The contracts haven’t been signed but it looks as if Sam Riley (‘Maleficent‘,’Pride and Prejudice and Zombies‘) is going to be squaring off against Scarlett Johansson (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron‘,’Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘) and her team in the live action adaptation of ‘Ghost in the Shell‘. Aside from these two, there hasn’t been much mentioned on who else will be joining the cast but we do know that Rupert Sanders (‘Snow White and the Huntsman’) is currently revising the script which will be based on Masamune Shirow’s long running manga.
In the film, Riley will be cast as the villain though they aren’t too specific on what to expect past that. While we know that The Laughing Man will be involved as an enemy it is unclear as to if they are changing his character to be the all encompassing villain or having him closer to his original role.
There are a variety of enemies that Section 9, the task force Johansson’s character is part of, go up against and The Laughing Man even ends up siding with the team in certain instances. In both the manga and anime, Section 9 is a government agency though recent script changes has it sounding more to be is actually an agency for a corporation instead of the government.
As one of my favorite mangas and someone who truly loves what they did with the first film adaptation of the series, I am hesitant to see what they’ll be doing with this. There should be a proper budget with Johansson involved but there are already some major changes happening to the plot so fans will have to wait and see how this ends up.
Are you looking forward to the live adaptation of ‘Ghost in the Shell’? Do you think that Sam Riley has the chops to play a major villain? Share your thoughts below!
‘Ghost in the Shell’ is due on the big screen on March 31st, 2017.
Source: Collider
