Warner Bros. has been trying for years to mount an American reboot of the weird supernatural manga, Death Note. Shane Black (Iron Man 3) had been attached for some time until creative conflicts forced him to leave, and most recently Gus Van Sant's name emerged as a contender to replace him, which would have been a strange fit. Now THR reports that You're Next and The Guest director Adam Wingard has agreed to take on the job.
The Death Note manga debuted in 2003 from Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata, and it centers on high school student Light Yagami, a genius who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone whose name is written in it. The book belonged to a bored spirit of death named Ryuk, who accompanies Light on his quest to rid the world of criminals with the stroke of a pen.
The manga has previously been adapted into a popular anime, a video game, and a trio of live-action Japanese films. The American version has a script written most recently by Jeremy Slater, a writer on the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Wingard will begin production on Death Note after he finished up his next horror project, The Woods.
