If you’re not familiar with the numerous Japanese yakuza films of writer-actor-director Takeshi Kitano—also known as “Beat” Takeshi, which is a holdover from his days as part of the comedy team Two Beat—you might know him best as Kitano the teacher in Battle Royale. If you’re not familiar with Battle Royale, you might know it as that Japanese movie your hipster friends keep name-dropping in order to dismiss The Hunger Games movies. Point is, Takeshi is a mainstay of Japanese cinema, and his addition to the cast of the live-action Ghost in the Shell adds instant gravitas. As Section 9 commander Daisuke Aramaki, he’ll get to boss Scarlett Johansson‘s Motoko and Pilou Asbaek‘s Batou around. (Asbaek can currently be seen in the Oscar-nominated Danish film A War, and he’s really good in it, in case you were wondering.)

The plot of the movie—directed by Snow White and the Hunstman‘s Rupert Sanders—has been described as, “A year after the end of World War IV, a bomb kills an arms dealer and Motoko is hired to investigate,” and there have also been references to the villain being called “The Laughing Man” rather than “The Puppet Master,” which, along with the non-Japanese casting of Motoko, has led some fans to have many questions about the project. The addition of Kitano is a step in the right direction.

Does having the star of Violent Cop aboard boost your interest in a live-action Ghost in the Shell? Can we all agree to believe this movie is really happening now? Give us your thoughts in comments below.

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HT: Empire
Image: Toei Company

Will the Ghost in the Shell movie be any good?