Charles Melton in talks to play Kakashi Hatake in Destin Daniel Cretton's live-action 'Naruto'

Los Angeles [US], August 21 (ANI): Actor Charles Melton is in discussions to play Kakashi Hatake in Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming action ‘Naruto’, reported Variety.

The news came amid ongoing speculation that Melton would be announced to join the ‘X-Men’ cast at the D23 convention. The casting search began last month to find the live-action versions of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

The manga and popular anime series follows the story of adolescent ninja Naruto, who dreams of becoming his community’s protector and leader known as the village ninja.

Melton was recently Emmy-nominated for his role in Netflix’s ‘Beef’ Season 2 alongside Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Cailee Spaeny. He received critical acclaim for his work in Todd Haynes’ ‘May December’, which came out in 2023.

His other work credits include ‘Her Private Hell’, ‘Warfare’, and ‘Riverdale’.

The update comes at a time when director Destin Daniel Cretton is coming off of his box-office smash hit ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, which has earned over USD 800 million domestically, becoming the fastest film to hit the milestone.

The ‘Naruto’ director bagged his start working with the 2013 release ‘Short Term 12’. It featured Brie Larson, LaKeith Stanfield, Rami Malek and Kaitlyn Dever.

Cretton’s other big-budget studio releases include ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, which was released in 2021.

It will be produced by Avi Arad and Emmy Yu for Arad Productions with Jeremy Latcham. Cretton is producing alongside Jeyun Munford through his company, Hisako. (ANI)

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