So far, there isn't a whole lot of information that's been made public regarding the upcoming film adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima. Given the rocky history of game to film adaptations, expectations are generally pretty low for most projects like this. However, with the game's cinematic nature as well as its heavy film influences, it seems like there's a possibility for Ghost of Tsushima to be able to break the long-running streak of bad video game movies.
Although the small handful of details known about the film instills a little bit of hope for its quality, one major thing that could help it fight the uphill battle that is convincing the gaming public of a video game movie's worth would be an announcement saying that Daisuke Tsuji is coming back to reprise his role as Jin Sakai. Video game casting has been quite the hot topic this year, and it's a bridge that the Ghost of Tsushima film will need to cross at some point in the near future. While the producers of the film might be tempted to cast someone new as Jin Sakai for the adaptation, it would likely benefit the film to consider keeping Tsuji as Sakai.
The Delicate Line of Casting Video Game Movies
It seems like every time that a game movie reveals its cast, there's some sort of controversy surrounding it. From ridiculous casting choices like the general fiasco that is the Super Mario Movie to more puzzling ones like with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City's cast, there's always some sort of conversation surrounding the announcements. Generally, it feels like gaming enthusiasts are in favor of gaming actors sticking with their roles when a franchise is adapted, but that rarely happens for a plethora of reasons. One major reason for games that stick with a more realistic art style is that the voice actors don't always look the part that they're giving a voice to. This is why when Tom Holland was cast as Nathan Drake over Drake's voice actor Nolan North, there wasn't quite the uproar as when Chris Pratt was cast as Mario over Charles Martinet.
As games begin casting actors to do voice work as well as motion and face capture, however, video games have begun starring actors in a much more major way than ever before. The face of Jin Sakai isn't just one designed for and found in Ghost of Tsushima; it belongs to Jin's actor Daisuke Tsuji, which means that if the film is looking for someone who both looks the part and knows the character inside and out, it makes sense for Tsuji to be cast. What's more, he's even gone on the record saying that he'd be interested in playing Jin in the live-action Ghost of Tsushima movie, so it seems like it's going to come down to what the producers want.
On one hand, Tsuji seems like the perfect fit given the fact that he's synonymous with the role, but there are other reasons why Sony might sidestep his casting in favor of another actor. After all, the film likely wants to establish its own identity outside of the game, despite the game's high quality, so the studio might opt to give Jin a new face to stand apart from the game. Although it could make sense for that to happen from a marketing standpoint, it would be pretty odd to see someone new cast as the Ghost given how much Tsuji brought to the character and how iconic his performance became following the game's release in 2020. Either way, the Ghost of Tsushima movie seems like it might be able to break the mold that adaptations of games have fallen into, but hopefully Tsuji will be attached in some capacity.
Ghost of Tsushima is available now for PS4 and PS5.
