Another beloved manga is apparently getting a US makeover. Adam Wingard, the cult director behind indie genre gems The Guest and You’re Next, has signed on to direct Death Note, an adaptation of a horror manga being developed at Warner Bros.
Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka are producing the project, which was previously adapted as movie in its home country of Japan, spawning a sequel.
The story, originally written and illustrated by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, centers on a student, Light Yagami, the brilliant son of a police officer, who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing the victim’s name. He then decides to cleanse the world of whom he deems evil. The police start to suspect that these deaths are the work of a single serial killer. A task force is organized to investigate the deaths, led by the eccentric and mysterious L, whose intellect rivals Light’s own. As the student is tracked by a reclusive police officer, a cat-and-mouse game ensues.
Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four) wrote the more recent draft of the script.
Shane Black, (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3) was previously attached to direct.
Doug Davison and Brian Witten are exec producing. Niija Kuykendall and Nik Mavinkurve are overseeing for the studio.
Wingard, who also created segments of the horror anthologies V/H/S and The ABCs of Death, will first direct The Woods, a horror movie at Lionsgate that is due to shoot this summer. He wrote the script with longtime collaborator Simon Barrett.
This is hardly the first adaptation of Death Note for the screen. The manga was adapted as a popular anime series, and as a series of live-action films in Japan. The Japanese-language version of the Death Note musical debuted this month, and a Korean-language translation will run in June.
The Hollywood Reporter was the first to break this news.
Just one request as this project moves forward: Could we possibly cast Asian actors in the starring roles?