Rupert Sanders pushed boundaries filming Ghost in the Shell

Rupert Sanders pushed boundaries as far as he could when shooting Ghost In The Shell.
The Snow White and the Huntsman director adapted the Japanese manga series into a Hollywood blockbuster, with Scarlett Johansson leading the film as cyborg The Major. A lot of violence is seen in teaser clips and the trailer, with Rupert admitting they didn’t hold back while shooting.
“To be honest, we’ve been trying to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable as much as possible,” he told Den of Geek U.K. “We haven’t actually got a rating yet, so that might be all you see of some of those scenes. But the beauty is, androids bleed white, so you can get away with quite a lot. But it’s a violent movie, and we wanted to keep the sexuality and the provocative nature of the original.”
He predicts the feature will be released as R (restricted) in the U.S. and 15 in the U.K., as the British filmmaker admits the English are “more prudish”.
Ghost in the Shell is already a hit in its home country of Japan, with several animated films and TV series released over the years. Although Rupert was accused of white-washing his adaptation by casting Scarlett, he insists her involvement is vital in appealing to those unfamiliar with the comic.
“I think Scarlett’s a big part of that marketability, and I think, hopefully, the images, what got a lot of us into Ghost in the Shell early on, saw in that film was the visual palette,” he added. “I think if you cut a trailer based on Ghost in the Shell now, people would lean into it and be intrigued. There’s a beautiful symmetry between Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix. I think people will feel there’s a kind of familiarity to it, and also I hope there’s something dazzling and original about it as well, that it touches on those things, but it moves the ball forward.”
Ghost in the Shell hits cinemas from spring 2017.