Before you watch ‘Death Note, ‘ here’s everything you need to know!
1. Death Note is based on a very popular Japanese manga series. The famous Japanese manga was written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The Netflix version follows a high school student, Light, who comes across a supernatural notebook and realizes it holds a great power. Basically, if the owner inscribes someone’s name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Light starts to kill criminals and those he deems unworthy of life.
2. The Netflix film stars some of Hollywood’s most talented young actors. Nat Wolff, 22, who starred in both The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns, plays Light Turner. The Leftovers star Margaret Qualley, who is also Andie MacDowell’s daughter, plays Mia Sutton. Get Out and Atlanta standout Lakeith Stanfield stars as L. They are joined by veteran actor Willem Dafoe, who voices Ryuk.
3. The movie faced a whitewashing controversy because of the cast. When the first trailer was released in March, many fans of the Japanese manga were angry that the film wouldn’ t feature a Japanese lead. In the manga series, the lead is a Japanese teen. Lakeith recently addressed the whitewashing allegations in a new interview. “As far as the issue of whitewashing, I think it’s a fundamental misunderstanding, ” he told The Verge . “Especially when applied to this film in particular, because this film takes place in Seattle, in America. So it would make sense that the cast reflects American demographics.”
4. Death Note’s director wanted David Bowie or Prince to star as the death god, Ryuk. “ David Bowie was actually originally who I wanted to [be the voice of] Ryuk—but then David Bowie died, ” Adam Wingard told i09 . “And then the second person on my list was Prince, weirdly enough—and then he died. And I was like, we got to stop, we’ re literally killing them off. Which is really morbid, but it was true.” Whoa. That is so creepy!
5. What is a death god? In Death Note, Ryuk is a Shinigami, or Japanese god of death that has been around since ancient times. Ryuk indirectly gives Light Turner a Death Note in an effort to amuse himself and satisfy his dual needs for entertainment and an escape of boredom. At nine feet tall, Ryuk stands at nine feel tall and has black, spiky hair, glowing red eyes, a grinning mouth and razor-sharp teeth.
HollywoodLifers, are you going to watch Death Note? Let us know!
