Movie News
Speilberg, Arad to Produce 3-D ‘Ghost’
Posted by Josh Radde (josh@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 15, 2008
Masamune Shirow’s well-traveled series Ghost in the Shell has just been optioned by Dreamworks to create a 3-D live-action film. Variety reports that uber-busy Steven Speilberg snatched the project from Universal and Sony Pictures and made it a priority of his to get the film at Dreamworks. “Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite series,” Speilberg exclaimed upon purchasing the rights.
The project, to be penned by Street Kings scribe Jamie Moss, is also being produced by Marvel’s Avi Arad and Seaside Entertainment’s Steven Paul. No director has been announced, and the inclusion of 3-D effects at this point is merely hearsay, but it sure would be optimal to do it on a project like this.
The original Manga, first produced in 1989, has since spawned several movies, a TV series, novels, and video games. The story revolves around Public Security Section 9 agent Motoko Kusanagi (who I’m gonna say right now, to the delight of FSR editor Neil Miller, should be played by an amped-up Ellen Page, who needs to get away from the sarcastic-teen roles ASAP) and her male counterpart in ass-kickery Batou (a big, burly man with prosthetic grey eyes) who fight techno-crime using their cyborgian bodies and take-no-prisoners fighting skills. The series has a legion of fans that stretches across two decades and multiple continents and most should be happy that a live-action film is on the way. Speilberg and Arad know how to please the fans and with such lucrative producers attached, budget should not be an issue.
Ghost in the Shell has no start date for pre-production as of yet, and a director should be named relatively soon. The tone this film takes will most likely be heavily sci-fi with a lot of wry humor sprinkled over the effects-laden canvas. Another anime-inspired live-action film, James Wong’s Dragonball, is due in theaters April, 2009.
Talking Point: 3-D or not, What do you think of a Ghost in the Shell movie?
Read more articles by Josh Radde
4 Comments
April 15th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Ellen Page? You are out of your mind. That would ruin everything. I love her but she has NO place in GITS. Maybe Li Gong if there is a good character director involved or something like that
3D = pointless
April 15th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Or maybe Shannon Sossamon
April 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Granted she would need to fill out, but remember, Page was in X3, so she can do action.
Poster’s note: I also acknowledge that everything about X3 was horrible.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
She is great, hard candy was amazing too, but she’s just not right for the roll. It needs to be someone that LOOKS like Shirow’s Motoko to begin with, that is capable of delivering unrestricted authority and reason with a little naughty librarian ( lets not get caught ) sexuality and a splash of sentimentality thrown in to round her out. I’ve thought about it a lot in the past and never felt that it would EVER be a role that was properly cast.
example : Aeon flux was an absolute nightmare. I love Theron but she was soooooooo wrong for the role that it destroyed the film. Though the destruction was helped by the rest of the cast and horrible changes made