Movies
Warner Bros. Writes Your ‘Death Note’
While I’m not a huge fan of the Japanese live-action adaptation, it’s a pretty cool premise that, with some work, could become a really intriguing franchise. It was announced back in June of 2008 that Vertigo Films would be producing the American remake of Death Note, just today it was revealed that Warner Bros. Pictures will release. Read on for the skinny.
Warner Bros. has acquired rights to turn the Japanese manga series “Death Note” into a live-action film.
The studio has hired screenwriters Charley and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt.
The story centers on a college student who accidentally finds a misplaced “death note,” infusing him with the power to kill merely by writing anyone’s name on the page while picturing the person in his mind.
The 13-volume manga is a bestseller in Japan, and the film will be drawn from the first three installments, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata for Shueisha Inc.
Warner Bros. Pictures Japan made three Japanese-language “Death Note” films. The new pic will be drawn from the manga, not the previous movies.
Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Doug Davison will produce with Dan Lin’s Lin Pictures and Brian Witten.
The scribes wrote “War of the Gods” for Relativity Media and “Live Bet” for Universal.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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