Producer Avi Arad says "Ghost in the Shell" film adaptation will stay true to the Manga

Producer Avi Arad have spilled quite an amount of details regarding the upcoming manga based film "Ghost in the Shell".

To the knowledge of all anime lovers, Ghost in the Shell's manga was first released in 1989 then was followed by two installments in 1991 namely Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface and Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor. The first animated film however was released in the year 1995 while the second was released in 2004 (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence). The most recent one was released last year directed by Kazuya Nomura (Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie).

On an interview during a set visit the source IO9.Gizmodo stated, movie producer Avi Arad revealed that the story won't be about "Puppetmaster" nor will it be about "Laughing Man". Instead, the story will involve "Kuze". Avi's own words were, " The Kuze story. The big thing we are doing here is that we're not necessarily doing an origins back - story, but we are addressing her (Motoko Kusanagi) sense of self and resolving how she defines herself in terms of memories. That's one of the main thrusts in the story."

Kuze pertains to the story's antagonist based on the GitS TV series (Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig). This part of series revolves on the fight of Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 against the terrorist group known to be called the Individual Eleven.

The interview done by Collider revealed details that point out the live action movie adaptation's efforts to stay true to its anime origin. In terms of shooting location, most parts of the film was done in New Zealand (Central Wellington). Some parts of it were film during a few weeks in Hong Kong, executive producer Michael Costigan stated that the Hong Kong cityscape with Japanese fusion felt "truest to the anime."

Costigan also explained "It also felt true to the future of what this is all going to look like. I think we've been very true to all the Japanese part of it. We are very close to the creators."

The upcoming Ghost in the Shell live action will hit the screens on March 31, 2017 under the direction of Rupert Sanders. The film's main protagonist will be played by Scarlett Johansson.