Scarlett Johansson has been cast in ‘Ghost in the Shell’.
The 30-year-old actress is to star in the upcoming live-action adaptation of the hugely popular Japanese anime series.
Variety reports the Hollywood superstar will feature in the eagerly-awaited new film, which will follow a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, which tries to fight technology-related crime.
The adaptation is to be directed by Rupert Sanders – who was responsible for the 2012 film ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ – while Avi Arad and Steven Paul are to produce the movie from a script by Bill Wheeler.
Meanwhile, there have been calls for Scarlett’s on-screen character in the Marvel films, Black Widow, to be given her own movie.
The character has featured in a number of the biggest films in the Marvel franchise and Robert Robert Downey Jr, who plays Iron Man, would like to see Scarlett given a standalone film.
He said: "I think that the interesting thing particularly after Guardians of the Galaxy with Zoe [Saldana, or] even from the first ‘Iron Man’ where Pepper Potts was kind of this really – to me the ‘Iron Man’ franchise would never have taken off without [Gwyneth] Paltrow.
"There’s something about her that grounded the story. She’s not your typical lady in a superhero movie, and then by Iron Man 3 she’s swallowing serums and putting on suits and kicking [butt] and all that stuff.
"But it would be kind of more appropriate for a character that already was like a Black Widow [to lead a movie]. It just seems like whatever Scarlett does, people want to go see it."
Scarlett Johansson to star in Ghost in the Shell
