Scarlett Johansson's
Ghost in the Shell hits US theaters next week. Will it finally break Hollywood's streak of bad anime adaptations? One of the actors definitely thinks so. While discussing Masamune Shirow's sci-fi franchise at the film's premiere in Tokyo, actor Beat Takeshi who plays the role of Aramaki, Major/Scarlett Johansson's faithful partner on the force, offered his thoughts on both that and the whitewashing controversy that has surrounded the film since the announcement of Johansson being cast as "Major."
“We have seen that most of live-action film adaptations failed to reach the quality of their sources and were criticized heavily. But this time, the fans who have grown up with theoriginal manga and anime series say this film is great.”
“Faithful and new, I think this may be the first successful live-action film adaptation of a Japanese manga. But people also say that the only flaw in the film is Aramaki”
“I demanded (to the director) that Aramaki needed to speak in Japanese and I carried it through. Because the based film is a Japanese anime. I was happy to join a film based on a Japaese-born work. But on the technology side, I was amazed by Hollywood.”
Ghost in the Shell hits US theaters, including screenings on IMAX, March 31st.
In the near future, Major (Scarlett Johansson) is the first of her kind: A human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world’s most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people’s minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that she has been lied to: her life was not saved, it was stolen. She will stop at nothing to recover her past, find out who did this to her and stop them before they do it to others. Based on the internationally acclaimed Japanese Manga, “The Ghost in the Shell.”
Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt, and is directed by Rupert Sanders.
Ghost in the Shell opens in theaters nationwide on March 31, 2017.