First Picture of Scar. Jo. as Major Kusanagi in GitS Movie

[MatParker116]

Do people really think the movie takes place in Japan and has a Japanese named character? I'd be surprised. The only way I'd accept that is if the whole cast was played by Japanese actors and the language were Japanese, with subtitles. Hollywood would never do that for a sci-fi action movie, and I doubt they're stupid enough in this day and age to cast a white actress as a Japanese woman.

But according to the official casting page, Scarlet Johanson is not playing "The Major" but "Major Kusunagi". Pilou is not playing "Bob" but "Batou". Michael Pitt is not playing "Kevin" but "Kuze".

Do you have a link?

Don't know why you are quoting me but here is the press release:

https://business.facebook.com/notes/paramount-pictures/paramount-pictures-and-dreamworks-pictures-ghost-in-the-shell-is-in-production-i/10154147848862072

The cast of ?GHOST IN THE SHELL? includes Beat Takeshi Kitano (?MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE,? ?BATTLE ROYALE? series) as Daisuke Aramaki, Juliette Binoche (?THE ENGLISH PATIENT,? ?CHOCOLAT?) as Dr. Ouelet, Michael Pitt (?Hannibal,? ?Boardwalk Empire?) as Kuze, Pilou Asb?k (?BEN-HUR,? ?LUCY?) as Batou, and Kaori Momoi (?MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA,? ?HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL?). The members of Section 9 are played by Chin Han (?INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE?), Danusia Samal (?Tyrant?), Lasarus Ratuere (?Terra Nova?), Yutaka Izumihara (?UNBROKEN?) and Tuwanda Manyimo (?THE ROVER?).

Looking at that cast which includes a fair amount of different nationalities leads me to believe that Section 9 in the movie might be an international task force. No where in it does it refer to Scar Jo's character as Motoko Kusanagi, simply as the major. So while the film might be set in Japan, I think Section 9 only has a Japanese commander but is not Japanese police.

 

[Odbarc]

If there was going to be (an) asian actor(s) it wouldn't be getting made in Hollywood.
I'd be surprised if there was a lot of source material in the final product. We've seen this sort of thing happen a lot with most film adaptations.

Two, the character is some kind of very cyborg, isn't she? Like, her body is 'custom made' and she could very well be very old, possibly not even female and how she looked was definitely not how she originally looked before getting cyborg implants? It's very possible to start off the character as asian and needing to switch her exterior for whatever mission she'll go on in the movie.

Ghost in a Shell just isn't that important to me as a story to really have me investing in it. I'll probably watch it online eventually after it's released but unless the trailer is amazing and pulls A LOT of people into theaters, I probably won't be one of them.

Scarlet Johanson has also had some good box office success with her in action movies, hasn't she? She's probably picked mainly because of box office pull more than acting or how close she looks to the part. And part of that is because she's got big boobies and lips everyone wants to kiss.
If there were a live action Japanese made movie of this anime, it probably would have been a lot better than whatever we'll end up getting.
Oldboy comes to mind. Not that I hated seeing Elizabeth Olsen's boobs by any stretch, but I saw the foreign version first and it was amazing where the American version was only just good enough.

 

[Proto Taco]

The lipstick is killing me. I can't even get passed that to be disappointed by the character's miscasting...LIPSTICK people, LIPSTICK. The Major never wears lipstick when she's on the job and in that scene she is most certainly on the job.
This demonstrates a gross ignorance of the character being portrayed and most all my hope has pretty much vanished for this thing.

I dunno who that is, but it's not my Major.

#notmykusanagi

 

[McElroy]

Looks a bit dopey. Johansson always looks like that. Last week I saw The Last Witch Hunter in which a Finnish warlock is played by an Icelandic actor. I was so enraged and here it's gone a step further! Just kidding, I don't give a flying donkey's butt-hair. You can expect Hollywood to place a safe bet, but wouldn't it be fun if they hadn't this time?

But according to the official casting page, Scarlet Johanson is not playing "The Major" but "Major Kusunagi". Pilou is not playing "Bob" but "Batou". Michael Pitt is not playing "Kevin" but "Kuze".

Do you have a link?

IMDB. But DON'T scroll past the cast into the message board threads. You might click on one and you might read some of it. That shit is the worst kind of excrement.

 

[happyninja42]

A Japanese film studio, adapting a Japanese intellectual product, that has a huge following in Japan. Yeah, I can't at all think why they might get Japanese actors for it. And considering how low budget it looked to me, they were probably just getting actors from nearby, instead of you know, paying tons of money to transport European/American actors for their project.

It's not that I wasn't expecting this response, but I'm still amused as the entire argument is predicated on a) a practically nonexistent understanding of the plot of Attack on Titan, and b) the ill informed assumption that there are no non-Japanese actors in Japan. Lest we forget, the singer that sang the opening credits for SAC and SAC2... was White.

Spoiler: Origa (RIP)

I'm well aware there are non-Japanese in Japan, but by sheer averages, they're likely going to be a minority. Not just the number of them at all, but the number of them that are also actors, and of that subset, the number of them that are good actors. It's a freaking small pool. And if you're going to try and populate your entire show with them, you're risking hiring a bunch of really bad actors, simply because of the color of their skin.

As to not understanding the source material, I'm pretty sure they do understand it, but it's not that big of a deal. Anime has for years, had the weird habit of drawing Japanese people in ways that don't look like Japanese people. They look distinctly Western to my eyes. So the fact that nobody in AoT looked Asian at all, wasn't an interesting plot point, it was simply just another anime. The fact that they worked it into the plot, seemed merely a bit of self-awareness to the genre, having decades of material, without anyone actually looking like the culture being depicted. Sort of a wink and a nod to the audience.

I have no clue if this fact about the missing Asians has any bearing on the actual plot of AoT, as I've only seen the anime, not read the manga. But frankly, I still don't care. If it's easier for that company to hire Japanese actors, because they are the largest demographic in the area, to play characters who aren't actually Japanese, so what? If they're the right actors for the roles, then that's all I care about.

Give me a black Heimdall, a white ScarJo as a Japanese woman, or a bunch of Japanese kids as Europeans. I don't care one whit what they are, if they can do the acting job well, that's all I care about.

 

[madwarper]

So the fact that nobody in AoT looked Asian at all, wasn't an interesting plot point, it was simply just another anime.
[...]
as I've only seen the anime, not read the manga.

Ok. So, you are completely unaware of the plot of Attack on Titan? I had figured as much.

Give me a black Heimdall, a white ScarJo as a Japanese woman, or a bunch of Japanese kids as Europeans. I don't care one whit what they are, if they can do the acting job well, that's all I care about.

I do care if/when there's no in-universe logic for a race-swap.

Black Kingpin? I have some issues.

Black Nick Fury? Fine. They did that deliberately with the Ultimate Universe, specifically in hopes to get Sam Jackson to play the character prior to the MCU began to take shape. Besides, there's also the chance that he's actually...

Black Heimdall? I have some issues.

White Katara and Sokka? Bullshit.

White Goku and Bulma? Bullshit.

All Asian cast of AoT? Bullshit. Mikasa may not be "the special", but her racial uniqueness among those residing within the Wall is an important part of the plot. If they wanted to swap races and cast everyone else as Asian, then they should have cast her as anything BUT Asian. White, Black, Hispanic, whatever.

White Mokoto? Fine. She's literally a "ghost" that could inhabit any "shell".

 

[Erttheking]

White Mokoto? Fine. She's literally a "ghost" that could inhabit any "shell".

I just want to point out something. That's fair enough. But I don't know much about Ghost in the Shell, but are all of the members of the Major's task force "Shells"? Because I checked the casting. Kuze and Batou are also being played by white men and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Japanese. In fact the majority of the cast seems to be pretty wonderbread, although there is a black guy. I guess that counts for something? At least Daisuke Aramaki is played by a Japanese man.

But if they're "Shells" like the Major then I'll shut up.

 

[MatParker116]

White Mokoto? Fine. She's literally a "ghost" that could inhabit any "shell".

I just want to point out something. That's fair enough. But I don't know much about Ghost in the Shell, but are all of the members of the Major's task force "Shells"? Because I checked the casting. Kuze and Batou are also being played by white men and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Japanese. In fact the majority of the cast seems to be pretty wonderbread, although there is a black guy. I guess that counts for something? At least Daisuke Aramaki is played by a Japanese man.

But if they're "Shells" like the Major then I'll shut up.

The word Kuze is also German, Kenyan and Batou is French for tugboat, Section 9 in this movie looks to be an international taskforce as two other actors cast as members are Turkish-Yemeni and Afro-Australian.

 

[madwarper]

I just want to point out something. That's fair enough. But I don't know much about Ghost in the Shell, but are all of the members of the Major's task force "Shells"?

The Major is the only member that is full cyborg, though other members of Section 9 have varying degrees of cybserization.

Because I checked the casting. Kuze and Batou are also being played by white men and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Japanese.

Batou, for example, has eye implants, which would make discerning of his racial origins... Ambiguous.
And, if they're referring to 2nd Gig's Hideo Kuze, then he's also a full cyborg, like the Major.

 

[Erttheking]

White Mokoto? Fine. She's literally a "ghost" that could inhabit any "shell".

I just want to point out something. That's fair enough. But I don't know much about Ghost in the Shell, but are all of the members of the Major's task force "Shells"? Because I checked the casting. Kuze and Batou are also being played by white men and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Japanese. In fact the majority of the cast seems to be pretty wonderbread, although there is a black guy. I guess that counts for something? At least Daisuke Aramaki is played by a Japanese man.

But if they're "Shells" like the Major then I'll shut up.

The word Kuze is also German, Kenyan and Batou is French for tugboat, Section 9 in this movie looks to be an international taskforce as two other actors cast as members are Turkish-Yemeni and Afro-Australian.

Yes, but I looked it up and Kuze's home country is Japan the original and Batou seems to have served in some sort of Japanese military unit.

Honestly adapting this story and just leaving behind so much of what made it it, (Wasn't it created in an era when Japan was leading the world in technology? Isn't being Japanese is part of what it is?) just feels like its missing the point. I mean we've got one confirmed character played by a Japanese character. That's all?

Eh, whatever. It'll probably bomb like Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball Evolution because Hollywood executives have a bad history of directly adapting anime and manga.

 

[crimsonspear4D]

Chalk up another "I'm fine as long as the acting and scripting is solid". Unfortunately, live-action anime adaptations have a tendency to... well... SUCK HARDCORE.

Dragonball: Evolution, Speed Racer... I believe there are more but can't think of them. Unfortunately, this just seems like a fad movie just video game and YA novel movies.

 

[MatParker116]

Chalk up another "I'm fine as long as the acting and scripting is solid". Unfortunately, live-action anime adaptations have a tendency to... well... SUCK HARDCORE.

Dragonball: Evolution, Speed Racer... I believe there are more but can't think of them. Unfortunately, this just seems like a fad movie just video game and YA novel movies.

Same writer as Straight Outta Compton

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I have no horse in this race as I've never seen the anime or have any opinions on it. That being said, I dunno... I think she looks pretty close to the character. Obviously an Asian actor as an Asian character would have been cool, but Marvel got shit for casting a white actor for a white character (Iron Fist) when people said he should be Asian for... reasons. So really there's no winning on the internet.

Who do you guys think should play The Major?

 

[McElroy]

Looks a bit dopey. Johanssen always looks like that. Last week I saw The Last Witch Hunter in which a Finnish warlock is played by an Icelandic actor. I was so enraged and here it's gone a step further! Just kidding, I don't give a flying donkey's butt-hair. You can expect Hollywood to place a safe bet, but wouldn't it be fun if they hadn't this time?

But according to the official casting page, Scarlet Johanson is not playing "The Major" but "Major Kusunagi". Pilou is not playing "Bob" but "Batou". Michael Pitt is not playing "Kevin" but "Kuze".

Do you have a link?

IMDB. But DON'T scroll past the cast into the message board threads. You might click on one and you might read some of it. That shit is the worst kind of excrement.

Isn't IMDB user edited? How can you tell who submitted the names?

Huh. TIL it indeed is. The reason why it's listed as Kusanagi before people really know for real must be because the site connects the character's appearances and compiles a page for them. Anyway, the official press release tells us she's simply the Major. Better to disregard everything else.