English actor Sam Riley, who will shortly be seen in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and the big-screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is in talks to play opposite Scarlett Johansson in Ghost In The Shell. The future movie is being directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) with Paramount providing the cash.
Deadline broke the news of Riley’s negotiations, and will play the villain of the piece, The Laughing Man. The movie is based on the anime series of the same name, which is written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow.
Here’s the synopsis for the planned film, as described by the trade blog.
The story follows a female special ops cyborg (Johansson) who leads a fictional counter-cyberterrorist organization called Public Security Section 9 for Hanka Robotics. The unit is devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, led by The Laughing Man (Riley) who will stop at nothing to destroy Hanka’s advancements in cyber technology.
Shooting will kick off in 2016 and has a UK release date set for March 31, 2017.
