They shared the screen in Luc Besson’s action thriller Lucy and now Pilou Asbæk and Scarlett Johansson will be working together again. Asbæk has joined the cast of live-action manga adaptation Ghost In The Shell.
Johansson is starring as a female special ops cyborg at the head of an elite task force known as Section 9. The team, working for Hanka Robotics, is in charge of stopping dangerous criminals and extremists, and their prime target is The Laughing Man, a terrorist dedicated to wiping out all of Hanka’s cyber technology. Asbæk is aboard to play Batou, the second best fighter in the section and Johansson’s trusted lieutenant.
Rupert Sanders is directing, with Jonathan Herman providing the script, but there’s no mention of whether Johansson will be using the name Motoko Kusanagi as originated in Masamune Shirow’s original 1989 manga. Her casting has been controversial already, with critics concerned about another established Asian role going to a white performer. For more on Ghost In The Shell, scan our guide to the manga and its various anime adaptations.
Asbæk is playing Pontius Pilate in the new Ben-Hur, which was recently pushed from early 2016 to an August 2016 release in the States, with no information about a change in the UK date just yet.