'Death Note' trivia and fun facts
In an American way
This is the first American adaptation of the story.
Previosly on 'Death Note' (2006)
Chris Britton (Aaron Peltz) had played Soichiro Yagami (renamed James Turner in this film) in 'Death Note' (2006).
Japanese Watari
Watari is a white Englishman in the manga and anime, but he is Japanese here, as he was in the Japanese animated films/TV series.
Shooting
Filming began on July 7, 2016.
It wasn't always Netflix's
Right before going into production, Warner Bros. dropped the project. Since Adam Wingard was passionate about the project, the studio let him move the film into another platform, with Netflix buying the rights.
R-Rated
Producer Roy Lee stated that the film is "definitely for adults. It has a zero chance it will get below an R-rating." He also stated that it "will be one of the first manga adaptations that feels very grounded but still has fantastical elements".
American treatment
Adam Wingard read the 'Death Note' manga comic to find a way to translate the story to an American environment: "Death Note is such a Japanese thing. It became about what do these themes mean to modern day America, and how does that affect how we tell the story. What are the things that people chalk up to conspiracy theories? What kind of weird underground programs does the government have? How do those work in the world of 'Death Note'?".
Problems during post production
During post production, the office was broken into and a flash drive containing some VFX shots were stolen.
A usual in comic book films
This is Willem Dafoe's third comic-book feature after the Spider-Man films (Green Goblin) and the DC Universe films (Vulko).
Other directors
Shane Black and Gus Van Sant were attached to direct, but later dropped the film.