Did someone write “Adam Wingard’s Twitter account” in Light’s Death Note?

There’s often an inverse relation between how passionate a fandom is and how easy it is to please, and that hurdle only gets higher when you’re trying to jump from one medium to another. So Netflix was already facing a tough challenge when it finally brought a long-anticipated American-produced live-action version of anime/manga franchise Death Note to its streaming service last month.

▼ Netflix’s Death Note trailer

The protracted production had been dogged by criticisms from existing fans for changing the ethnicities of the originally Japanese cast of characters for Netflix’s set-in-Seattle Death Note. Audiences weren’t blown away when they actually got to see the film either, with existing fans of the series lamenting their favorite aspects of the anime being underrepresented, and those without prior Death Note experience apparently not finding enough to really latch on to in the American remake.

But while newcomers who were underwhelmed may be willing to shrug their shoulders in indifference, hard-core Death Note traditionalists haven’t been at all shy about voicing their complaints on social media. A frequent target of their displeasure has been Netflix Death Note director Adam Wingard, but it seems the filmmaker has had enough, as he’s suddenly deleted his Twitter account.

Previously, Wingard had shown an ability to dish criticism right back at his bitterly vocal critics, sending out tweets such as:

“Sorry trolls but the artist always wins in the long run.”
“I love how many people feel personally attacked by this tweet. Its [sic] almost like troll bait. Those that bit expose themselves.”
“Film criticism is different than b*tching at filmmakers on twitter.”

But he’s done with such jousting and jabbing, at least on Twitter. The director shut down his account with no advance warning or final sign-off address, though the popular opinion is that he made the decision so he’d no longer have to deal with outraged fan vitriol, including, as is practically a given in such situations, boisterous death threats.

If so, you can’t really blame the guy for calling it Twitter-quits, and if it’s any consolation, even Death Note fans in Japan aren’t always happy with each and every domestic tendril of the franchise. Still, Wingard’s unwillingness to put up with the online unpleasantness doesn’t bode well for Netflix’s suspected sequel ambitions for its version of Death Note.

Source: Comicbook via Yuruku Yaru via Jin
Images: YouTube/Netflix