Ghost in the Shell Live Action
As you may have heard, Masamune Shirow's transhumanist masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell, will be made into a live-action, CG-laden film by DreamWorks.
More recently, the news broke that Steven Spielberg made a personal point of getting the rights to the manga for DreamWorks:
"'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories," Spielberg said. "It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks."
The Ghost in the Shell movies and series, particularly the Stand Alone Complex, have some of the most interesting portrayals of a near-future world of ubiquitous computing, AI, and cybernetics technology out there. Truly thought-provoking.
I just hope DreamWorks doesn't ruin it!
You may recall the following Ghost in the Shell image from the header of my Top 10 Cybernetic Upgrades Everyone Will Want post.
April 15th, 2008 - 23:53
Awesome stuff. I’d say more, but… it says everything for itself!
April 16th, 2008 - 00:05
I hold out on my trust of Spielberg. I would trust him with my acting self, but never with one of my stories, personally…
April 16th, 2008 - 01:04
This would be the same Spielberg who did Jurassic Park, A.I. and Minority Report? Hmm…makes me skeptical about whether he can do sci-fi well. But the fact he also produced Pinky and the Brain makes me feel a little better.
April 16th, 2008 - 01:56
Minority Report wasn’t bad, was it? And A.I. was interesting, but boring.
What might be good about having some big name/company produce it is the publicity it will get. Bringing SF/manga to the mainstream is a good thing in my eyes.
April 16th, 2008 - 02:02
The better something is, the easier it is to catastrophically fuck it up.
April 16th, 2008 - 07:01
Great news!
This is the second bit of info that registers on the “interesting in a good way” meter I have heard recently.
(The other being my finding out Mike Patton is going to voice Bionic Commando in the new game.)
Let’s just hope that we don’t have another Transformers disaster with great CGI and the depth of a General Motors commercial.
April 16th, 2008 - 07:03
Mike Patton owns.
April 17th, 2008 - 08:25
I rate Hollywood’s ability to make a live-action Ghost in the Shell about the same as I rate their ability to turn a computer game into a movie…i.e.- not good
…….For some reason when I think of this Ghost in the Shell adaption I visualise a copy of the Aoen Flux movie. :(
April 17th, 2008 - 17:29
The DreamWorks thing does scare me. In one respect I am excited to see one of my favorite stories come to light for the larger western demographic, in the other I fear a bastardization of something truly thought provoking.
I think Apple Seed would translate to film much easier than Ghost in the Shell. Screw Steven Spielberg. He will undoubtedly use his unneeded “artistic expression†in remaking this story.
I would feel much more comfortable seeing Ridley Scott make this film. It should be alright as long a Mr. Shirow has some control over the production.
April 19th, 2008 - 22:29
I love these stories; both the comic and the Anime series are incredible (though I wasn’t a huge fan of the movies, didn’t like the “mood.â€)
It’s a fair bet that Spielberg and DreamWorks will bring in the great action and style (and maybe even the political and social intrigue) but I don’t know if DreamWorks will do justice to the philosophical underpinnings, which is an important part of the stories.
After all, the very title “Ghost in the Shell†is riddled with though-provoking goodness.
April 25th, 2008 - 00:11
I REALLY, REALLY hope that Spielberg doesn’t mess this translation up. I’m very happy to see that the series is gonna get a legitimate shot at bringing in a HUGE audience, as most Spielberg films are huges draws.
What concerns me the most is, Ghost In the Shell is a mature series with a mature audience. I just don’t think Spielberg has it in him to make a truly faithful translation, that doesn’t lose the implied emotion and mature philosophical undertones associated with the series.
You can bet it’s gonna be Rated-PG, and that in itself is going to limit what he can do to artistically “mimic” what this series has already accomplished on it’s own, without Steven’s fingerprints.
May 2nd, 2008 - 22:36
As long as they don’t get a bunch of American actors to do it, then it should be ok. But really, who is hot and talented enough to play the major? I have only seen one contender, and she was an Asian physiotherapist I met… other than that, not anyone comes to mind. Please don’t pick Angelina.. That would be bad.
February 21st, 2009 - 15:42
The only thing I would be interested in knowing is if they’re going to work off the GITS original movie or the anime series. As insane as it sounds the anime series is much better than the original. And the Laughing Man, one of the greatest anti-villians ever.
August 2nd, 2010 - 03:59
Laeta Kalogridis who is writing for the live adaptation states in her interviews that they will be developing the original msamune Shirow manga, not the anime movie or TV series.
October 3rd, 2010 - 13:13
It´s sad that todays sue movies wasted the glamour movies had in originally life. Although it´s fun to make ultra drunk personalty, I avoid the family that movies were made rearward then
September 26th, 2011 - 10:36
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