Deadline are reporting that Sam Riley is in talks for a major role in Rupert Sanders' (Snow White and the Huntsman) upcoming live-action version of anime classic Ghost in the Shell. He would join Scarlett Johansson, who is already lined up in the lead role of a cyborg special ops agent (named Major Motoko Kusanagi in the source material) working in counter-cyberterorrism in the near future. Riley could either be playing one of the male protagonist roles, or the 1995 animated feature's antagonist (itself taken from the original manga), the Puppet Master - an elusive hacker deemed to be a threat to national security. Anyone who's seen and enjoyed the underrated indie sci-fi Franklyn can attest to the actor's proclivity for inhabiting morbid, dystopian sci-fi landscapes. Although Riley isn't a lock as yet as no deal has been made and "the situation is still fluid", he would potentially also be joining Danish actor Pilou Asbæk (Lucy, the upcoming season of Game of Thrones), who signed on as Kusanagi's cyborg ally Batou last week. For a project that has been trying to get off the ground since 2008, it's cool to see it finally gaining traction. Here's hoping that they don't fumble the ball on making a faithful adaptation, but in my experience there's always something that gets lost in translation when Hollywood tries to import and remake Asian IP. Remember Dragonball: Evolution?
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
