Death Note, the popular Japanese graphic novel, is a rarity, spawning interest in both its native country and in the United States. Both the Death Note animated series and the live action films have found their way to the United States, breaking sales records and inspiring Hollywood to attempt to adapt the series for American audiences. Unfortunately, this has been easier said than done. Though some big names have tried to attach themselves to the film, its American rights owner- Warner Brothers- has had a seemingly bumpy road getting the film made.
In Death Note, we learn about a mystical race of monsters called Shinigami, who each carry around a blank book called a Death Note. If a human's name is written in the book, he or she will die of a heart attack. Ryuk, a bored Shinigami, decides to drop his Death Note into the human world just to see what happens. It falls into the hands of a bright honors student named Light Yagami, whose father is a police detective. Light amazes Ryuk by instantly beginning to use the Death Note to kill criminals. Soon the world takes notice and dubs the mysterious vigilante 'Kira'. This also gets the attention of the authorities and a legendary detective known only as L. Thus begins a cat and mouse battle between Light and L.
Perhaps it's the dark material that has made this a difficult property to get off the ground; though its latest difficulties were caused by Batman and Superman. Massively underperforming, the film forced Warner Brothers to offload various projects. Death Note was one of them, though Netflix has picked up the project and it is currently under production. While the translation of the idea to American sensibilities is unknown, here is the currently announced cast:
