TOKYO, JAPAN - NOVEMBER 20: Actress/model Rila Fukushima attends the opening event for the Michael... [+]
One of the latest additions to the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie is that of Rila Fukushima, a Japanese actress and model. However, the timing of this announcement feels more like damage control after the backlash surrounding the film’s apparent whitewashing.
In case you are not familiar with Fukushima’s past work, she played Yukio in The Wolverine and a Red Priestess in Game of Thrones (the one that creeps out Tyrion in case you are wondering).
She is a good actress and has worked in some Japanese TV series as well in the past, so I am happy to see her working on something like Ghost in the Shell.
Along with Takeshi Kitano, Kaori Momoi and Yutaka Izumihara, Fukushima is yet another Japanese actor on the cast list for the movie. However, we don’t know yet what role she will be taking.
The timing of all this does feel somewhat strange though, as there has been increasing calls against the film for whitewashing its main cast and subsequently straying from the cultural origins of its host work.
So much so that executives on the movie experimented with making Scarlett Johansson look more Asian through digital alteration, though the studio strenuously denies this.
This new casting could then be perceived as a means to appease the anger directed at the film, though if I am honest it is probably a bit late for that.
Personally, my issue with Johannson as Motoko Kusanagi is that I don’t think she is a good fit for the role in terms of her acting. While she is not a bad actress, the Major is a very complex and unique character. Her identity is one born from uncertainty, as due to an accident when she was very young she has spent her entire adult life within a cyborg body.
It’s this experience and length of time as a cyborg that makes her such an asset to Section 9 but also something that alienates her from her fellow friends and teammates.
I’ve always felt that Rinko Kikuchi would have been a better fit for this, not because she is Japanese but due to the fact she has more scope for a character like the Major, with films such as Babel and Norwegian Wood being good examples here.
Regardless of all this, I am happy to see Fukushima cast in another major movie but I am not sure it will be enough to stem the tide of anger surrounding this production of Ghost in the Shell.
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