Shock Till You Drop has posted an interview with Laeta Kalogribis, the current screenwriter for Steven Spielberg’s planned live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell cyber-police manga. Kalogridis was once also hired by James Cameron to script his planned adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) manga. She is also an executive producer and screenwriter on Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and an executive producer on Cameron’s Avatar.

Kalogribis confirms that she is is still working on the draft of the script for Ghost in the Shell. When asked if Steven Spielberg came to her to adapt the manga, she said, “Dreamworks has the material and I have loved it for years and years and years. They contacted me about it when they found out that I was interested. I mean, there’s just no other property quite like it.” She also added, the film “could actually be three two-hour movies, which is what I would vote for.”

In a separate development,MTV.com posted a clip from a video interview with Appian Way’s Leonardo DiCaprio regarding his next project. When asked if DiCaprio’s next project will be the live-action film adaptation of  Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira manga or Twilight Zone, DiCaprio said, “You know, you never want to say anything is going to happen in this town, because everything gets thrown out the window one day and is green-lit the next.”

DiCaprio explained why neither films are his top priority right now, saying, “It’s all about the material at the end of the day, that’s why (Shutter Island) is something of a godsend. When you get good material, you have to jump on it and try to make it as best you can, because it is few and far between.”

Last week the New York Magazine’s Vulture blog reported that the Hughes brothers — the directors behind Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, From Hell, and The Book of Eli — are negotiating with the Warner Brothers movie studio to direct the film. Sometime this week and official statement from Warner Brothers will be made regarding to the Huges brothers directing Akria.

Source: Anime News Network

The websites MoviesOnline.ca and ScreenRant.com have both posted interviews with Laeta Kalogridis, the current screenwriter for Dreamworks’ and Steven Spielberg’s planned live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s cyber-police manga Ghost in the Shell. Kalogridis was once also hired by James Cameron to script his planned adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita manga. She is also an executive producer and screenwriter on Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and an executive producer on Cameron’s Avatar.

In the interviews, Kalogridis reiterated that the script for the live-action Ghost in the Shell will be based on Shirow’s original manga and not Production I.G and Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 animated movie adaptation. Like the manga, Kalogridis said the upcoming movie will have “a lot of action.”

However, as a nod to Oshii’s anime film adaptations, Kalogridis also added, “there’s still going to be a lot of atmosphere – [The movie] is about vast possibilities – all of this technology, the Internet – it’s about the limitless possibilities of this technology.”

Kalogridis also commented on a possible trend of more live-action adaptations of anime and manga in Hollywood, saying “I think anime and manga are slowly becoming a big part of our mythos, I think yes, they’re sort of a natural fit for films.”

The American arm of the manga’s original Japanese publisher Kodansha is reprinting the manga after Dark Horse Comics had the license. Kodansha also launched two new manga series based on the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television anime series in December.

For more discussion on this topic, head over to the forums.

Kalogridis is succeeding this role from Jamie Moss (Street Kings, Last Man Home), and the film is to be produced by Steven Paul, Avi Arad (formerly of Marvel Studios) and his son, Ari.

After a long silence, it seems that the Ghost in the Shell LAA is still very much alive! Discuss this news further on the forums.