The world is abuzz with excitement about the live-action adaptation of the manga series, “Ghost in The Shell.”
The film follows a cyborg-human hybrid, The Major, as she discovers the real truth about her existence.
The Major believes her existence came to be to protect other cyborg-human hybrids from terroristic threats. With her highly adept special-operations team of former military and skilled personnel, Section 9, their task is to find any threat to the existence of their “cybernized” world.
Major has two members of her task force that she considers her top two agents. Her second in command, Batou portrayed by Pilou Asbæk, is a battle worn, military expert. Though he may look commanding, he is known more for his warmth and and humorous undertones.
Below Batou, Major trusts only Togusa, depicted by Chin Han. Togusa brings a new element to the team, because he is the only one that has not experienced cybernetic replacement. Therefore, Major considers him an asset to their team due to his lack of “cyberization” and his moral optimism.
Our very own OJ Williams joined Pilou Asbæk and Chin Han to discuss what all the excitement is about. Be prepared, they give us a few juicy spoilers before the movie premieres March 31st.
OJ Williams: When you were filming, were you aware of the all the technological aspects that were being filled in afterwards:
Asbæk: We had an idea because before you shoot a scene you talk to the director about how is this going to look on the big screen. But, still Rupert Sanders, he blew my mind when I saw it. It’s just incredible what he hascreated.
OJ Williams: There are so many themes within this movie. Which one do you think resonates most with you, in relation to everything that is going on in the world today:
Asbæk: When I was a little bit younger, [it was] the who am I. I think that’s very human. [It’s] the human thing about being a teenager, finding out who am I, what do I like, and where am I going.
OJ Williams: Both your characters are both badasses and know their way around a gun. Was there any special training beforehand that you had to do before the film:
Han: There’s a lot of training. And I think as an actor this was a luxury because normally we just show up on set and we work. [But] this time around, we had months before that to train and we were doing it five hours a day. It was physical conditioning, paramilitary training, weapons training, tactical, and we had to move as a unit.
Asbæk: And lifting weights.
Han: And lifting weights, yes. And when you are training with these guys it’s just the worst thing because everyone is so competitive. And then the physical trainer would give out socks to the best performer of the the week.
OJ Williams: Who got the most socks:
Han: I got one.
Asbæk: You got one. And I think Las, who plays [Ishikawa]. He’s like built like an ox and incredible. He’s a god. His body is just so powerful.
There’s so many cool technologies in the film. What would you take from the film if you could:
Han: I like the echo box. I would take the echo box, because with the echo box you can kind of do a lot of things. It’s multipurpose. You can track people. You can make a smoothie … Its just really cool and nifty. You can do everything with it.
*WARNING SPOILER ALERT*
Asbæk: I would love the fact that if I could create a hologram of myself, so I could be sleeping in my room and still be another me working for me. That would be pretty cool. Like with the interrogation scene, Scarlett’s character the Major when she interrogates him in the box. That’s a hologram, right?
