making (keeping) the main character Japanese? Throw in a couple of caucasions, but it would've gone a long way if they'd stayed true to the main character's nationality.

And if they just didn't have faith putting a Japanese lead in a major production, should've either not bothered making the movie at all, or just have made it a loose adaptation based on the story/character concepts, so that they could cast it with Western looking actors that wouldn't scare of American audiences (Edge of Tommorow).