In the weeks since it was announced that The Wolf Of Wall Street co-star, actress Margot Robbie was up for the main role in director Rupert Sanders‘ live-action foray into Shirow Masamune’s popular 1989 manga, Ghost In The Shell, the usual assortment of blowhard netizens commented with their usual skepticism behind a non-Asian actress portraying a relatively Asian role. This opinionated approach has often been highlit in social media, potentially drumming up sentiments pointed toward racism in Hollywood as some may feel that Asians and minorities alike are still getting the short end of the stick, and quite frankly, they’re not completely wrong.
Nevertheless, movies serve their purpose of entertaining the masses of those who go to see them. As such, it is only a matter of time now before we find out who will open their wallets to Sanders‘ live-action vision for the hyper-kinetic cyberpunk saga and its 1995 award-winning animated feature. And to make it clear, the people at Dreamworks don’t care much about who says what, as they find talent, potential (and money) where they feel they see it most, which is why actress Scarlett Johansson is now a frontrunner for the upcoming cyberpunk thriller.
The actress was this year’s blessing for filmmaker Luc Besson whose most recent sci-fi thriller, Lucy, earned more than $126 million dollars at home, a portion of its worldwide sum of $412 million dollars. To say the least, that’s a lot of ‘fuck you’ money right there, and as far as business decisions go, you can’t totally hate Dreamworks for going where the money is, in addition to where it will also be (looking at you, Age Of Ultron).
So, that’s that. Producers Avi and Ari Arad, Steven Paul and Steven Spielberg are all behind this newest endeavor at a Japanese property following the footsteps of previous films like the recent release of Kite and the Tom Cruise-starring hit, Live.Die.Repeat.: Edge Of Tomorrow. Based on a script by William Wheeler, when confirmed, Johansson will set her sights as a semi-human cybernetically enhanced counter terrorist in a future world where society’s fixation on technological advancements have made it possible for most people to hack their way into virtually anything, anywhere, opening doors to all sorts of intrigue and corruption on a massive scale.
Granted, while Sanders‘ previous Snow White And The Huntsman bombed here at home, the fact that it made almost $400 million dollars worldwide to garner a spin-off is good news for Dreamworks in their choice of director. Couple this with the possible attachment of one of the most bankable actresses to date, and rest assured, Ghost In The Shell could prove to be a worthy cause, despite anyone’s opinions on whether or not an Asian lead could have done the same.
However, that still doesn’t diminish the importance of the subject, and nor should it. “Motoko Kusanagi” would have been awesome to see on the big screen as opposed to a “Mary” or a “Monica” or whatever they decide to name this character, who, regardless of any criticisms, will likely be played by a white actress. Cha-ching.
In the meantime, Robbie is now a front runner along with her
Focus co-lead, Will Smith and actors Ryan Gosling and Tom Hardy for casting spots in director David Ayer’s adaptaion for August 5, 2016 DC Comics actioner,
Suicide Squad following an announcement on Wednesday.
Stay tuned for more info.
