Ghost in the Shell cast photos apparently leak

[Casual Shinji]

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.

Yeah, I figured. Maybe it's the lighting. I'll be honest and say that even the other example looks a bit plastered on. They probably should've opted for more of a visor-like design, or something that encompases the entire eye socket. It would've deviated from the orginal design, but it would've atleast looked more solid and cybernetic, as opposed to plastic bottle caps.

 

[MatParker116]

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.

It's either CGI or nothing because it would be very uncomfortable to act in a prosthetic like that.

 

[Saelune]

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...

What about people like me who dont want it happening at all? Just because some people want a Black Bond, well I dont. Bond is a white British guy, Peter Parker is a white American kid from New York, and the Major is a Japanese woman. I also dont want back characters turned into something else, etc.

Just because some people are hypocrites, doesnt mean everyone is.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

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 catalog expect this to do Lucy numbers.

But Lucy was a disaster! It had a terrible script, terrible acting, terrible dialogue, horrible editing and completely unnecessary cut aways to National Geographic stock footage. It had all the hallmarks of a movie that was so bad by the time they had cut it into a slightly coherent mess, it was only 30mins long and they had to fill it with cows giving birth to lend it any credibility.

 

[crimsonspear4D]

Can't really say I'm all that invested to care, but I don't thinks its soooooo bad, I've seen less faithful casting. Let's hope the movie really sells it's story.

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....

The major is a cyborg: a person with mechanical and/or cybernetic augmentations to their organic form. In this case, the Motoko's fully prosthetic body which she received as a child (I think, I haven't remembered that crap in years), so her race precludes whatever augmentations she has.

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...

I would agree, but the problem that I have with this argument is that usually the first people to say "why does race matter?" and "S/he's a fantasy character, what difference does their race make?", are the same ones that start clutching their pearls when devs, writers, or whoever cast people of different races or women as an established white and/or male character. Even I have noticed how easy it is for white and/or male actors to cast in movies as franchise stars more over than Blacks or Hispanics.

I have this naggingly dark, cynical suspicion that if Motoko Kusanagi was played by a hispanic woman or a black woman (and I mean a dark skinned black woman) with purple braids or whatever, then the numbers of the people complaining about the "whitewashing" of this character would be paltry compared to the complaining about how the browning or blackening, or whatever stupid racebaiting term would be, of this character is a obvious, insulting, and petty move to diversity was meant appease "sjws" and how this ruins -RUINS- the character, the anime, and everything blah blah blah whoever stands for. I'm talking about dudes just shitting themselves inside-out with rage, because... it's only right if they're straight and white? And Japan? I know THEY don't give a shit about dark-skinned ethnicities. I'm not gonna label them racsists or anything, it's just cultural ignorance can only excuse so much in the fucking 21st century when they've been riding western culture's dicks for four decades, and have social media like the rest of us.

 

[McElroy]

What about people like me who don't want it happening at all?

Well, you know how it is: nobody cares. It's not a movie for the fans of the original anyway. Whereas in the case of...

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 Tomorow).

...it's a woulda coulda shoulda. Big studios are not going to make casting a problem for themselves. And before somebody thinks I'm defending Hollywood (as nebulous it is to treat it as a single identity) for the whole thing... no. You can trust the studios to make a blockbuster how they're used to making them. It's an opportunity for them to produce a movie with an international cast rather than a shame that they can't make the thing super authentic because of business.

But Lucy was a disaster! It had a terrible script, terrible acting, terrible dialogue, horrible editing and completely unnecessary cut aways to National Geographic stock footage. It had all the hallmarks of a movie that was so bad by the time they had cut it into a slightly coherent mess, it was only 30mins long and they had to fill it with cows giving birth to lend it any credibility.

Still made 11 times its budget.

 

[Zontar]

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:

For these points, some are assumtions and some are incorrect.

1. She is not canonically anything. We only know that she's probably from Japan OR one of the three US successor states. We don't know which of these four countries she is from (and she certainly wouldn't be the only foreigner in her unit if she wasn't from Japan).
2. Her name is something we only know to explicitly not be her real name. Mokoto Kusanagi does not exist, it is not her family's name, it is not the name she was given at birth, it is not the one she grew up with. The only thing we know about her name is the fact it's not the one she uses.
3. Japan, like most nations with a Parliamentarian system, does not have being a born or raised national be a requirement for such a position.
4. Said Japanese creators have voiced not caring about the casting.
5. This is an actually valid point.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

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.

Then the Japanese filmmakers should make their own live action movie.

And it doesn't matter that Japanese Spider-Man isn't "serious" by some arbitrary standard. The point is that when it comes to fictional characters race doesn't matter. Or at the very least it shouldn't matter. And we're talking about a robot here.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

ScarJo looks fine. I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Fox12]

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....

Wasn't the story actually set in China?

Hoo, boy, some of those are looking pretty rough. I was trying not to be critical, but what the hell did they do to Borma? Fuck me. Maybe it'll look better in post production.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Whats this? A white lady playing a Japanese one? How delightfully absurd!!!!

Nah the cast looks all right from what I casually know about Ghost. Her hair could be a bit more purple though tbh.

 

[Josh123914]

So how is this movie expected to fare in Japan?

Do we know how Japanese audiences are to react when over half the revealed characters are played by Gaijin?
I've never watched the anime, just curious since the names listed on the leak sound Japanese. In the original were they?

 

[Cap'nPipsqueak]

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.

Wait, that's still a thing? I thought it got canned.

 

[Saelune]

What about people like me who don't want it happening at all?

Well, you know how it is: nobody cares. It's not a movie for the fans of the original anyway. Whereas in the case of...

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 Tomorow).

...it's a woulda coulda shoulda. Big studios are not going to make casting a problem for themselves. And before somebody thinks I'm defending Hollywood (as nebulous it is to treat it as a single identity) for the whole thing... no. You can trust the studios to make a blockbuster how they're used to making them. It's an opportunity for them to produce a movie with an international cast rather than a shame that they can't make the thing super authentic because of business.

But Lucy was a disaster! It had a terrible script, terrible acting, terrible dialogue, horrible editing and completely unnecessary cut aways to National Geographic stock footage. It had all the hallmarks of a movie that was so bad by the time they had cut it into a slightly coherent mess, it was only 30mins long and they had to fill it with cows giving birth to lend it any credibility.

Still made 11 times its budget.

Just because people complain about complainers doesnt mean no one cares. People just like being hypocrites and put down people who well, care. Its so rare people complaining about people like me being upset about it are doing it because they like the changes. They just dont like us being upset, which upsets them.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The point is that when it comes to fictional characters race doesn't matter. Or at the very least it shouldn't matter.

That seems like an odd thing to say. Unless you mean 'It's not racist since they're fictional', and even then...

The look of a character is very important and race can often play into that. Not always, some minor characters you can play around with, but you can't tell me that, for example, turning Blade into a white or Asian guy isn't totally stupid. Same as you can't give him green hair, or whatever. He has an established look and part of that look is that he's black.

You can say race shouldn't matter, but unfortunately in the real world it does. And eventhough these are fictional characters, they still live in a similar world of different races and nationalities, with the accompanying cultures and roots within those cultures that go along with it. And if it's a race that already tends to get marginalized, like Asian main characters in Hollywood productions, it feels very insensitive for Hollywood to take an iconic Asian character, robot or no, and turn them white to maximize profits.

 

[McElroy]

What about people like me who don't want it happening at all?

Well, you know how it is: nobody cares.

Just because people complain about complainers doesnt mean no one cares. People just like being hypocrites and put down people who well, care. Its so rare people complaining about people like me being upset about it are doing it because they like the changes. They just dont like us being upset, which upsets them.

Whops, I thought you didn't want the movie to be made at all (like being against live-action for this thing). Anyway, I'm pretty sure people who are against all sorts of foreign adaptations (because foreign adaptations have their own casts) get 100% ignored by people who make any sort of decisions on these matters. That's what I meant, but yeah I get that - a lot of people just telling you to not give a shit. In this case I'll simply disagree with most of the complainers, as I think we are better off having a Hollywood blockbuster GitS than not (unless it ends up being complete garbage of course).

So how is this movie expected to fare in Japan?

Do we know how Japanese audiences are to react when over half the revealed characters are played by Gaijin?
I've never watched the anime, just curious since the names listed on the leak sound Japanese. In the original were they?

Dunno if you were asking seriously, but it will fare at least decently. For example The Martian was box-office number 1 for 4 weeks. The audiences will know it's based on a Japanese original. [link]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2016_box_office_number-one_films_in_Japan[/link]

 

[Saelune]

What about people like me who don't want it happening at all?

Well, you know how it is: nobody cares.

Just because people complain about complainers doesnt mean no one cares. People just like being hypocrites and put down people who well, care. Its so rare people complaining about people like me being upset about it are doing it because they like the changes. They just dont like us being upset, which upsets them.

Whops, I thought you didn't want the movie to be made at all (like being against live-action for this thing). Anyway, I'm pretty sure people who are against all sorts of foreign adaptations (because foreign adaptations have their own casts) get 100% ignored by people who make any sort of decisions on these matters. That's what I meant, but yeah I get that - a lot of people just telling you to not give a shit. In this case I'll simply disagree with most of the complainers, as I think we are better off having a Hollywood blockbuster GitS than not (unless it ends up being complete garbage of course).

It really depends. Im not automatically against live action or adaptations by different countries. But how it is presented matters depending on source. GitS, I think nationality is important, since well, world affairs and countries are a big part of the backstory, since its set in our world, but in a theoretical future. Something like Dragon Ball though, thats a fantasy world, so it not being Japanese people did not matter as much. Same with Avatar. Probably because they tried to make it our world is one of many reasons it was awful.

Oldboy is another example where country mattered since certain things, like the hallway fight, make more sense in the context of Korea where guns arent as easy to get versus the US.

Then sometimes you get something like Magnificent Seven, which is an American adaptation of Seven Samurai, that basically made it as American as possible and tried to make it culturally its own, instead of treading this weird line that GitS is walking.

 

[Erttheking]

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.

Then the Japanese filmmakers should make their own live action movie.

And it doesn't matter that Japanese Spider-Man isn't "serious" by some arbitrary standard. The point is that when it comes to fictional characters race doesn't matter. Or at the very least it shouldn't matter. And we're talking about a robot here.

Yes, the Spiderman show that was made in a country that is 99% Japanese has a Japanese Spiderman. There was no other way that was going to work. This is an American movie. We don't have the same excuse.

When it comes to fictional characters, race doesn't matter? Yeah, except it does. What, are we just supposed to pretend that race and everything that comes with it doesn't exist in media? Because it doesn't work that way.

She's a cyborg. A Japanese cyborg. A cybrog in Japan, speaking Japanese with a Japanese name in a Japanese manga being designed to look like a North American just doesn't make any freaking sense. It makes as much sense as "Quiet breathes through her skin."

 

[Paragon Fury]

They ruined Togusa.

He doesn't have his glorious Power Mullet, source of his strength and detective skills.

Literally unwatchable.