Scarlett Johansson plays an existential robo-cop, The Major/Motoko Kusanagi, in the new film “Ghost in the Shell.” Paramount Pictures released on Monday the first teaser of the movie.
The 14-second teaser showed the 31-year-old actress come out of the water wearing a “nude” thermoptic suit, an invisible armor. She emerged from the water after The Major/Motoko Kusanagi punched an unidentified man, Dailymail reported.
The film is a live-action adaptation of the 1995 anime feature of Mamoru Oshii and the 1989 manga series of Masamune Shirow. “Ghost in the Shell” would be shown in the US and UK on March 31, 2017, directed by Rupert Sanders.
However, some fans of the anime and media action groups were not happy with the choice of Johansson as The Major/Motoko Kusanagi when her casting was announced in January 2015. They accused the film’s producers of whitewashing an iconic Japanese character. The whitewashing accusation is similar to the complaints of Chinese that Matt Damon should not have been cast as a Chinese warrior in “The Great Wall” and Tilda Swinton as a Tibetan mystic in “Doctor Strange.”
For her role, Johansson wore full-body prosthesis as a normal Niihama woman to make her inconspicuous. The actress admitted she felt the “nude” thermoptic suit would bring in all her insecurities. Besides Johansson, other actors in the anime adaptation film are mostly Caucasians such as Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Michael Wincott and Pilo Asbaek.
According to Slashfilm, the full trailer would be unveiled in a big event in Tokyo. The movie was shot in New Zealand as site of the mid-21st century Niihama, a fictional Japanese city. The Asian cast includes Takeshi Kitano as Section 8 chief Daisuke Aramaki, Kaori Momoi in an unnamed role, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Yutaka Izumihara and Tuwanda Manyimo as members of Section 9.