In a recent interview with Collider, Scarlett Johansson discussed her role as lead actor in Ghost In The Shell, an iconic anime movie in a grim cyberpunk setting whose influence has been felt in films like The Matrix and has inspired directors like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg.
According to Johansson, her protagonist The Major’s central character arc traces the development of her identity. “I think the character’s in a state for a long period of time that is very like, she’s essentially having an existential crisis for a large portion of this film and asking herself, the questions of ‘who was I? Who am I now? And what will become of me?’” Johansson said.
Even the character’s physicality is different. As a cyborg, the Major moves with great purpose, said Johansson, part of what she works on to bring the character to life.
“ I think one of the most important things about The Major is that she’s got a lot of intention, everything she does is intentional and she’s always like moving forward,” said Johansson. “Because she doesn’t have those kind of mannerisms and tics that make us, when you see when we’re impatient or nervous or decision making. All these things you don’t really think about and things that you develop for characters to give them a lot of life. She doesn’t have that stuff and I think maybe the absence of those mannerisms is what gives her her physical character. She’s very efficient, I would say,”
The best part of the interview is probably when the interviewer asks about the Major’s sexuality. What about the robot tiddies, Scarlett?
Johansson answered, “Um, I think she’s very removed from her sexuality. She’s in the midst of an identity crisis… She has such a vague idea, this is how we play it in the story, she has such a murky idea of who she was that how would she even know what she likes or who she likes. She also has no heart. Human heart, anyway. So if you would imagine if that could be related to sensuality or sexuality, that part is also missing for her.”
Johansson’s turn as action protagonist in 2014’s Lucy turned in global box office results of $458 million. Johansson’s portrayal of Black Widow is so popular, fans turned into intrepid licensing and acquisition investigators to figure out why there was no Black Widow merchandise.
But casting a white woman as the lead to a Japanese film set in Japan with a Japanese protagonist led to widespread accusations that DreamWorks had whitewashed a Japanese anime classic where it could have made a move towards wider diversity and inclusivity in film instead. So the supporting cast includes actors like Pilou Asbæk, Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Kaori Momoi, Rila Fukushima, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara, and Tuwanda Manyimo. But Johansson is still playing a character named Motoko Kusanagi, so like… yeah.
The Ghost in the Shell remake is set to be released on March 31, 2017.
