Anybody getting deja vu? After all that talk of Shane Black, then Gus van Sant directing the long awaited US Death Note movie, we now have a third announcement. Adam Wingard (The Guest, You're Next, V/H/S (1 and 2)) is set to direct Death Note, according to an exclusive at The Hollywood Reporter (April 27th 2015). However, it won't be immediately. He's still got The Woods to film and get out first. Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Offs and Masi Oka are mooted to be Death Note's US producers. With Adam Wingard at the helm, we're probably looking at a Hollywood version of Death Note which focuses totally upon the horror. At this point in time, I'm not nearly so buzzed as I was when I thought Gus van Sant would be giving us an adaptation. This feels more gore than drama, but then I could be very wrong. Whatever happens, it seems that Death Note is becoming big news again. Two theatrical performances; a television show with new story-lines; and now we have the practically mythical Death Note US movie popping back into existence. Anyone else have thoughts on this? |
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Ooops! Bit embarrassing really, how ugly that Death Note News page has looked for the past seven months. Sorry about that. I'm a crap business woman, not at all professional, and such things reflect upon us all. Then again, I've managed to exist for over half a year without having to repetitively click anything which isn't punctuated regularly by a level up screen. Until yesterday. And today. You really, seriously would not believe how long it takes to hunt down quality Death Note DVD cover images; scale them to the right size; tidy up the ones now horrifically pixelated; then shepherd them all into place. So many hours that I will never see returned. I know that no-one else in the world cares a jot about this. But care, damn it! I clicked until insanity threatened, then made a cup of tea and clicked some more. Tinkering with titles to get them all lined up; double-checking URLs; ensuring each were in the correct categories... just don't ASK me about the moment when I accidentally deleted a whole section just completed. *sob* Instead please kindly check out the pretty result. Then pretend that you've been in at least once during the last seven months, so you can tell the difference and oohhh! in delight and wonder in the comments.
Please. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. Notice what I did. Madness is just a tea-cup away. Twitch. Love it and if the muse takes you, I'd appreciate the passing on of links and the occasional purchase if there's a gap in your Death Note movie, anime and random stuff collection. Less than three. This is a fast changing story. I was writing this blog entry, took the screenshot, wrote three more lines, refreshed... and the situation had changed! See the ending for the latest Death Note film news from the US. Original Blog:It's hardly like it was ever moving in the first place, but Logan has spotted something even more disturbing than usual. Until October 28th 2014, the IMDb status listing for the US live action Death Note film seemed to be permanently set to 'script'. Then, on that date, it was changed to 'unknown'. Screenshot as it looks at the moment: Death Note: Internet Movie Database November 28th 2014. None of us know who updated it. It might be a random contributor. It might be Warner Bros finally giving up. But suddenly the Death Note movie seems much further away. What's everyone's thoughts on this? And once again, thanks for being on the ball with all the Death Note news, Logan. When Suddenly... I'm in the habit of refreshing webpages, if they've sat for a while. I think IMDb does it automatically too. Hence I finished writing the above and, as a last minute check that I hadn't missed anything else that I might tell you, I refreshed the page. The status had changed again in the minute or less since I took the above screenshot. It now looks like this: Death Note: Internet Movie Database November 28th 2014. There's most definitely something wrong with the website's internal calendar, as I've just this second watched it change!
On both occasions, the only thing that altered was the status. Its return to 'script' makes this Death Note news pretty much a non-story, unless that flip-flopping reflects some movement behind closed doors. In which case things just became a little more exciting. Or it could be IMDb's contributor check in action. Whereon it's all merely admin stuff and nothing to concern us at all. NOW what are your thoughts on this?! I got so excited when I glimpsed the headline. Gus Van Sant to Helm American Adaptation of Hit Anime Series Produced by Warner Bros. were the words emblazoned across my computer screen, courtesy of my alert feed. I immediately high tailed it over to Cross Map, clicking the link with a type of frenzied movement usually reserved for twitch played boss fights. I thought that writer Claire Taylor was onto something - confirmation or information relating to that hallowed Grail of current Death Note gossip, is Gus van Sant definitely doing the movie? Moreover, when? In what manner? And who's being cast?! But apparently not. While we were all rushing to repeat The Tracking Board's strong rumor - about Gus van Sant directing the US Death Note live action movie - back in July, Claire and Cross Map have only just noticed it's a thing. False alarm then. *sigh* Though it was a lovely feeling to think for a moment there that we were actually moving on this. As soon as I catch wind of anything, you'll be the first to know. (Forget about the blog, you'll probably hear my shriek from there. Wherever you are.) I've been working hard in the Death Note News store again, this time in the DVD section. The first up-date being that we now have a DVD section. All of the world's Death Note anime and live action movies have been corralled into one place. Every edition, collection, cover, package and box set within the Death Note franchise will be in there. At least that was the plan. With the best part of two whole days occupied in reproducing pictures and hunting internationally for the links, I've still not come close to collecting them all. It'll happen. But for now, I think it's best to say that a mammoth undertaking created a great beginning, and the rest will follow in good time. Let's break this down. We have an anime series and three live action movies. Even accounting for new voice-over dubs, employing actors to deliver dialogue translated into various languages, that shouldn't leave much scope for reproducing Death Note DVDs. Fundamentally, that's four items of content - or two box sets, one for anime and one for live action - which could be recycled around the world for each new language to be dubbed onto them. You really would be amazed. I've come to the conclusion that every Death Note DVD copyright holder has done nothing over the past ten years but reissue them. Constantly. Rebranding, repackaging, reformatting, adding features, chopping the content up into different slices, slapping a new cover on the front, importing versions from other countries and most of all introducing yet another version into the market. Except India. Apparently no moving pictures in any format has made it into India yet. Though they're certainly running rampant with the manga and novels. More versions there than you could possibly imagine. It was quite startling to move from country to country - each time staring in grim determination at another plethora of choices for your Death Note movie and anime viewing pleasure - only to arrive at the nothingness of India. Mu for Death Note anime fans. Which did leave me pondering. I've made a note to find out why. I'll let you know as soon as I do. Elsewhere in the world, international Death Note DVDs being made available for domestic fans continues unabated across the globe. We've obviously a great source of income with an insatiable appetite for completing collections, even if the only difference is a new pretty picture. This fervour to feed us stuff can too easily invoke the maxim 'more haste less speed'. There's a lovely French Death Note trilogy which might tempt more US buyers, if volume one was stocked alongside two and three. I wonder if the supplier has even noticed. Probably not, as they'd have rushed to get it listed. It's quite interesting to note what's been imported where. Not to mention bewildering and, at times, amusing. For example, Italy has a German version of an American Death Note box set. Nice and cosmopolitan there, everyone sharing and common sense prevailing. Until you notice that Germany doesn't get the German version. They're stuck with the original US one. On the bright side, our beautiful new Death Note DVD section now reveals all such wonderful weirdness - allowing the German fandom to go shopping in Italy, and everyone else to uncover where common sense hid Death Note DVDs destined for our shelves. Enjoy! And keep checking back, wishing me luck and watching it grow, as I hunt down every last variation to pin into the ultimate Death Note anime and movie collection. As always, I would appreciate your feedback in terms of navigability, look of the thing and anything that I messed up while adding links at 4.30 in the morning. While I've been off gallivanting again, there's been a lot of news coming out of the Death Note Musical camp. Fortunately Logan was on the ball, noting it all and giving me the heads up when I returned. Most of the cast has been revealed! I'm going to go through them one by one, so we can have a good look, starting with a very familiar face. Death Note fans already know all about Takeshi Kaga. He is the actor who plays Soichiro Yagami in the live action movies! Therefore it feels only natural that he will bring the same hapless parent to life on stage. But what do we really know about Takeshi Kaga? Well, for a start, his name isn't Takeshi Kaga! This well-known stage and movie actor was born Shigekatsu Katsuta, in his native Kanazawa, Japan, on October 12th 1950. He was already singing in a local boys choir aged seven, but didn't begin acting until he was an adult. His talent quickly emerged though. He was snapped up by one of Japan's top theatrical groups Shiki Theatre Company, where he was soon cast in the leading roles of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and Tony in West Side Story. In short, there's a long history here which assures us that Kaga can sing, act and dance more than adequately for his part in the musical Death Note. Though leaving Shiki in 1980, Kaga has returned to the stage several times during his long career, often in starring roles. He's played Jean Valjean in Les Misérables twice! Once in 1987, then again in 1995, wherein he represented Japan in a 10th Anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. That latter show saw seventeen Valjeans from seventeen different countries appear one after the other! He was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in a stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll & Hyde. Here he worked with Frank Wildhorn, who is now producing Death Note the Musical. Kaga has also starred in non-musical theatrical performances, including playing MacBeth in the eponymous Shakespearian play, and Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac. Japan 2000: Takeshi Kaga as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. However, for the rest of the world (and indeed most of Japan), it wasn't the stage performances which made Takeshi Kaga so famous. That was his appearances in movies and on television. Let's be honest here. It wasn't all of them. They just kept his name out there and his face familiar. The real biggie was his casting as Chairman Kaga in the internationally syndicated Ryōri no Tetsujin, or Iron Chef, as it was known in the English speaking world, usually with each country's name tagged on the end. This stylized cooking show pits top chefs against one another in a crazy cook-off, all presided over by Takeshi Kaga as the loud, flamboyant Chairman Kaga. It's all about as far away as the staid, sensible Soichiro Yagami as it's possible to get. Nevertheless those two are Kaga's biggest roles in most minds around the globe. Here he is, as Chairman Kaga, getting very, very excited about food ingredients for each cook off: For gamers and anime fans (that's us), Takeshi Kaga is best known for his voice acting. The former group heard him as Golbez in the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV, and Dissidia: Final Fantasy for the PSP. He was the voice of Teridax in all the Lego related media for their Bionicle line (which is credited with saving the Lego Group from complete collapse and bankruptcy in the 1990s). As an anime voice actor, Kaga appeared as Jirarudan in the second Pokémon movie Revelation Lugia - also singing the theme song Ware Wa Collector; Dr. Kiriko in Black Jack: The Two Doctors of Darkness; and Tokimune Shochikubai in Yukan Club, amongst many, many more roles. But for Death Note fans, Takeshi Kaga's big moment for international fame came in 2006, when he was cast as Light's dad Soichiro Yagami in the first two Death Note live action movies. Here he is during that tense final scene from Death Note 2: The Last Name (obviously full of spoilers for anyone who hasn't encountered Death Note before, which I'm assuming isn't any of us), as the stunned father of Kira unmasked: For many fans of Death Note, those performances in Death Note (2006) and Death Note: The Last Name (2007) have already ensured that Takeshi Kaga wears the face of a live action Soichiro Yagami.
Therefore it's no great leap to imagine him reprising the same role in the Death Note stage show. In fact, it feels only fitting. Do the rest of you agree? Over to you. As director Rico Arechiga intimated last week, this officially classifies the L movie short as 'coming soon'. Beautiful artwork though, reminiscent of the Death Note manga cover art.
A release date of 2016 has been green lit by Wonder Works Films for their Death Note US remake. It will be called Death Note: Year One, and the script is being penned by Yossi Bechor and Julie Paupe. At this point in time, that is more or less all that we know, except that it's received a budget of $15m. The IMDb listing for Death Note: Year One includes this synopsis: A boy finds a book with blank pages and discovers that each time he writes a name on a page, that person dies. Japanese manga. The bizarre thing here is just how little information there is out there!
I can't even find a website for Wonder Works Films, other than similarly named companies (a family movie subsidiary of Disney, and a conglomerate of Bollywood stars constituting the other two). Clicking on the IMDb link to discover more about this particular Wonder Works Films produces a huge quantity of other movies, but most are at the pre-production stage too. Checking out the LinkedIn pages for both Yossi Bechor (aka Joseph Bechor) and Julie Paupe demonstrates a long list of experience in script-writing and other movie involvement. Yet you check out Yossi's Twitter account, and it reads like a twelve year old troll. Moreover, Yossi claims to have recently been named 'The Most Unlikely Movie Mogul by The Hollywood Reporter'. A hunt for that article reveals that he really wasn't. That accolade was bestowed upon producer Avi Lerner. Unless that's another pseudonym. In fact, a search on the Hollywood Reporter site for either Yossi Bechor or Joseph Bechor brings up absolutely nothing at all. At this moment in time, all instinct is ringing 'elaborate troll'. But if it isn't, then great! Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Last Thursday, I had the very great pleasure of chatting with Lawliet director Ricardo Arechiga about his Death Note movie. The image isn't really him by the way. It's a character from one of his animations, as Rico is a graphic artist by profession. All of this came about because Logan set me on the quest to discover more about a movie about L. The initial findings were described in: Lawliet - Short Movie About Death Note's L. On the assumption that you've already read that, I won't repeat myself here. I will mention that there were one or two minor details that were awry. With thanks to Rico for pointing them out, I've already been back to edit those into accuracy. So now to have our questions answered! First let me say that Rico is a wonderful conversationalist. As you can tell, I took that screenshot after chatting with him for well over an hour, nor had we finished then! Yet he's so passionate about Death Note, and insightful about the issues raised within, that it all felt like no time at all. If he's like that just discussing it, I really can't wait to view his film about L. Rico rather apologetically informed me that his movie Lawliet has not been given the official rubber stamp by Ohba and Obata. But then again, he hasn't asked for one! By that token, this Death Note movie short will be technically fan-made on a shoe-string budget. But when I think of fan-made movies, I tend to imagine so-so quality. At the very best, it will be hit and miss. Here we actually do have qualified film-makers delving into a subject which inspires them greatly. "I really wanted to do (L) justice. As a fan, I want something. I want to see more live action." Basically, Rico and his colleagues are here to fill the gap left by indifferent studio executives. As fans, they want it. As talented individuals, they can deliver it. Let's see that trailer again. Death Note Movie Short - Lawliet Official Teaser Trailer That emphasis on quality explains why we still don't have the movie in September 2014, despite it being due for release in July. It is largely completed and it could be on our screens right now. But Rico isn't absolutely thrilled by some aspects. The perfectionist in him wants it to be the best he can deliver with his resources.
He felt rather bad about this, though I personally think it's a good thing. He did wish to highlight that Lawliet is being produced around his paid commissions. It's a labour of love, not profit. I know that I'm not an official spokesperson for the whole Death Note fandom, but I'm certain that I spoke for all of us, when I assured him that we could wait. We'd prefer the moment of greatness to that of potential, and we'd like the director to be happy with his work. After all, we've been waiting forever for Shane Black/Gus van Sant to get on with it! So what can we expect when Lawliet finally arrives? Rico has written a script which explores the character of L. I don't mean that in the sense of 'fictitious character', though of course that is true too, but in what makes this person tick. Where did he come from? What motivates him? And most of all, how does L come to terms with the notion that he could be killed on this case? Lawliet is a movie short, which takes place right on the eve of L's entrance into the Death Note world. He's already working on the Kira case, but has not yet revealed as much to the Interpol meeting. It captures a moment when L understands the danger, yet he is on the verge of committing to it anyway. Most of the long conversation between myself and Rico was about the inner workings of L's mind (and, to a lesser extent, the other Wammy House kids too). I can confirm that this writer/director has contemplated the issues long and hard. He's considered the darkness that lies at the heart of the orphanage, which currently are addresses in the movie. Though that segment may not make the final cut (Rico is refining parts of the script). With all of my fan-fiction, I thought I'd contemplated much of what there was to say about that institution. But Rico certainly introduced several elements that had escaped me. Particularly in regard to the dangers of chasing Kira. Or, as Rico put it, if the Wammy kids weren't careful, "they would become what they've been brought up to stop." In Rico's opinion, L is a hero, who knew very well that he would die, but predicted how that would end up. He knew from the beginning that Kira would be defeated, and the entire of Death Note merely plays out L's ultimate plan. Then, at the end, L wins. Rico tells us that his movie will be 'sweet, humorous and dark'. Pretty much what all Death Note fans love then! He'll pop back for a proper interview, when Lawliet is ready for release. If you do have any questions for him, then leave them in the comments here and I'll be sure to include them then. Incidentally, this is a movie by Identity Entertainment working with KA Films. Power On was just an early iteration of Identity Entertainment, but they decided they didn't like the name after all. Bit generic... And finally, when we do come to watch Lawliet, Rico says to watch out for Easter Eggs. He's included some for us die-hard fans. Challenge accepted!
Lawliet Official Trailer for Death Note Movie Short Lawliet is being made by Power On Films, a production company based in California, USA. The Death Note inspired movie constitutes its only offering to date. Both appear to be the brainchild of Ryuk voice actor Ricardo Arechiga, who is billed as writer and director of Lawliet, as well as its cinematographer. His name is down as producer too, though that's a task he'll be sharing with fellow up-and-coming filmmaker Kazuki Abika. Fans they may be (and aren't we all?), yet there is genuine talent behind this particular collaboration. From their self-penned biographies on IMDb, we learn that Rico and Kazuki are students. Rico won an excellence award from his Theater Arts class in his final year at High School, while Kazuki is currently attending New York University for Tisch School of the Arts. He is majoring in Film and Television. They are still teenagers - Rico turns 20 in September and Kazuki in December - but have gained plenty of experience in all aspects of film-making. Not only from their courses either. Kazuki has already produced several movie shorts and documentaries (there are seven listed on IMDb, including Lawliet), which has led to some recognition within the Indy Mogul internet-based independent movie-making community. Meanwhile Rico has established himself, along with L actor Ray Evangelista, as the YouTube channel duo Rico and Ray.
Adrián Lavado, a writer with the Spanish e-magazine eCartelera, has gone one further than that. He wrote that Shane Black 'hacer una historia de venganza en vez de justicia y eliminar a los personajes conocidos como shinigami.' (Shane Black 'wanted a story about revenge, rather than justice, and to eliminate the shinigamis.')
The above led to irreconcilable differences between the director and Warner Bros., which ultimately resulted in a parting of ways. This half chimes with what Shane Black told Long Beach Comic Con back in October 2011. Then he revealed long-running disagreements over the direction of the Death Note story. He wanted an adaptation that was faithful to the manga, but Warner Bros. kept pushing for one that was morally black and white, with Kira more the flawed anti-hero than anyone who could be considered 'evil'. Every one of Yagami's actions had to be justified within the pursuit of justice; and the 'demon' shinigamis had to go. It was Shane who fought for none of that to happen. My reading of the situation is that Lavado has switched the views of Shane Black and Warner Bros. What do you think? - And muchas gracias to Álvaro for alerting me to the Spanish language report. Amazon Instant Video have been busy Tweeting that the Death Note live action movie is the best, according to a Japanese audience poll. But that's all I know. There's no other news source coming up in the search results, and Amazon didn't respond to my Tweet asking which movie, which comic and which audience poll. And that link merely takes you to Amazon Instant Video, with Death Note already embedded as the search. If that list is anything to go by, then the 'live-action film' thus lauded is actually season one of the anime. Oh well! No arguments here. You don't need to be L to have seen this one coming. If Gus van Sant is going to be directing the new Death Note live action movie, then it was inevitable that Danny Elfman would do the music. He composes the music for ALL of Gus van Sant's films. However, we do have to insert a small note of caution. Danny's involvement has still not been officially announced. He's merely turned up on IMDb's cast and crew list for the Death Note film. That might just be an extrapolation from the knowledge that Gus van Sant is strongly tipped to take over as director. Even if you think you don't any of Danny Elfman's music, you do. He's been involved in some of the biggest movies and TV shows over the past three decades. The Simpsons, Good Will Hunting, Ghostbusters II, the 1989 Batman movies, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Epic, Alice in Wonderland, Milk, The Corpse Bride... need I go on? In fact, have a gander at this lot and tell me from where you know him. I guarantee there will be something! As for whether Danny Elfman could credibly compose music for Death Note, various fans have already answered that one. Like YouTuber My Space, who used Danny's The Little Things from Wanted to provide an AMV tribute to Light Yagami. He's long since been my composer of choice for this project anyway. So I'm thrilled with the strong possibility that Danny Elfman is now on board with Death Note. It hardly counts as an official announcement, but one feels just that little bit closer. Until now, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has retained Shane Black's name as the director linked with Death Note the movie. Suddenly, overnight, he's been replaced by Gus van Sant. The best we can really say about this is IMDb's administrative team believe the gossip be true. So what do they know that we do not? It's not like they've jumped the gun too quickly either. For just over a week - since The Tracking Board broke the rumour on July 10th 2014 - news sources and blogs have been filled with people like me passing on the information: Gus van Sant strongly tipped to replace Shane Black as Death Note's director. Yet IMDb didn't budge. For eight full days, the site still had the director listed as that last officially acknowledged - Shane Black. So what changed for them? What made it much more likely to be occurring? IMDb isn't Warner Bros. There still hasn't been an authoritative update on the site since April 23rd 2014. But IMDb is Amazon. Surely a company that big has its contacts in Hollywood... Like I said, nothing here is official. But it sure feels much more like it is. There's finally news about the Death Note movie! Just a couple of weeks after I did the round up about the information so far, there's something actually new to add. After all this talk of Shane Black's excitement and defense of the Death Note film, it seems that he's now been ousted as director. The Tracking Board has reported that Gus van Sant has taken up the reins instead. Gus van Sant is most famous for his movies Good Will Hunting and Milk. Coincidentally, I watched Milk just recently and raved about it with everyone that I know. It certainly promises that the director will find the depths in Death Note. As far as I can currently ascertain, the script produced by Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry is still that on the table. I do hope so, because otherwise Warner might push for their alternative script, where Light was the good guy with a poor upbringing/trauma leading to his dodgy choices. However, there is hope in that he remade Psycho once, and did that practically shot by shot identical to the original black and white one. I've just realised that he was also the director of My Own Private Idaho. Huge grin here. That's one of my favourite films of all time! I'm definitely feeling good about him doing Death Note. According to Gus van Sant's profile on IMDb, there are some trademark things that we can therefore expect for the Death Note movie too:
More as soon as I know it! |
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