Back in October, it was revealed that Scarlett Johansson had been offered the lead role in DreamWorks’ live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell and now Variety brings word that the actress has accepted the role! Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders will helm the feature from a script by William Wheeler, based on the series by Masamune Shirow.
Produced by Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul and with the backing of Steven Spielberg, the rights to Shirow’s original 1989 complex futuristic thriller, about the members of a covert ops unit that takes on technology-related crime, were picked up several years ago with plans to use the latest 3D technology to film it. In Japan, the huge success of the comics led to a number of anime film adaptations, a TV series and a series of video games with DreamWorks releasing the second anime film in North America.
Johansson’s involvement in the film does raise questions about her place in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Widow. Though she is set to appear in this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, could production on Ghost in the Shell prevent her involvement in Captain America: Civil War? It’s unclear at this point, though production on “Civil War” is set to begin this spring in Atlanta, Georgia, targeting a May 2016 release.
