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The petition to recast Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi in the American remake of Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" continues to grow. Despite this, Dreamworks is still pushing the live-action flick with the "Avengers" actress. The upcoming film will reportedly start filming in the first quarter of 2016.

Despite the growing number of fans that demand to recast the "Avengers" actress Scarlett Johansson in the upcoming live-action film, Dreamworks is still determined to move forward with the said casting. Forbes has recently reported that the studio has already made arrangements with Paramount Pictures to co-finance the American big screen adaptation of "Ghost in the Shell".

As previously reported, the studio has set Johansson to play the role of Motoko Kusanagi, the protagonist cyborg detective who is against cybercrime. While some may see this as a progress in the development of the project, some also see this as a great setback to the live-action slate. Ever since the news about the casting broke out, the project has earned a lot of fans disapprovals and even a petition to recast.

Johansson might be remarkable in playing the role of Black Widow in Marvel's superhero franchises but a lot are skeptical that she will be able to pull off Motoko's character. In fact, most of the manga and Japanese film's fans even insisted in having Asian actress Rinko Kikuchi replace the 30-year-old actress. According to Franchise Herald, the said petition has already reached over 53,000 votes.

The petition reads that considering the Japanese cast and setting evidently signifies already that the American remake should not choose a white actress. The casting is said to be unfriendly to Asian actors who are mostly not given roles in the industry. The appeal also says that the remake would help talented Asian-American actors be recognized for their work.

Dreamworks has not commented about the petition yet. As intended, the project is pushed through, with a production date set in the first quarter of 2016.