Rupert Sander's Ghost in the Shell live action movie didn't do so well at the box office, and a lot of fans chalked it up to the white-washing controversy surrounding the movie.
Paramount had decided to cast Marvel star Scarlett Johansson as Major Makoto Kusanagi, hoping that adding a big-name star would help boost the film's ratings. Instead, renaming Kusanagi as Mira and casting a white star to play the role of an Asian character was one of the factors that turned the film into a flop (along with the film's below-average reviews).
Speaking with Kodansha during a roundtable interview with some of Ghost in Shell's creators, Mamoru Oshii, the director of the original 1995 anime feature, decided to open up about what he felt when he learned that Johansson was cast for the role.
While a lot of Western fans felt like the casting choice was a form of white-washing, Oshii said he thought that the Black Widow actress was the right choice for the movie.
"Yes. I first heard about doing a live-action version almost ten years ago. It's been a long road since then, but to be honest, it seemed like someone would do it eventually, and I admit I was concerned about who would play Motoko. I think Scarlett Johansson is about the best person they could have cast for the part, and I'm happy to be able to say that I have no objection to that choice."
Oshii seems pretty forgiving of the casting choice, though other fans would argue that a Japanese actress would have been more suited. Other fans were also open to Johansson's casting, but in the end they complained because of the film's lackluster story.
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