'Ghost in the Shell' is an upcoming live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow's manga series of the same name. It will feature Michael Pitt as the villainous Laughing Man opposite Scarlett Johansson's lead protagonist. Filming is set for late February in New Zealand.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pitt has been cast as the film's villain opposite Scarlett Johansson. The 34-year old actor is going to play the mysterious Laughing Man, one of the original manga's antagonists.
Laughing Man is an expert corporate terrorist hacker who hides his identity by superimposing an animated logo over his face. The character is known to hijack multiple video streams simultaneously as well as hacking someone's cybernetic brain. His name is based on the J.D. Salinger short story of the same name.
According to another article by Game Spot, Pitt's character was also the villain of the spin-off series 'Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex', an anime that aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. The series had its English run from November 2004 to May 2005.
Pitt is best known for his role as a gangster on HBO's popular television series 'Boardwalk Empire'. He was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor and an Online Film and Television Association Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jimmy Darmody. He also worked on films such as 'Finding Forrester', 'The Village' and 'Silk'.
Johannson is set to play a special-operations cyborg who leads a counter-terrorism task force called Public Security Section 9 for Hanka Robotics in the live-action adaptation. The film was slammed for whitewashing Asian characters into a Caucasian cast.
According to Game Zone, Rupert Sanders of 'Snow White and the Huntsman' fame is set to direct the film based on a screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Jamie Moss. It is set to begin principal photography sometime in late February in New Zealand as well as Hong Kong and China.
'Ghost in the Shell' is an upcoming science-fiction action film based on the popular Japanese manga of the same name originally published in 1989. The series was written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow and spawned several animated adaptations including the first cinematic release that debuted in 1995.
