The US remake of the brilliant Japanese manga and anime Death Note has found its star.
Variety reports that Nat Wolff, star of Paper Towns and Grandma, is in final negotiations to play the lead character in Adam Wingard’s (The Guest, You’re Next) adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba’s manga series (subsequently turned into an awesome anime series and less than awesome live action movie).
He’ll play the as-yet-unnamed student “who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone simply by writing the victim’s name. A cat-and-mouse game ensues when he’s tracked by a reclusive police officer.”
In the original series, the student is named Light, and the notebook belongs to a demon named Ryuk, who follows Light’s progress with a lot of interest. Light begins by thinking that he’ll rid the world of the worst criminals, creating a better society for everyone, but it’s not long before the power gets the best of him, while he’s tracked by a brilliant detective whose identity is a secret to everyone. It’s brilliant, and we suggest you watch the anime immediately.
The US remake has been in production for while. Shane Black was attached to direct for a while, Gus Van Sant was rumoured at one point, and the most recent draft of the script was written by Jeremy Slater (The Lazarus Effect, one of the writers on Fantastic Four).
We’re big fans of Wingard’s work and we can’t wait to see what he does with this.
You can buy the complete Death Note on DVD for £19.99 at Amazon.co.uk. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.