Nat Wolff will star in the American manga adaptation Death Note
In development for more than half-a-decade with filmmakers as diverse as Shane Black and Gus Van Sant, Warner Bros. Pictures’ American live-action adaptation of the manga series Death Note looks to be finally kicking into gear under current director Adam Wingard as Variety reports that the film has found its leading man in Paper Towns star Nat Wolff!
The supernatural thriller aims to bring to the big screen the 13-volume series previously adapted as both an anime and as a live-action film franchise in Japan.
Written by Tsugumi Ohba with art by Takeshi Obata, the Death Note comics are officially described as follows:
Light Yagami is a genius high school student who is about to learn about life through a book of death. When a bored shinigami, a God of Death, named Ryuk drops a black notepad called a Death Note, Light receives power over life and death with the stroke of a pen. Determined to use this dark gift for the best, Light sets out to rid the world of evil… namely the people he believes to be evil. Should anyone hold such power? The consequences of Light’s actions will set the world ablaze.
In other words, the character Wolff is playing gets a book where whoever’s name he writes in it dies, forcing a police officer to track him down.
Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) will begin production on Death Note next spring from a screenplay by Fantastic Four‘s Jeremy Slater. Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka will produce, with Brian Witten and Doug Davison serving as executive producers.
Wolff currently co-stars with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway in The Intern, and alongside Mickey Rourke in the comedy Ashby.
(Photo credit: WENN)
