In an interview with BuzzFeed, one of the producers' of Netflix's upcoming live-action film Death Note, Roy Lee recently responded to the criticisms, the film has received. The film is being criticised for casting White actors, instead of Asian actors and the criticisers are terming it as White-Washing of the film.
Lee said "He does not believe the film is a case of white-washing". He clarified that the criticism would have been valid if the film's story was set in Japan, but since the adapted film is set in Seattle instead of Tokyo, the script demanded the characters to be of western origin.
The protagonist, played by Nat Wolff, is named as Light Turner instead of Light Yagami. While the African-American actor Keith Stanfeild is playing the role of L. The film also stars Margaret Qualley as Mia Sutton, Paul Nakauchi as Watari, Shea Whigham as James Turner, and Willem Dafoe as the voice of Ryuk.
Lee suggested that the changes in the story were necessary, to make it more appealing to the US or the English speaking market. Lee further added that 'Saying White-Washing' is some what offensive, as one of the three leads is African-American.
Another producer of the film, Masi Oka previously defended by saying "Our casting directors did an extensive search to get Asian actors,but we couldn't find the right person, the actors we did go to didn't speak the perfect English."
The live-action film adapted from Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's popular manga of the same name is premiering on Netflix on 25th of August.
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