If you wanted to see Johansson attempt to sport Motoko Kusanagi’s distinctive hairdo, then you’ve come to the right place!
[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]e’ve been getting a steady stream of news about the US live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s seminal cyber punk manga and anime, Ghost in the Shell. Scarlett Johansson is set to play the protagonist cyborg cop Motoko Kusanagi, and we’ve finally gotten our first glimpse of the actress donning Motoko’s signature haircut:
Aside from the pretty accurate hairstyle, the image teases us with a glimmer of a look at the new adaptation’s take on Masamune’s futuristic world. The stylised colours and reflective surface certainly creates a futuristic vibe, and the image definitely has shades of the most recent Ghost in the Shell animated film released in 2015, simply title Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie.
The live-action adaptation will be directed by Snow White and Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, with Seven Psychopaths‘ Micheal Pitt as the villain hacker known as the Laughing Man, and Lucy’s Pilou Asbæk as section 9’s second-in-command, Batou. The film is expected to draw from lots of different source materials from Shirow’s world, including the 1995 animated classic, and the successful off-shoot series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
Paramount and DreamWorks are behind the production, with the latter giving us some confidence that the film will be able to recreate the look and feel of Shirow’s wonderfully imagined world.
Johansson has certainly proven she can lead a sci-fi action film in the past, particularity with the thriller Lucy under her belt. However, she’s certainly not everyone’s first pick (myself included). The casting choice has already suffered a huge backlash, with many shaming the production for not casting an Asian lead for the role of Motoko, and we are inclined to agree. We can at the very least hope it will stay true to Shirow’s much-loved manga, and his world as a whole.
The US live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell is expected to release 14 April, 2017.
