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Rila Fukushima joins cast of 'Ghost in the Shell'

By Wade Sheridan
(L) Hugh Jackman, actress Rila Fukushima (R) attend the Japan premiere for the film "The Wolverine" in Tokyo, Japan on August 28, 2013. Fukushima has joined the cast of "Ghost in the Shell." File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI
(L) Hugh Jackman, actress Rila Fukushima (R) attend the Japan premiere for the film "The Wolverine" in Tokyo, Japan on August 28, 2013. Fukushima has joined the cast of "Ghost in the Shell." File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, May 27 (UPI) -- Rila Fukushima has been cast in DreamWorks' upcoming live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell.

First revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the Tokyo-born actress joins a growing cast that includes Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Takeshi Kitano and Scarlett Johansson as series main protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi.

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The casting of Johansson has caused the film to come under fire from fans and critics who accuse the studio of whitewashing as Kusangai and other characters from the original source material have always appeared to be Asian.

Based on the Japanese manga by Masamune Shirow and the popular anime series of the same name that has spawned several animated films, Ghost in the Shell follows Kusangai, a "one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid" as she works for a an elite crimefighting task force known as Section 9.

The film is set to be directed by Snow White and the Huntsman helmer Rupert Sanders with a script by Jonathan Herman and Jamie Moss.

Ghost in the Shell arrives in theaters April 14, 2017.

Fukushima, an accomplished television actress in Japan, is known for starring in 2013's The Wolverine alongside Hugh Jackman, as samurai hero Katana on The CW's Arrow and as a Red Priestess on Game of Thrones.

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