Over a year ago, we brought you the news that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to turn the Japanese manga series Death Note into a live-action film. Back then, the studio hired screenwriters Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt the series, and Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Doug Davison were set to produce, along with Dan Lin’s company, Lin Pictures and Brian Witten.

Now, Deadline reports that Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry are now writing (or rewriting) the script, and filmmaker Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Doc Savage) has signed on to direct the big-screen adaptation. Black had this to say about the project:

“It’s my favorite manga, I was just struck by its unique and brilliant sensibility. What we want to do is take it back to that manga, and make it closer to what is so complex and truthful about the spirituality of the story, versus taking the concept and trying to copy it as an American thriller. Jeff Robinov [WB V.P.] and Greg Silverman [WB E.V.P.] liked that.”

The 13-volume manga is a bestseller in Japan, and the film will be drawn from the first three installments, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata for Shueisha Inc. The story centers on a college student who accidentally finds a misplaced “death note,” infusing him with the power to kill merely by writing anyone’s name on the page while picturing the person in his mind.

Death Note is slated to hit theaters in 2011.