Hideo Nakata

Hideo Nakata is a Japanese film director born in 1961, internationally known for the horror film Ring and its sequel Ring 2. He also directed the 2008 live-action Death Note spin-off L: Change the World.

Nakata's most famous work is Ring, the Japanese horror film that helped popularize the J-horror genre worldwide. His other well-known film, Dark Water, was also successful enough to get a Hollywood remake.

Yes, Ring began as a Japanese horror film directed by Nakata, along with its sequel Ring 2. Both inspired American remakes, The Ring and The Ring Two, the latter of which Nakata directed himself.

Nakata directed L: Change the World (2008), the live-action Death Note spin-off that follows detective L in the weeks after the main story concludes rather than revisiting the cat-and-mouse plot between L and Light Yagami. The film gave Kenichi Matsuyama a final outing as L.

Nakata said he wanted to draw out L's more human side, an angle he felt the original Death Note films and anime had left unexplored. The result centers on L's life in the weeks following the main story rather than his rivalry with Light Yagami.