Death Note (Hollywood Live-Action)

Let me give a bit of backstory on this article: about three weeks ago, an Anime Vice reader e-mailed me a PDF file that he claimed was a script for Lin Pictures' live-action Death Note. Rather than run with the story then, I called Lin Pictures to see if they could confirm or deny whether the script was actually theirs or a fan-written phony. I was told I would get a call back, but never did. I tried calling back a second time earlier this week, this time passing on considerably more information, and still no call back.
 
As such, I have come to the conclusion that the company isn't overly concerned with the script, which suggests several possibilities to me:

1. It's not a legitimate script at all, so they're not worried about it.
2. It's an old draft, significantly different from the current version, so they're not worried about it.
3. The script was intentionally leaked for promotional purposes or to gauge fan reaction.

There is also the possibility, of course, that the company simply hasn't been had time to decide what to do or get back to me. I think three weeks is a pretty fair shake, but let me say...this is entertainment, and I don't feel like it's my job to make entertainment creators' jobs any harder than necessary. That combined with the fact that regardless of who wrote it, the script in question is SOMEone's copyrighted material, means that I'm not going to post the full script here. If you want it, I know there are a couple of other sites that have already posted it, so you'll have to find it for yourself.
 
I will, however, go into great detail from having read the script myself. Suffice it to say, there are many significant changes-- mostly ones that don't bother me at all (no Misa! Yay!), but there are a couple of big ones.


Now, I'm open to the idea that there COULD be a really good Hollywood Death Note movie, but if this is in fact a legitimate script: taken on its own, it's a halfway-decent (if slightly moralistic) script for a young teen-oriented drama, but as an adaptation of Death Note, it misses the mark.
 
But let me reiterate again before people start flailing and freaking out: we have NO confirmation that this is a legitimate or current script, so consider this post to be as much "for the lulz" as anything. Take it with a grain of salt.
 
That said...let's say you were in charge of a Death Note movie. You have to make it accessible to your average American movie-goer, and aim it probably at the 13-18 crowd primarily, but you want to keep the pre-existing fanbase happy, too. How would you do it?

Oh god, the last two live-action Death Note movies were horrible.
 
Please let this not be true.

That sounds more like an episode of Supernatural than Death Note.
 
One of the most interesting things about the story is Ryuk and Light's relationship with him.  But I can see how a Japanese death spirit would be hard to explain if the rest of the story is westernized.  Still, they could have made him a demon of sorts.

@Noodles: I actually liked the Japanese live-action movies. Although I never saw the L movie.

Who the bloody hell is Luke?
 
So these writers think the name Light is too hard for our ignorant English thinking minds to handle, huh? Does L now become A? I mean look how difficult that is to grasp. The letter L is the twelfth letter in the alphabet. There aren't enough fingers to count that high. (sarcasm)
 

Serious Now

I agree with your analysis on that change to the Light character. Makes it more seem that the book changed a good person rather then the power of the book corrupting an already twisted mind.

@FoxxFireArt: I would suspect that it's not that Light is too "hard," it's that it's an even weirder name here than it would be in Japan. Especially since they didn't see fit to give the character hippie parents ;) As for L, he is still called L. ^_^

@gia said:

" @FoxxFireArt: I would suspect that it's not that Light is too "hard," it's that it's an even weirder name here than it would be in Japan. Especially since they didn't see fit to give the character hippie parents ;) As for L, he is still called L. ^_^ "

Is it any weirder then the idea that writing a name in a book will kill someone? This is the country where celebrities are naming their children after produce.
 
I imagined they would still call him L. For that part you kind of have to imagine me speaking that in my utterly worst impression of a hick accent.

This is actually kinda how i would do it, but thats cuz making a shinigami doesnt really come out right when you use a ds.  Plus it would have been annoying to create and animate.
 
  I think that the whole thing is a bad idea and i hope to every god of death that this is fake....still zach effron in a serious role....im sure he could play it off well. 
I also made a second video tribute to the whole death note thing:
 

@FoxxFireArt said:

Is it any weirder then the idea that writing a name in a book will kill someone?

Sure-- people accept weird plots. But a name like "Light" would seem awfully blatant here, where it's a slightly more subtle reference in Japan. ;)
 
"Luke" is probably supposed to be a reference to Lucifer, I'd guess.

The fact that his character isn't the bored super intellectual makes it about 30x worse already. Maybe if they change that and get away from this Batman type of motivation, and clean up some other parts it could be legitimately good. Oh and of course the execution of it all comes into play as well. The idea of an american Death Note movie is pretty cool, I just hope it comes through. 
 
...and no Ryuk? fucking garbage.

@gia: 
People accept names like Logan, Wolervine,Ororo.  Prior to X-Men, I doubt many people even knew that a Wolverine is a real animal.
 
Light itself is an English word. This is a culture that also accepts the constant self-renaming of Sean Comb as Puffy Daddy, to P. Diddy, to simpley Diddy, to whatever it is now. Another singer is called Lady Ga Ga.

@FoxxFireArt: Logan is a perfectly normal name, Wolverine is a superhero/codename, and Ororo is a foreigner. People accept weird names with an excuse, but a WASP named Light would just reek of heavy-handed symbolism.
 
@AgentJ: That only shows that his finding of the death note impacted his character's development-- NOT that the book itself had a direct effect on his mental stability.
 
@S3N4HU3: I meant to say this earlier, but that is awesome. You might be my new favorite. :D

@gia: really your new favorite? what does that include exactly ^_^

Hmm. From reading the script, my impression of it is mixed. They pretty much turned Death Note into a suspense drama with a dark twist on morality and it is quite decent though a bit cliched. The character portraying Light is still a bright college kid outsmarting the police and has a father who is a major figure in the police. L's still around. But there are aspects to the movie that aren't explored which would be a potential spoiler if I went into them here.

@S3N4HU3: My official seal of AWESOMENESS.
 
Which I'll make someday when I have some spare time. ;)
 
@kdmccaskill: We clearly have different versions of proof-- a) how do you know Warner Bros. had it taken down? b) Might they not try to have something taken down that is being passed off as their work that is not?
 
I'm not saying the script IS a fake, only that the removal of a file hardly proves that it's legit.

@gia: SWEET! Cant wait, but question does it look this at all? 
http://electricpulp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/seal-1.gif