'Death Note' Director Explains How the Original Japanese Material Works in an American Setting
Netflix is coming out with a live-action adaptation of the popular "Death Note" movie. The film, which is based on the hit Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba, will deviate a bit from the original source material as the movie will take place in the United States and will feature American actors.
In the "Death Note" manga, a student named Light Yagami comes across a Death Note. Light uses the Death Note to kill criminals by putting their names and indicating how he wants them to die. In the Netflix movie, Light Turner (Nat Wolff) finds the Death Note in Seattle, Washington.
Director Adam Wingard told IGN that changing the story's setting was not enough to give justice to the material. Instead, Wingard had to identify the themes found in "Death Note" and how this would relate to modern-day America.
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"Ultimately, the cat and mouse chase between Light and L, the themes of good, evil, and what's in between the gray area. Those are the core things of 'Death Note,' and that's really what we went for," Wingard explained.
On Twitter, Wingard clarified that their version of "Death Note" will be a movie about America and that it's not just "a copy and paste situation."
The characters in Netflix's "Death Note" movie are also different from their Japanese counterparts. Even though they retain some identifying features, like L (Keith Stanfield) still likes candy and walks around without his shoes, the character is still very different from the original.
Wingard added that perhaps, the only character that "comes off as the same way as he does in the anime is Ryuk," who is portrayed by Willem Dafoe.
Meanwhile, since the release of the first trailer in March, Netflix's "Death Note" movie faced whitewashing criticism, especially since it came after the controversial "Ghost in the Shell."
In casting the actors, Wingard explained that they were picked based on the new versions of the characters, which are "different than the Original characters," Comicbook.com reported.
The "Death Note" movie will premiere on Netflix on Aug. 25.
