The phrase “get out of my head” bears an uncomfortable literal meaning for the characters of Ghost in the Shell, the 1995 groundbreaking anime film based on the world-renowned manga by Masamune Shirow. In the works for a number of years, a live-action Ghost in the Shell film from DreamWorks picked up a director nearly one year ago and it now has an in-demand actress lined up for the lead role.
Variety reports that Scarlett Johansson (Lucy, Under the Skin, The Avengers) is slated to star as cyborg agent Major Motoko Kusanagi in DreamWork's Ghost in the Shell live-action adaptation. The film will be directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) off a screenplay by William Wheeler (The Reluctant Fundamentalist). Avi Arad and Steven Paul will produce the project, with Mark Sourian executive producing.
For those who aren’t familiar with Ghost in the Shell, here’s a little background info on the anime release:
“2029 – A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master”, a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together, with her fellow agents from Section 9, they embark on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity. GHOST IN THE SHELL took the world by storm, exhibiting a new dimension of anime with unprecedented, mesmerizing cinematic expression. Seamlessly merging traditional cel animation with the latest computer graphic imagery, this stunning sci-fi spectacle challenged the boundaries of mainstream animation with detailed artistic expression and a uniquely intelligent story line.”
Still in the early stages of development, no release date information is known for Ghost in the Shell at this time. We’ll keep Daily Dead readers posted on further developments.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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