For a while, it looked like Margot Robbie would be slipping into the techno-suit for DreamWorks’ new, live-action take on Masamune Shirow’s **Ghost In The Shell **stories. But with the Australian actress committed to Warner/DC’s Suicide Squad, the company has had to turn to someone else. Step forward… Scarlett Johansson.
Black Widow herself is no stranger to action, scoring a box-office hit last year with Luc Besson’s Lucy, and had previously been courted by DreamWorks for the lead role of a character based on Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg law enforcer and one of the best on Japan’s National Public Safety Commission and its tech-focused team of crime stoppers. Now, she's officially on board, at least according to Variety.
Snow White And The Huntsman’s Rupert Sanders is still attached to direct the film, with William Wheeler having worked on the most recent draft of the script. Johansson’s casting will do little to allay the outcry at the lack of an Asian actress being cast in the film, but given Robbie’s initial offer and now Johansson’s, it seems clear the direction that DreamWorks wants to take, even if the film might have to weather comparisons to the various anime versions of the tale.
Johansson will be back on our screens as Natasha Romanoff for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, due April 24. She’s also been filming the Coen brothers’ latest, Hollywood golden age comedy-drama Hail, Caesar!, which is scheduled for UK cinemas on February 26, 2016.