HEROES Star Masi Oka Has a Role in Netflix's DEATH NOTE Movie
I'm sure you all remember Masi Oka, who played Hiro in NBC's superhero series Heroes. Well, the actor recently revealed in an interview with EW that he is producing and has a role in Netflix's upcoming live-action film adaptation of Death Note.
Since Heroes ended, Oka has been keeping busy. He just ended his seven-season run on Hawaii 5-O, and he's been working on a ton of other projects behind the scenes. When asked what he's been doing outside of the shows that he has been in he said:
"I’m very fortunate to be able to do things also behind-the-scenes, creating some TV shows and also producing a lot of movies. I recently finished producing Death Note for Netflix, which I have a part in as well. I also just finished shooting Meg, which is a Jason Statham-starring shark movie for Warner Bros., so that’s a pretty big budget film as well. So Five-0 has been great about letting me pursue other opportunities. I consult for a lot of Japanese companies as well, including the Japanese government, so I’ve always been going back and forth to L.A. to Hawaii to Japan. I’ve literally been doing the shuttle run between those three cities."
Sounds like he's keeping himself very busy. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up question to the Death Note news, so we don't know exactly who he's playing.
CB suggests that he could be playing Touta Matsuda in the movie. He's a young member of the Japanese Task Force, and he has awkward social skills. It's explained that "Matsuda works hard to overcome his rookie status and have his colleagues respect him, but things become difficult when he’s asked to help find the killer Akira." This is certainly a role that he could fit in.
Death Note is being directed by Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest), and Nat Wolf (Paper Towns) is set to star in the lead role. For those who don't know, the story follows a student who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone simply by writing the victim’s name. This discovery leads him down the road where he wants to cleanse the world of evil with this newfound power.
The movie also stars Keith Stanfield (Straight Outta Compton) as L, Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers) as Mia Sutton, Paul Nakauchi (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Watari, and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) as James Turner. Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) is providing the voice of Ryuk.
The movie is set to premiere in 2017.