'Ghost in the Shell' Release Date, News: Film Introduces Section 9; Walks Through Production Process
This year is filled with various live adaptations, and the action remake of the 1995 Japanese animation "Ghost in the Shell" is just around the corner. With this in mind, excited audiences are teased further with more insight into the film and how it was conceptualized into potentially an innovative yet respectful version.
In one featurette, the members of Section 9 are introduced. "Section 9 is a group of operatives that fight cyberterrorism," Scarlett Johansson, who plays the role of Major, says. Director Rupert Sanders adds that in a way they are an elite task force as they are chosen for their unique skill set, each lethal and efficient in their own right.
Out of them all, Daisuke Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano) and Batou (Pilou Asbæk) were placed in the spotlight. Johansson praises Takeshi for bringing life to the character, saying he adds the needed weight in making him as prominent as he should be. Batou, on the other hand, shares the same cyborg modification with Major and connects with him more, reminding her of her humanity.
Those are just a few of the characters within Section 9, and they are teeming with personality. If that's not enough to entice fans to watch out for the film, perhaps the artistic depiction of the environment will.
The team behind the film revealed a behind-the-scenes sneak peek into the conceptualization of the environment and the action. They mentioned that to make it authentic and multicultural, they had to snap photos of different locations, and Hong Kong is one of them.
Another method they used to optimize the cinematography is what they call a "Pre-Vis," which is characterized as a videogame version of the actual frame. This illustrates how it would look like, and then the set and the actors are made to assume the vision, making the instruction clear.
It will be interesting to see how actors and production combine to create a masterpiece. "Ghost in the Shell" arrives in cinemas on March 31, 2017.