Trailer: ‘Death Note’ Has Your Interest Written All Over It

Netflix has finally release a full trailer for their live action adaptation of the popular manga Death Note. This American version is directed by Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest), who recently signed on to helm Godzilla vs. Kong for Warner Bros.. Nat Wolff stars as lead Light Tuner, with Willem Dafoe providing the voice for the otherwordly Ryuk. Check it out…

A young man comes to possess a supernatural notebook, the Death Note, that grants him the power to kill any person simply by writing down their name on the pages. He then decides to use the notebook to kill criminals and change the world, but an enigmatic detective attempts to track him down and end his reign of terror.

My knowledge of this property is limited, so I can’t speak to how it appears to be adapting the source material so far. I find the concept enticing and Wingard’s visuals are only furthering my interest. This is the kind of film that would easily have hit theaters in wide release only a few years ago. In fact, it was all set to be a New Line Cinema release until about a year or so back. They dropped it and Netflix was quick to scoop it up. The streaming giant is quickly becoming a home to not only quality original TV programming, but also to interesting mid-budget film fare. Between this film, Will Smith’s Bright, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Netflix is poised to break out into film bigger than they ever have before. I don’t know about you, but I’m interested to see what they come up with, this film included.

Death Note is based upon the popular Japanese manga. It is directed by Adam Wingard, from a screenplay by Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides, and Jeremy Slater. The picture is produced by Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Masi Oka, and Jason Hoffs. It stars Nat Wolff as ‘Light Turner’, Margaret Qualley as ‘Mia Sutton’, Keith Stanfield as ‘L’, Willem Dafoe as the voice of ‘Ryuk’, Paul Nakauchi as ‘Watari’, Shea Whigham as ‘James Turner’, Christian Sloan as ‘Agent Franks’, Matthew Kevin Anderson as ‘Agent Young’, Chris Britton as ‘Aaron Peltz’, Artin John as ‘Anthony Skomal’, Jesse Stretch as ‘James Brode’, Jack Ettlinger as ‘Kenny Doyle’, and Michael Shamus Wiles as ‘Police Captain Russel’. Masi Oka also stars.

Death Note premieres on Netflix on August 25th, 2017.