 | Well, I'm back from the wilds of North Wales. But while I may have been slacking on keeping up with the Death Note news this week, one of our readers has not. Logan has discovered that a short film about L is being made! Lawliet is billed viewing in July 2014, but its IMDb page still has it listed as 'not yet released'. Starring Ray Evangelista as the eponymous L Lawliet, the blarb about this movie short reads: Alone, he struggles with a decision. How will he face death? Lawliet ponders on the topic of death as he sits alone in his room. What will his conclusion be? Especially once he is visited by a Reaper? Also cast are Ricardo 'Rico' Arechiga as Ryuk; John Khouri as Quillsh Wammy; and Austin Hively as Light Yagami. All three are there as voice actors. According to IMDb, this is John's first role, while the other two have a couple of bit parts in professional, albeit small scale, film productions to their credit. That - coupled with the fact that all information about the L film contains phrases like 'inspired by' or 'based upon' works by Tsugami Ohba and Takeshi Obata - makes me think that Lawliet is not an officially authorized Death Note short movie. But if it is a fan-made endeavour, then the quality is extremely high. |
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.
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.
| Their official Facebook page for Lawliet has the poster pictured right as its most recent. It is slightly confusing, insofar as the production company is now listed as Identity Entertainment in conjunction with KA Films. (I'm assuming that the latter denotes Kazuki Akiba's involvement, given that those are his initials.) Though everywhere else, including the Lawliet film website, tells us that Power On Films is creating this picture. I wonder if the change in production companies explains the delay in releasing the L short movie. I guess we'll have to wait and see! Though in the meantime I will do some digging, and maybe even see if those behind the movie would be willing to come and chat with us about their project. It sounds like exciting times anyway! UPDATE: Our questions are answered here: A Chat with Lawliet Director Rico Arechiga. |  |
