Ghost in the Shell

Back when the Ghost in the Shell casting news was announced, people were understandably confused that Scarlett Johansson would be playing a character whose origins and race, as far as we all knew, were Japanese. Despite protests, production on the movie ensued, and we got our first look at the anime adaptation in a few short teasers a few weeks ago. Now, the director of the original animated Ghost in the Shell films, Mamoru Oshii, has visited the set and seen everything for himself, and it sounds like he’s not upset at all about Johansson’s casting.

Following yesterday’s premiere of the intriguing teaser for the full Ghost in the Shell trailer (debuting on November 13), a new video from the set of the live-action adaptation has arrived online. It doesn’t reveal much in the way of new footage, but it does feature a quick, charming interview with Scarlett Johansson, who offers a sneak peek at one of the film’s many action sequences.

I don’t know exactly what is happening in this teaser for the new Ghost in the Shell trailer, but it’s really, really, really rad. It looks like Scarlett Johansson is a Terminator exiting the Matrix — now there’s a movie idea we can all get behind. My weird film fantasies aside, this short sneak peek at the live-action Ghost in the Shell adaptation definitely accomplishes its mission: We can’t wait to see the full trailer.

Last Thursday night, Paramount gathered press in New York for a special presentation on the studio’s upcoming projects. Nestled between the sizzle reels for Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited Silence and Denzel Washington’s buzzy Fences adaptation was an extended look at their upcoming rework of seminal anime Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson in a range-stretching performance as an Asian robot. (Both Asian cultural watchdog groups and more principled robots have expressed objections to this, but that’s neither here nor there.) Paramount’s stoking the fires of anticipation for their prospective early-spring blockbuster before its March 31 release next year, and a new piece from Collider should only raise the temperature higher.

Remember the good old days of the movie trailer? How about the movie teasers? Remember just a handful of months ago when movie trailers got their own pre-trailers? Psh who needs any of that when you can release five mini teasers and slap ‘em all together to make one giant teaser?!

Movies like Ghost in the Shell are what make me glad I’m not a box office prognosticator. On the one hand, the movie is a blockbuster adaptation of the popular Japanese manga that stars one of the most bankable international movie stars; on the other hand, we’re still six-plus months away from the film’s release date and it has already generated more negative publicity than an entire season’s worth of summer movies. Good luck figuring out those leading indicators, experts!

If you’ll remember, a few months ago we broke the news that Ghost in the Shell producers had tested visual effects that would make the Caucasian members of their upcoming film adaptation appear Asian. Multiple independent sources confirmed that this was part of an attempt to “shift the ethnicity” of lead actress Scarlett Johansson in post-production. The news went over about as well as you would expect.

That long-developing live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell has drawn plenty of ire for its primarily white cast, and reports that Paramount commissioned VFX tests to make Scarlett Johansson appear asian only made things worse. Sure, the film does have some asian cast members, but they’ve been largely relegated to supporting roles so far. Perhaps that will change with the addition of The Wolverine star Rila Fukushima — though it would be far more interesting if she were cast in the lead.

After the backlash surrounding Johansson’s role in the film, producers reportedly attempted to quell the controversy with an old standby Hollywood uses to fix a lot of problems: CGI. According to multiple independent sources close to the project, Paramount and DreamWorks commissioned visual effects tests that would’ve altered Scarlett Johansson in post-production to “shift her ethnicity” and make the Caucasian actress appear more Asian in the film.

One of the things we just didn’t have time or space to get into in our Captain America: Civil War review, is just how great Scarlett Johansson is in the film. Black Widow is so dynamic and exciting to watch, it’s almost a crime Marvel hasn’t given Johansson her own action movie yet...