Ghost In The Shell movie
Variety are reporting that Scarlett Johansson has signed on in the lead role of a live action version of Ghost In The Shell.
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/scarlett-johansson-signs-on-to-star-in-dreamworks-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-1201320788/
A fair number of fans seem annoyed that the Motoko character isn't going to be played by an Asian actor in the Hollywood version.
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/scarlett-johansson-signs-on-to-star-in-dreamworks-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-1201320788/
A fair number of fans seem annoyed that the Motoko character isn't going to be played by an Asian actor in the Hollywood version.
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writers Jamie Moss (Street Kings) and William Wheeler (The Hoax, The Prime Gig)
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producers Avi Arad (Blade: Trinity, Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, Hulk) and Steven Paul (Ghost Rider, Bratz, Doomsday)
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a global hardcore fan base that truly does not like anyone messing with Ghost in the Shell
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a major train wreck in slow motion.
I'm perfectly willing to bet §20 on that.
More likely, as Ridley Scott said re: Exodus, they could cast actors of the proper ethnicity but they wouldn't get any funding from Hollywood studios if they did.
Agree with you about the film and Stand Alone Complex but the names linked to the project do not fill me with confidence.
All those involved make it look like a disaster waiting to happen.
I like Scarlett Johansen as an actress but she doesn't seem all that Japanese to me. There's just something I can't quite place.
It's sad to say it, but a lot of people would simply assume it some sort of kung fu/anime movie.
And you need a bankable name/star. Fact.
And the other hard fact is that such movies are neither aimed at fans of the original, and most of them are not going to like it anyway. They are making a movie that needs to have commercial appeal to everyone.
The thing is, if its done right it can not only be a decent movie but make a lot of cash as well. GOTG is a very good example of this...on paper it wasn't supposed to work...obscure characters, no big stars, uneven trailers...yet it was one of the most successful movies of last year.
An alternate example...Space Battleship Yamato. A very faithful, big budget adaptation of the classic Japanese comic/tv/cartoon story. But outside of Japan it is more or less completely unknown.
The things that make these shows quintessentially Japanese are the things that make them different and interesting. That's the appeal, for me at least, to see something that is a bit different. Take that away and you just have another western product, which we have pleanty of already.
It doesn't mean it'll be a bad show, it could be really good. But I think that kind of misses the point in doing it in the first place.
Don't agree. A good story can be transposed, adapted, remade in lots of different ways and still be successful.
Look at the way classic Japanese stories like Yojimbo and Seven Samurai were made into classic American westerns.
Lots of successful movies have been based on other mediums and sources, and have been adapted and changed to appeal to a wider audience,
It's simply not logical to assume failure before such a movie is made and released - you make the mistake of assuming that change = bad, when history has proven that is not always the case.
No, it doesn't. They have created a few fairly decent remakes, too.
I have to admit that these films that can't be remade into English films easily:
AKIRA (it revolves around the psychological impact of the national shame over atomic bombings)
Departures (death and dying are still a social taboo)
Tampopo (eh, the heart of this is Japanese cuisine)
Confessions (it revolves around a specific children's law)
My Sassy Girl (Hollywood tried and failed very badly)
Then again, I didn't think anyone could do a take on Perfect Blue, but Darren Aronofsky managed with Black Swan.
Keanu Reeves seems to be doing OK. So does John Cho with his Harold & Kumar films and other actors.
For fun, you should look up Sessue Hayakawa some time. He was the first male sex symbol of Hollywood and one of highest paid actors during the Silent era. ^_^
Not to mention Ken Watanabe and Chow Yun Fat. Not the youngest of guys but still credible actors.
Nobody know how Keanu did well though. He is all kinds of terrible.
I don't disagree with that, I said that it could be a really good show. What I don't get is picking up a show from Japan that is already established and fundamentally changing it or westernising it. On a personal level I'd prefer shows to be more in-tact and true to the original.
If they are not doing that, I'd prefer it to be a new product that is influenced by the original, rather than "a live action version of the original", if that makes sense?