Malaysian Actor Pete Teo Will Star Alongside Scarlett Johansson in ‘Ghost in the Shell’

Recently, we wrote an article about Malaysians that worked on Hollywood movies and TV shows. The article highlighted people who’ve showcased their talents off-screen and on-screen from audio mixing to singing the movie soundtrack. Now, it looks like we can add another person to the list. Local actor Pete Teo will star alongside Hollywood superstar Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell.

Watch the trailer below:

Ghost in the Shell is based on an original Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The sci-fi film directed by Rupert Sanders has been hit with a wave controversies following its decision to cast Scarlett Johansson as the lead character, named Major Motoko Kusanagi. People have called out the directors and producers for Hollywood whitewashing, an act where white actors or actresses are being casted for non-white character roles. You can read more about Hollywood whitewashing in our article here.

Controversies aside, Pete Teo’s involvement in the movie is an interesting twist as his role wasn’t originally in the manga series. The role was specifically created for the movie! “I play Tony, a character who is not in the original manga. He was created for the movie,” Pete told The Star in an interview.

So, what is his character about? Will he play a significant role in the movie? Is he going to be in the same scene as ScarJo? Due to a confidentiality agreement, Teo can’t dish out all the interesting details, but he did mention that he had “shared a lot of scenes” with her and most of his on-screen time is with the actress. When asked by Cinema Online what it was like working with The Jungle Book star – "She's very easy to work with, very professional, very good at what she does, always comes prepared, and very easy to get along with. A very nice person; I really like her.”

This is Pete’s first venture into Hollywood movies, citing it’s like “nothing I have experienced before” albeit starring in a few European and local movies previously.

Ghost in the Shell is scheduled to premiere in our local theatres on March 30^th, 2017.