Despite being announced back in 2015, Naruto’s long-awaited live-action movie from Lionsgate is still firmly on the way, with key contributors to the project still keeping the fire alive. As Naruto’s a particularly ambitious and visually demanding manga to adapt, it has demanded care both from its acclaimed director and, evidently, key writers for its script.

Such is the case with Tasha Huo, showrunner of Amazon Prime Video’s The Mighty Nein and co-writer on the Naruto movie as of November 27, 2023. Huo faces the daunting task of adapting a rich and engrossing manga to live-action which, while successfully done in One Piece’s case, has undergone serious skepticism after numerous high-profile duds.

Still, Huo remains undeterred, as confirmed in a November 20, 2025 interview with Nexus Point News. While the discussion was split between the topics of her work on Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, The Mighty Nein, and Naruto, Huo was able to speak on her work on the project, for which she has finished the script.

Naruto Live-Action Screenwriter Reflects on the Process of Adapting the Hit Manga

When asked about the completed script for Naruto’s live-action movie co-written by her with fellow co/writer and Spider-Man: Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton, Huo addressed the understandable challenges of adapting a manga for the silver screen.

Citing a need to create a grounded feel with authenticity to adapt it to live-action, Huo reflects on Naruto’s challenges. “For Naruto, it was to ground it, to make it feel real and believable in the world of a live-action movie. When you watch it or read it, it’s so bonkers. It’s so good, but it is so bonkers.”

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Huo reflected further, saying, “The rules you just sort of kind of take for granted because of the medium you’re watching it in, but once you translate it to real people saying real lines and needing to convey real plot.” Huo caps off her reflection, stating, “Yeah, that was the challenge but also the joy of it because they’re just so fun.”

Huo has demonstrably shown care for established IPs in the case of Tomb Raider, Critical Role’s Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and Masashi Kishimoto’s legendary Shonen Jump manga, Naruto. In the months following this interview, with the script for Naruto cited as complete, fans are left with an undetermined wait time for it to be released.

Live-Action Naruto Director Praised by Kishimoto as “The Perfect Choice”

Despite two years having passed even since The Hollywood Reporter discussed Cretton’s joining as director (with Kishimoto’s endorsement) following Michael Gracey’s departure, he remains an encouraging directorial choice. Proven to handle high-concept, martial-arts-heavy and fantastical battles with 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Cretton even got Kishimoto’s written seal of approval.

“When I heard of Destin’s attachment, it happened to be right after watching a blockbuster action film of his, and I thought he would be the perfect director for Naruto. After enjoying his other films and understanding that his forte is in creating solid dramas about people, I became convinced that there is no other director for Naruto. In actually meeting Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input, and felt strongly that we would be able to cooperate together in the production process.”

-Masashi Kishimoto

It’s always encouraging to have approval from a series’ creator, especially since Kishimoto was tapped to co-develop the Naruto movie in 2016. It proves a mutual respect between Kishimoto and Cretton, as well as Cretton and Huo for the property at hand. While there’ve been few other updates, a completed script and love for the franchise are still key steps.

First Episode Air Date

October 3, 2002

Cast

Junko Takeuchi, Maile Flanagan, Noriaki Sugiyama, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Nana Mizuki, Hideo Ishikawa, Yûko Sanpei