Netflix's Death Note Director Gives Post-Production Update

In a couple of months, Netflix is slated to bring Hollywood's next live-action anime adaptation to audiences around the world. Death Note will be the next Japanese franchise to get a western makeover thanks to director Adam Wingard and stars like Nat Wolff. Now, with July just days away, the Death Note film has finally crossed an important milestone.

Over on Twitter, Wingard confirmed his team recently finished post-production on Death Note for its VFX. "We finaled [sic] our last VFX shot for Death Note today!" the director wrote.

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There's no telling whether Wingard has a final cut of Death Note set in place already, but it does seem unlikely. If VFX scenes were just finished, the director still needs a chance to go over all the completed footage to make sure Death Note feels well-rounded. After all, the live-action film has quite a reputation to live up to with fans, and Hollywood's track record with anime gives it no leeway.

Earlier this year, the industry saw its most recent anime adaptation bomb at the box office with Ghost in the Shell. The live-action movie attempted to convert Shirow Masamune's iconic story into a contemporary cyberpunk, and it had little appeal. The movie barely made a box-office blip, and Ghost in the Shell's controversial casting only alienated anime fans further.

So far, Death Note has received its share of casting scrutiny. Fans were quick to question why the live-action movie did not cast any Asian leads given its Japanese origins, but Wingard recently pushed back against any whitewashing accusations.

"There is no conspiracy to remove Japanese culture from Death Note. It's a fresh version of the story set in Seattle. Also, see The Departed. When moving the setting of Death Note to America we, of course, made the movie about America. It's not just a copy and paste situation here," Wingard told fans on Twitter.

"Actors for DN were all picked based on the new version of these characters.They are different than the Original characters, esp Light," the director continued. "In an early interview, I mentioned Death Note having gore nudity and swearing. None of it is gratuitous or focus point of the film. What I was trying to illustrate is we weren't being forced into making a watered down Dragonball pg cheese fest."

For now, fans will have to see whether Wingard's vision for Death Note is a hit or miss. Another failed adaptation would only add to Hollywood's list of sins, and Death Note fans would be left disappointed. The series is one of Japan's most popular thriller series because of its seedy supernatural aesthetic. The fan response to Death Note's first trailer was mixed, so maybe some new footage with revamped VFX shots is what Netflix should look into releasing next.

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You can read up on Death Note below thanks to Viz Media's Synopsis:

"Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?"

We finaled our last VFX shot for Death Note today!

— Adam Wingard (@AdamWingard) June 24, 2017

What if you had the power to decide who lives and who dies? We suggest you obey the rules. Based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone's name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life.

Death Note will be available to stream on Netflix beginning August 25, 2017.