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Last year, Dreamworks bought the rights to Masamune Shirow’s original manga Ghost in the Shell and tapped Jamie Moss to write a new feature film based on the story. Now a new writer has been assigned: Laeta Kalogridis, the scribe and executive producer of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island.

Variety says the new version will be 3D, which doesn’t come as any great surprise, given the way 3D is now liberally being applied to genre and sci-fi properties. Too bad Shutter Island was pushed to next year or we might have a better idea what this assignment means for the Americanized live-action version of Ghost in the Shell. But Kalogridis isn’t a neophyte; she’s also credited with screenplay work for Battle Angel, James Cameron’s long-simmering adaptation of the manga Battle Angel: Alita, as well as Cameron’s planned film The Dive. (She also reportedly did some work on the Avatar script.) The produced films written by Kalogridis that you might have seen include Pathfinder (I really hope you didn’t see, or suffer that movie) and Alexander.

For the uninitiated, Ghost in the Shell follows Major Motoko Kusanagi’s pursuit of the cyber-criminal The Puppeteer, who commits crimes by “ghost hacking”, or taking control of human minds. We learn that the Puppeteer is actually an autonomous artificial intelligence created by a government foreign affairs and counter-terrorism agency called Section 6. Kusangi’s body is largely bionic, and when she and the Puppeteer come together a unique synthesis takes place.

Ghost in the Shell has already been the basis for two feature anime films by Mamoru Oshii, two anime series, a film sequel to the anime, a couple of novels and several video games. In other words, there’s plenty of existing material already, so cries about how Hollywood is going to ‘ruin’ the story will sound pretty hollow.

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  • sage
    No hollywood Anime conversions ever work. Ever.

    Speilberg is a massive douche, who I still haven t forgiven for AI.

    All Hollywood is capable of is watering down and selling out. Even with the most creative team on board, they still have to make it past studio heads who wouldn't know good anime if it felated them in bullet time while under active comoflage as neo tokyo explodes. Again.

    Ghost in the shell original, was groundbreaking, but limited (have any of you even read the manga?!). Just like Akira, they need to leave this stuff alone.

    The series that came after it are about the best scio/political/technological , uh, thing that has ever been on TV. Deep, beyond belief and with absolutley no dumbing down. Hollywood is not capable of not dumbing down. Hollywood is intrinsically retarded. The only people you can trust to adapt anything right, are a) the french b) the koreans or c) HBO.

    Big up the fans of nudity. You know that wont be in the remake.

    Russ, I've lost all respect for you.

    Well done
  • Weyland_Yutani
    Quite honestly, I've seen both GITS and Akira so many times, I absolutely welcome the effort to do both stories in live action. Plenty of huge opportunity for coolness if they do them right. Will bring an enormous amount of people to the original material.

    A cyborg/ rogue AI story? yes, never enough of this. I also can't wait to hear the scores that the composers come up with. That alone might be worth the doing.
  • I really want this to be a representative work, but with those credentials, I can' help but express worry. So as long as this is who they are sticking with, it's time to make sure that the director makes good with the material. I'm even happy if they perform their own spin on the mythology, as long as it remains hard, intelligent, and thrilling. But this choice does put a mild damper on these hopes, as GITS is more than a little demanding of its audience.
  • arr
    hey thanks for all the spoilers in the end asshole
  • Craigasorusrex
    I still want to remain somewhat faithful that live action anime adaptations can work.

    What's comforting about this one is that Dreamworks, Spielberg and now Laeta Kalogridis is on board to adapt the script. This already has way more talent than Dragonball: Evolution ever had.

    DB:E never had a chance with Fox short changing the property and hiring the most uninspired director, cast, and writer. It was doomed to fail from the beginning with Fox in complete control of production (unlike say the upcoming Avatar or the Star Wars film which are mainly handled by separate companies and only funded and distributed by Fox).

    Glad Dreamworks is taking their time and actually trying to shape up a good movie instead of rushing it for the sake of keeping their filming license on the franchise.

    I've read GITS and Man/Machine Interface, the first film-Innocence, GITS:SAC-GiG2 and unlike many anime fans who generalize "hollywood" as this one giant entity I for one know that with the right studio and people this can work.

    Here's hoping for the best.
  • darkloardpiggy
    Yes, But where does that leave the live action adaptation of 'Akira'? Lets all still hold our breath on that one, especially if Mr. Dicapprio is heading. Nothing against the guy, But I dont think he should be leading the film.
  • Fish
    Is the new Anime/Manga-made into-Hollywood-films trend is the next "video games-made into-Hollywood-films"? Astro Boy is now stand on 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and Speed Racer and Dragon Ball Evolution also didn't get very good reviews from critics.
  • Candy Castle
    I think they want to tackle this project just right. It screams for Darren Aronofsky!
  • clarencesomerset
    The thing with GITS is that so many films have been inspired by it in the meantime that GITS itself seem dated by comparison. Take for instance Trinity falling off the skyscraper in Matrix Reloaded: that was inspired by the starting of GITS. But do that again in a live action film and the audience will not be impressed.
  • Octoberist
    the only thing I remember about the anime was that the main character wore really skimpy outfits for no reason. sold!
  • Sendym
    the reason is thermooptic cloaking device. Implanted in the skin... watch carefully next time
  • Solid
    As long as it keeps the nudity, Ill be there. I guess there's some deep philosophical shit underneath the surface about what it means to be human, but I don't care.
  • I don't think it will ruin the story, i just think that this anime, along with akira is unfilmable. They will try and will probably make this, but it will be no where near as good as the original movies (despite their faults)
  • too bad Shutter Island isn't coming out on October, like it was supposed to. I want to know what Kalogridis's writing style is like... so, does anyone have a copy of the screenplay for Shutter Island?
  • Fifi
    Watch "Pathfinder" or "Alexander", or episodes of "Birds of Prey" and "Bionic Woman. It will give you a clear picture of the writer's style.
  • IsaacRosales
    Ghost in the Shell was damn near perfect, and I don't see a live action movie as being able to top or develop on the first movie. For Christ sake, the same people that worked on the first film have tried to further develop the story (with another movie and an animated series), and even they couldn't even dream of grasping the bar that was set by the movie.

    I'm sure any fan of the original will side with my opinion because some 12 years after its release, the animated movie still gives me a sense of "Fucking WOW!" with its gorgeous visuals and incredibly crafted story.
  • Tetsuo_Man
    I disagree on some parts. Innocence was in my opinion, a hugely successful development on the original movie. It got the whole mood thing right and I love what they did to Batou.
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