Death Note Director Makes A Stand On The Remake's Move To America

Netflix's Death Note remake is a live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime/manga, and is currently under fire for "whitewashing" the original Japanese characters. Director Adam Wingard, however, is making a stance on his decision to move the setting to America instead of Japan, and says that this will be a "fresh" take on the story.

After the movie was accused of purposefully removing Japanese elements, Wingard took to Twitter and said:

Some people were confused as to The Departed allusion, but Wingard has pointed out that Martin Scorsese's movie was also a successful American remake for the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. Even Quentin Tarantino's highly regarded Reservoir Dogs is considered to be a direct copy of Chow Yun-Fat's City on Fire. So why should the American Death Note be any different?

Hollywood Whitewashing has become such a topic of controversy lately, and a lot of people have protested against movies like Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, and Iron Fist for casting white people in roles that were "meant for Asian people." To be fair, Iron Fist is originally a white character, and saying that he has to be Asian because he's a kung-fu specialist is stereotyping in its own right. Checkmate, racists.

As for Death Note, I really don't see what all this fuss is about. There's already a Japanese version of the movie with Japanese actors, and anybody complaining can just ignore this American version and enjoy that one to their heart's content. Attack on Titan and Fullmetal Alchemist have European characters in the center of it, and I don't see anyone bashing Japan for that.

Netflix's Death Note is set to come out Aug. 25.

See Also: Death Note Fans Create Petition To Boycott Netflix's Adaptation