'Ghost In the Shell' Director Mamoru Oshii Boards Live-Action 'Patlabor' Film

Although Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Oshii is most widely known as the director of 1995's Ghost in the Shell, he's been at the helm of nearly every Patlabor anime film and television series. So when his creative brain trust HEADGEAR and Tohokushinsha Film Corporation announced they were developing a live-action Mobile Police Patlabor project for 2014, it was only a matter of time before Oshii became intimately involved.

At the Japan Expo booth in France, Tokokushinsha revealed that Oshii is involved with the film in an undisclosed capacity. He does have live-action experience, having directed Assault Girls (starring Pacific Rim's Rinko Kikuchi) back in 2009, or he could just be lending his expertise as an overseer or consultant. The hugely successful Patlabor franchise was created by HEADGEAR in 1988, and takes place in a future when robotic mecha are used by the police to fight crime.

It's unclear whether this would interfere with Oshii's planned English-language debut, The Last Druid: Garm Wars, which is set to open next summer.