{
  "id": 2196648,
  "title": "Charles Melton in Talks for ‘Naruto’ Movie as Kakashi",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/charles-melton-in-talks-for-naruto-movie-as-kakashi",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-20T18:28:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Variety",
    "slug": "variety",
    "url": "https://variety.com/2026/film/news/charles-melton-in-talks-naruto-movie-villain-kakashi-1236839318/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Charles Melton is in talks to play Kakashi Hatake in the upcoming live-action \"Naruto\" movie. According to Variety, Melton is in close talks for the role, while TheWrap reports that he is in final talks. Kakashi Hatake is described as an elite ninja mentor figure to the main character and his friends.\n\nThe movie, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, is based on the popular manga series by Masashi Kishimoto. The series, which ran from 1999 to 2014, has been collected in 72 volumes and has printed more than 250 million copies worldwide. The story follows a young ninja who longs to become the protector of his village.\n\nA global casting search is underway for the three lead roles of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, which make up Team 7. TheWrap reports that Lionsgate is leading the search.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}