Scarlett Johansson To Star In "Ghost In The Shell"

[Marvel/DC Fan]

It probably won't be set in Asia, so it doesn't matter what ethnicity the actors are.

Probably, the excuse for it will be that it is an "americanized version". I don't consider myself a social justice warrior or a flag waver for diversity, but this kind of annoys me in the same way changing Johnny Storm to an African american does. If people are outraged by that, I want to seem them outraged over this too. If it isn't set in Asia, why can't Motoko be a Japanese american then?

[A_Nominus]

Whitewashing, great, this will not go over well.

To be fair this is a world where people can just go buy a prosthetic body in a store. Anyone can be anything. Still, definitely going to be some protesting.

[gwangung]

This.



And this.

Wounds you say the two go together?

[gwangung]

To be fair this is a world where people can just go buy a prosthetic body in a store. Anyone can be anything. Still, definitely going to be some protesting.

Though, to be fair, I think there'd be a LOT of Asian American actresses (not to mention Asian actresses) who could do a better job.

[A_Nominus]

Have to saythough, I still have my reservations considering the creative team.

[Joe Kalicki]

Probably, the excuse for it will be that it is an "americanized version". I don't consider myself a social justice warrior or a flag waver for diversity, but this kind of annoys me in the same way changing Johnny Storm to an African american does. If people are outraged by that, I want to seem them outraged over this too. If it isn't set in Asia, why can't Motoko be a Japanese american then?

Because Scarlett is a huge star who proved she can lead an action movie to hundreds of millions of dollars, and since this movie is going to cost a lot of money they want to do everything they can to make that money back and more. Putting some unknown Asian actress in the part would not bring in as much of a return on their investment.

There's a long history in film of moving stories from one culture to another, from The Magnificent Seven to the Japanese remake of Unforgiven. This is no big deal.

[A_Nominus]

Though, to be fair, I think there'd be a LOT of Asian American actresses (not to mention Asian actresses) who could do a better job.

Probably true (I personally would've gone with an asian actress). Still, the movie's going to need some star power to get the green light, and ScarJo definitely has that.

[RobinFan4880]

The real problem is that Hollywood has not built a cadre of mid-to-big name East Asian actors up to the point where we could reasonably have a blockbuster movie starring a cast of East Asian actors.

This movie will probably be set in a big American city (LA, SF, DC, NYC, etc.). I would not be surprised to see Motoko Kusanagi's name changed to something more European, like Morgan Knotsford.

However, at that point, why even bother with the Ghost In The Shell license? Just steal all the parts of GitS that you like and make something new.

[PretenderNX01]

There's a long history in film of moving stories from one culture to another, from The Magnificent Seven to the Japanese remake of Unforgiven. This is no big deal.

But those are usually more of a reboot with different characters that borrows themes from the original rather than presenting the cowboys actually as Samurai.

Has there been any live-action anime that has done well in the US? All I can think of is Charlese Theron.
Definitely would be better doing a Black Widow movie no matter what Siddon says.

[DochaDocha]

It probably won't be set in Asia, so it doesn't matter what ethnicity the actors are.

Taking it out of Asia is one form of white-washing.

Here's hoping the American Akira starring a bunch of white actors and one Asian actress doesn't happen, either.

[Guest_1001]

Taking it out of Asia is one form of white-washing.

Here's hoping the American Akira starring a bunch of white actors and one Asian actress doesn't happen, either.

Not really. You could take it out of Asia and still have Asian actors. Placing it in America is simply adapting it, as the U.S. has done for a ton of British shows over the years.

Still, I'm not a fan of this news. Don't like the adaption, don't like the race-changing, don't like the actress.

[NateDizzy]

It probably won't be set in Asia, so it doesn't matter what ethnicity the actors are.

That was my thinking too. I'm really split on this. On one hand, I hate that Hollywood will be whitewashing yet another beloved manga...but, on the other hand, I really like ScarJo and am glad to see her get a chance at becoming one of the great bad-ass women cinema. If there's a silver lining to this, it's that GitS is a movie that isn't incredibly Japanese (like Akira), so the the translation of the themes into a western setting won't be as jarring.

[DochaDocha]

Not really. You could take it out of Asia and still have Asian actors. Placing it in America is simply adapting it, as the U.S. has done for a ton of British shows over the years.

Still, I'm not a fan of this news. Don't like the adaption, don't like the race-changing, don't like the actress.

You're right in that changing the locale could just be localizing, but IMO it's often simply done as an excuse as to use white actors instead of whatever ethnic ones the original story had.

Sometimes I wonder would it really be a big frickin' disaster if you just got a bunch of non-white Americans playing a non-white American roles in a setting that's not America but had them speak in English?

EDIT: Sorry, this is one of my biggest Hollywood pet peeves. I can't seem to let it go.

[PretenderNX01]

Sometimes I wonder would it really be a big frickin' disaster if you just got a bunch of non-white Americans playing a non-white American roles in a setting that's not America but had them speak in English?

I don't know but white actors in non-white rolls speaking English doesn't seem to work LOL
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=exodus.htm

It's made what, half it's budget back in the US? Maybe it'll be propped up by the foreign BO but not by much when you consider how they get about half the BO.

[gwangung]

Probably true (I personally would've gone with an asian actress). Still, the movie's going to need some star power to get the green light, and ScarJo definitely has that.

Coulda done the Christopher Reeve gambit...surround an appropriate unknown with stars like Brando and York to get the funding....