Shane Black to Direct Live-Action Film Adaptation of Death Note Manga Series

Deadline|New York is reporting that Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Last Action Hero, Lethal Weapon) will direct a live-action film adaptation of the manga Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata.

The series, which was first serialized in 2003, features Light Yagami, a brilliant high school student with great prospects -- but who is also bored out of his mind. But that changes when he discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its holder the ability to kill anyone whose name they know, by writing the name in the notebook while picturing their face.

The overall plot centers around Light's vow to create and rule a world cleansed of evil using the notebook. But there are those who want to stop him, notably a detective known as L, and later his successors, Near and Mello.

Death Note has previously been made into several live-action films as well as a television anime series in Japan.