Speculating about scenes cut from the movie.

The Ghost in the Shell live-action movie has a more rushed pace than the original anime, which is more contemplative and mellow. Is this difference just a characteristic of the live-action film, or was the theatrical edition of the movie cut too short? There are clues online about scenes shot for the movie that weren’t in the theatrical release.

Tricky and the Monks

The first trailer, released four months before the movie, has a shot of the musician Tricky dressed as a monk. He’s in a shrine surrounded by other monks. What was this scene about?

In the movie, some scenes important to the plot are set near a structure that looks like a ruined shine. I’m not sure if that shrine is related to the shrine in the trailer.

(Update: multiple people have suggested that the ‘The Art of Ghost in the Shell’ book has more details about the monks.)

Ship hologram

Territory Studio, one of the visual effects teams that contributed to Ghost in the Shell, uploaded samples of their work: “Ghost In The Shell — Motion Graphics & Concept Art”.

Their samples include scenes with the major observing a hologram of a ship:

The ship also seems to have been wrecked:

I’d be really interested in watching this scene. I wonder if it the hologram was depicting a past event or an ongoing action scene within the movie.

Major is looking at the hologram in her apartment, which was built out as a large set described in the “Major’s Apartment” featurette, including areas not shown in the movie.

Update: Christopher Backa suggests, “The ship scene could have been the accident they planted in her head.” I think that’s a likely explanation.

Kuze on fire

Another image in the first trailer that is missing from the theatrical release is someone wearing a hood, probably Kuze, moving while on fire.

The Kiss

The scene in which Major takes a woman back to her apartment cuts out their kiss, despite the kiss being shown in the first trailer.

Major looking at a translucent surface

The first image revealed of Scarlett Johansson as The Major was of her looking at a translucent surface. Could it have been part of an unused scene? (The interrogation scene from the movie is somewhat similar, but has a different environment. This may be a version of it.)

Section 9

While the Section 9 team is featured in various scenes, some people point out that the extensive filming and pre-release commentary from the actors who play Section 9 agents seems out of sync with the limited role they play in the movie. Togusa line’s from the second trailer, “He’s everywhere, and nowhere” isn’t in the movie.

Hoping for an extended edition

I’m holding out hope for an extended edition of the movie that will restore deleted scenes, and perhaps have been edited in a way that improves the film.