"Maleficent" actor Sam Riley is in negotiations to co-star Scarlett Johansson in Dreamworks' "Ghost In The Shell" live action movie.
Variety reports that the 35-year-old Briton will play the movie's main antagonist, the Laughing Man, "a hacker capable of such feats as hijacking multiple video streams simultaneously, taking over someone's cybernetic brain entirely and editing his own images out of someone's cybernetic eyes, and all in real time."
"Lucy" actor Pilou Asbæk also recently joined the cast, playing the role of the main character's sidekick, Batou.
Ruper Sanders of "Snow White and the Huntsman" fame is directing the adaptation of the cult anime film, with Paramount financially backing the project.
Steven Paul and Avi Arad are producing, while Michael Costigan, Tetsu Fujimara, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Jeffrey Silver are executive producing.
According to a separate report by Variety, the "Ghost In The Shell" live action movie "follows a female special ops cyborg who leads an elite task force called Section 9 for Hanka Robotics. Section 9 is devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, led by The Laughing Man whose singular goal is towipe out Hanka's advancements in cyber technology."
Created in 1989 by Masamune Shirow, "Ghost In The Shell" was orignally published as a manga comic before director Mamoru Oshii adapted the story into an animated feature in 1995.
The success of Oshii's film led to a TV series titled, "Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex" in 2002.
The movie's sequel, "Ghost In The Shell: Innocence" released in 2004 and featured Batou as the film's main protagonist. Another animated feature, "Ghost In The Shell: Solid State Society" followed in 2006.
The latest installment to the franchise, "Ghost In The Shell: The New Movie" released this month.
The "Ghost In The Shell" live action movie releases in theaters on March 31, 2017.
