Well, it's been a while since my last contribution here, so I decided to come back with a new fancast.
So, it's been reported that an American remake of the Death Note movie, based on the excellent manga/anime series, will be made. While I'm not a big fan of remakes, Death Note is a great story, and if done well in the right hands, would be amazing on the big screen. The Japanese version of the movie was great, and had some noteworthy performances (my favorite being Kenichi Matsuyama as L), but this cast will have largely American actors (or actors well known in Hollywood), most of whom would be unknowns/around the B-list. I'm also going to try and cast as many important characters as I can, so if I missed any, remind me. This is also going to focus on the first half of the series, so expect the next part and the rest of the cast to come soon.
So without further ado, here's the American Death Note cast!
Main Characters
Light Yagami/Kira: Aaron Johnson. Like hell I'm going to cast the overrated Zac Efron as the main character of this! Light needs a talented actor, one who can pull off being both normal (for a teen genius) and scary as well, so I decided to take a little risk and go with Kick-Ass himself. And the youthful Johnson definitely has a good future as an actor ahead of him.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He seems to be a fan favorite (judging from other fan casts I've seen on YouTube) and not only that, JGL is an amazing actor who's perfect at playing quirky, but strong characters. Plus whoever is cast as L has to be able to play off well with whoever plays Light, and I can definitely see Johnson and Levitt be great partners in acting.
Misa Amane: Brittany Robertson. Again, I'm not going to cast some teenybopper star (*cough*Hillary Duff*cough*) for Misa. Misa needs to be both cute but also creepy at the same time. I'd like to see Robertson stretch her talents this way, plus she's a perfect fit looks and height wise.
Ryuk: Ron Perlman. Come on, wouldn't he just be perfect with that hard, gravelly voice of his?
Rem: Helena Bonham Carter. I had a hard time with this, until I remembered Helena Bonham Carter's great voice and her ability to play dark roles like this. Plus, she can also exude that caring quality (given Rem's protectiveness towards Misa). She'd totally own a Death God role, would she not?
Kira Investigation Team
Soichiro Yagami: Gary Oldman
Touta Matsuda: Jim Sturgess. Keep in mind, Matsuda was the young, inexperienced, but brave and well-meaning cop. Sturgess has both the youth and the sort of "nice guy you want to root for" thing going on for him.
Shuichi Aizawa: Giovanni Ribisi
Other Important Characters
Ray Penber: Yuu Shirota. I decided to try going with a half-Japanese/half-Caucasian actor for Ray. And Shirota is good at playing the romantic kind of role (his character is a caring man about to be married to his longtime girlfriend), and with a mix of tragedy put in, could make for a compelling performance.
Naomi Misora: Michelle Ryan. Ryan has proven her own tough girl chops in Bionic Woman, and it helps that she looks just like Naomi too.
Watari/Quillish Wammy: Michael Caine
Sachiko Yagami: Dana Delany. Yeah, I'm not totally certain of this. But Delany is the right age to play a mother to a pair of teens (one of whom becomes a college student later), and she's not a huge movie kind of actress (mostly being on TV shows). I'm open to other suggestions though.
Sayu Yagami: Sarah Bolger
Wedy: Anna Torv
Aiber: Josh Holloway
Stay tuned for the next part of the cast, coming in a few days!