The cast of Adam Wingard's
Death Note continues to add one impressive name after another. The latest addition is Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox), who will voice Ryuk the shinigami. This news comes after fans were speculating whether Ryuk would even be included in the film as no one was acast in the role when the initial press release for the film was released. According to
Mashable's exclusive, it's made clear that Dafoe is voicing the role, meaning Ryuk will likely be completely cgi.
Directed by Adam Wingard (You're Next), Jeremy Slater (unused Fantastic Four script) penned the most recent draft of the script. The full cast includes, Nat Wolff as Light Turner, Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) as James Turner, Paul Nakauchi (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Watar, Dafoe as Ryuki and Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers) as Mia Sutton.
Death Note is a 2003 Japanese manga from writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata. The series concluded in 2006 at 12 volumes. An anime adaptation began airing in 2006 and concluded in 2007 at 37 episodes. A live-action Japanese film trilogy was first released in theaters in 2006, with the third and final film releasing in 2008. A new Japanese film, Death Note: Light Up the New World, will tell an original story set 10 years after the conclusion of the first trilogy. Hollywood has been attempting to make their own live-action Death Note film since 2007. Warner Bros. acquired film rights in 2009 and hired Shane Black to direct in 2011. However, the project languished in development hell at WB, who let their rights lapse. Netflix secured filming rights in April 2016 and quickly set the project into production.