Here's your first look at Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell

After years of swapping talent and time frames, the Ghost in the Shell live-action film has finally begun filming. Paramount Pictures confirmed to ScreenCrush that photography is under way, directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) and starring Scarlett Johansson.

Johansson will trade the government sanctioned martial arts and gunplay of Black Widow for the government sanctioned martial arts and gunplay of Major Motoko Kusanagi, top agent of anti-terrorist task force Section 9 - you can see her first official appearance in the image above. She's joined by Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones' Euron Greyjoy) as the gruff, goggle-eyed Batou, Beat Takeshi as Section 9 chief Daisuke Aramaki, Michael Pitt as cyborg revolutionary Kuze, Juliette Binoche as a new character (as far as my GitS knowledge goes, anyway) called Dr. Ouelet, and Kaori Momoi in an unspecified role.

Here's the official synopsis:

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"Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, Ghost in the Shell follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic’s advancements in cyber technology."

Ghost in the Shell began as a manga series created by Masamune Shirow, and it gained international acclaim through the 1995 animated film directed by Mamoru Oshii. Since then several more animated features, television series, and video games have followed in the name.

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Image: Paramount Pictures