Dreamworks aquires rights Ghost in the Shell Live Action, 3D

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-05-14 11:32pm

Ahh, Yakitate Japan...

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-05-18 02:31am

Molyneux wrote:
CaptHawkeye wrote:(not like SAC is jewel encrusted either)
You're kidding, right?
I mean...You ARE kidding, right?

SAC is one of a very select group of anime that I have never had a friend dislike - the others being Cowboy Bebop, FLCL and, to date, Yakitate Japan.

Wow the 3 I've heard of on that list are below average to just flat out crummy, and Yakitate Japan doesn't sound all that interesting. They'd be better off making a live action Kenshin movie or something.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-05-18 06:39am

Yeah, okay, you don't get to express your opinion on what's good or not anymore.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-05-18 10:10am

Whatever. Cowboy Bebop and FLCL were both annoying, they had good art but nothing else. The storylines were just meh.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2008-05-18 10:53am

Block wrote:Whatever. Cowboy Bebop and FLCL were both annoying, they had good art but nothing else. The storylines were just meh.

Are you intentionally trolling, or just devoid of good taste? Kenshin was good, but simply put, there's been enough of it. If you honestly think that all Cowboy Bebop had going for it was good art, you may want to check and see if you've still got your soul...and FLCL generally requires more than one viewing to completely understand, but it's got some of the best metahumor of any series I've seen.

They are both widely regarded as some of the best stuff Japan has produced, something that cannot be said of Rurouni Kenshin.

loomer · Post by **loomer** » 2008-05-18 11:00am

Cowboy Bebop had an excellent story, if you actually followed. Overdone, cliched, and too dramatic? Yeah. But face it, the entire show was an Epic Western In Space. And Epic Westerns work best with overdone, cliched, overly dramatic stories.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-05-18 12:15pm

loomer wrote:Cowboy Bebop had an excellent story, if you actually followed. Overdone, cliched, and too dramatic? Yeah. But face it, the entire show was an Epic Western In Space. And Epic Westerns work best with overdone, cliched, overly dramatic stories.

I don't know, I simply found the characters to be completely unlikable and unsympathetic so I never really got into the story. With most Epic westerns, even the the character is a complete ass, you tend to come to respect them, or at least want to see them get it in the end. I didn't feel that way at all with these, they reminded me of almost emo versions of the cliched archetypes. Just my opinion. As for accusing me of trolling Moleyneux, because someone disagrees with you, they're not trolling, and just because a bunch of anime fanboys consider something good doesn't mean it is.

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2008-05-18 03:22pm

Block wrote:I don't know, I simply found the characters to be completely unlikable and unsympathetic so I never really got into the story.

How were Jet and Faye not sympathetic? Did you not get very far into the series?

Block wrote: With most Epic westerns, even the the character is a complete ass, you tend to come to respect them, or at least want to see them get it in the end. I didn't feel that way at all with these, they reminded me of almost emo versions of the cliched archetypes. Just my opinion.

Emo? Spike was depressive, sure, but certainly not emo, nor was Jet. They were both prone to anger because of their backgrounds, but certainly not emo. Then there's Edward, whom I really don't see as being any kind of emo. Faye, toward the end of the series, was upset quite often, but that's because she just regained what she lost. Can you blame her?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-05-18 07:22pm

Block wrote:Whatever. Cowboy Bebop and FLCL were both annoying, they had good art but nothing else. The storylines were just meh.

And as a counter-example you bring up Kenshin, a series which meandered about without any real direction until the Kyoto arc, which started in what, the 60th episode or so?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-18 07:28pm

Yeah, even anime-h8rs like me can enjoy things like CB and FLCL. They're good in more ways than 'has giant robots' or 'totally 18 year old girl fucks aliens'.

It's pretty interesting to me that CB having emotional character arcs is apparently 'emo'. People with fucked up lives being emotional = bad?

frogcurry · Post by **frogcurry** » 2008-05-20 11:48am

This is getting off-topic.

A GOTS film might be quite good, as long as they arrange for Shirow to die prior to starting the script-writing, preferably in some suitably ironic way. The GOTS world is quite interesting, borderline enthralling at times, and the main problem that it's always had (in all presentations) is that its his world and he wants to play his own oddball, melodramatic, semi-deep mind games in it.

God knows who they could cast as the Major, I think it'd be a difficult role. Hopefully not a cliched typecast like Angelina Jolie (seriously does Hollywood have any other attractive and physically fit looking actresses at all that they could cast in an action movie lead role for once?).

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2008-05-20 08:19pm

frogcurry wrote: A GOTS film might be quite good, as long as they arrange for Shirow to die prior to starting the script-writing, preferably in some suitably ironic way. The GOTS world is quite interesting, borderline enthralling at times, and the main problem that it's always had (in all presentations) is that its his world and he wants to play his own oddball, melodramatic, semi-deep mind games in it.

He's not really had that much to do with the animated versions. I think the only animation of his work he's ever been heavily involved in was Black Magic M-66, and that was enough to put him off for life.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-20 08:24pm

But the GITS world ISN'T that interesting. Aside from the hilarious alt-history, it's pretty bog-standard stuff. It's only interesting or compelling due to the characters and writing; this is why SAC was so much better than the self-indulgent movies - people actually SAID THINGS that weren't THINLY VEILED PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES.

If they can get actors to mirror the rapport of the primary characters, a movie could work. If they just try to ape the tech-nonsense, it'll be just as lame as you'd expect.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-05-21 02:38am

frogcurry wrote:God knows who they could cast as the Major, I think it'd be a difficult role. Hopefully not a cliched typecast like Angelina Jolie (seriously does Hollywood have any other attractive and physically fit looking actresses at all that they could cast in an action movie lead role for once?).

They could use James Cameron's idea for 'Battle Angel', i.e., have the Major as a CGI character interacting with real actors.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-05-21 10:45am

Oh sure, becuase that wouldn't be awkward and like watching money burning on screen.

I don't really see a live-action GitS being much of a star vehicle in the first place, and I wouldn't be surprised that to help offset the costs of a likely expensive and risky venture, that fairly low-profile actors be hired.

frogcurry · Post by **frogcurry** » 2008-05-21 02:43pm

Stark wrote:But the GITS world ISN'T that interesting. Aside from the hilarious alt-history, it's pretty bog-standard stuff. It's only interesting or compelling due to the characters and writing; this is why SAC was so much better than the self-indulgent movies - people actually SAID THINGS that weren't THINLY VEILED PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES.

If they can get actors to mirror the rapport of the primary characters, a movie could work. If they just try to ape the tech-nonsense, it'll be just as lame as you'd expect.

OK, corrected. The world + the characters is interesting in combo.

I refuse to believe that Shirow wasn't involved in the storyline of the films. Although Oshii is probably also enough of a menace on his own that Shirow's presence isn't obligatory to screw it up.

phred · Post by **phred** » 2008-05-21 10:43pm

Sounds like fun. Id watch it.

3D sure. just keep the voice actors from the movies and series.

Live action... Who would you cast? I guess Summer Glau as Motako? Ron Perlman as Batou. it would take serious makeup to work, but its doable. Im too tired to think of the rest of the cast.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2008-05-21 11:47pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Oh sure, becuase that wouldn't be awkward and like watching money burning on screen.

But I want to see every square-inch of the Major's booty rendered in Dreamworks caliber CG splashed across the screen like a fresh morning dew that welcomes you to the movie with such unending grandeur that you don't care if the rest of the movie is Batou's dog humping his master leg as he reads Thomas Hobbes aloud.

it would be glorious

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2008-05-22 01:26am

I shall remain cautiously optimistic about this.

Zor

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-05-22 02:01am

Summer Glau is practically the exact opposite sort of person to play Kusanagi. Couldn't see it working at all.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-05-22 11:55pm

How about Malgorzata Foremniak, the Polish actress from Mamoru Oshii's Avalon, as Kusanagi Motoko?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-05-23 12:00am

Never seen the film, though she looks okay, I guess (gives me a bit of a Debbie Harry vibe, however). What's her accent like, because it'd be weird having a Polish woman playing a Japanese character.

If they don't simply change the Major's nationality, that is...

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-05-23 12:03am

Ghetto Edit: Nevermind that she's in her forties already. By the time this movie ever gets off the ground she could be 45 or pushing 50.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-05-23 12:27am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:What's her accent like, because it'd be weird having a Polish woman playing a Japanese character.

Mamoru Oshii filmed 'Avalon' in Poland, with Polish actors speaking their native language, and with cameos from Polish Army tanks and helicopters.

If they don't simply change the Major's nationality, that is...

Kusanagi is a full body cyborg who can remotely control other cyborg or robotic bodies. She's appeared as a blonde (a remotely controlled robotic body in 'Solid State Society' and a ghost-hacked police officer in the 'Ghost in the Shell 2' manga), a redhead ('Ghost in the Shell 2' manga), and a man (original manga and 'Solid State Society'). We can easily explain why a Japanese character doesn't look Japanese by saying the Major chose to look that way.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-05-23 12:53am

Yes, I already know all of that.

You should take into consideration not only how film adaptation usually works--specifically that complicated subject matters are often simplified or discarded--but also that they'd obviously start at the beginning of the story, long before Kusanagi could do all that cyberspace entity remote body upload/download stuff.

So for an American produced live-action film of Ghost in the Shell, the simplest answer would be either hiring an Asian actress, change the character's nationality, or cast a Western actress regardless; it's been done before.