Trivia / Ghost in the Shell (2017)

• Approval of God: Mamoru Oshii, the director of the first two Ghost in the Shell movies, praised the live-action movie, calling it "the most gorgeous Ghost in the Shell work yet" and approved of Scarlett Johansson's casting and performance.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget: $110 million (not counting marketing costs). The movie drew in $40,563,557 domestically and $169,801,921 from worldwide sales. It was estimated the film lost AT LEAST $60 million.
• California Doubling: The movie was primarily shot in New Zealand and in Hong Kong, the latter done in an attempt to recreate the Hong Kong aesthetic that the original Oshii film envisioned for the city of Newport City in Japan.
• Creator Backlash: Paramount deeply regrets sparking the movie's whitewashing controversy, conceding that it likely hurt the film critically and at the box office.
• Defictionalization: The Section 9 patches used in the movie are available for purchase in Ebay.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Chin Han has mentioned that he intentionally made his hair long so that it can done in a mullet, similar to what Togusa has for his hairstyle since the manga was first released.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Amid fan demands for an official version of the film's score, Lakehouse Records eventually announced that it would not be releasing a physical or digital release. Composer Lorne Balfe got around this by releasing the score himself, which comprises the majority of the tracks in the film (save for pieces co-created with Clint Mansell). As a result of being the only actual release, many fans have circulated it to various sites, regardless of its legality.
• Lying Creator: After being asked about the racial controversy at a press event in Japan, Scarlett Johansson claimed she would never play a character of a different race. The ending of the movie then revealed Johansson's character was a Japanese woman and American fans were NOT happy because of this.
• Promoted Fanboy: Chin Han agreed to be cast as Togusa because he loved the manga when he was very young next to AKIRA. He also mentions in interviews that he resonates with Togusa being a family man and the only S9 operator who hasn't been cyberized.
• Role Reprise: For the Japanese dub of the film, Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka, Kōichi Yamadera and Yutaka Nagano reprised their roles from the animated films and TV series.
• Throw It In!: Pilou made the decision for a scene where Batou is seen taking a swig of beer and eating a slice of pizza, based on reading the original manga.
• Typecasting: After her roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Lucy, this is the third time that Scarlett Johansson has played a Femme Fatale Action Girl. Note that she had rarely done action roles before the MCU.
• Viral Marketing: Paramount launched a viral campaign to promote the film with a meme generator, IAmMajor, where users could upload pictures and use bold statements.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Margot Robbie was originally chosen for the role of the Major, but it fell through when she was cast as Harley Quinn for Suicide Squad.
  • Sam Riley was also nearly chosen to play the role of Kuze, but it went to Michael Pitt instead.
  • Some scenes never made in the final cut of the movie, such as Mira being shown a hologram of the supposed terrorist attack on a refugee boat, Motoko and Kuze's faces shown as they're strapped to the operating tables, Kuze being lit on fire, Motoko actually kissing the prostitute she hired (as shown in the first trailer), rap artist Tricky's inclusion as a monk, and a bit more dialogue from the other members of Section 9, like Ishikawa announcing he's reloading his gun during the firefight with the garbage men.

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