I still think going with what appears to be a scorned white dude as Light isn't pushing any boundaries. We've always had ansty white dude films. It would have been interesting to see Light as a minority lead, especially someone who is Asian (Japanese American) as a commentary on the US's race relations. A white lead is so typical that even Keith being cast as L doesn't offer up a real difference in perspective since the film is centered mostly around Light.
And I'm sorry but I really don't believe that they couldn't find an Asian actor who could speak English. If this was in the 90's without the advent of the internet I could understand(not really) but literally one tweet asking for an Asian actor to try out for Light and they would be flooded with Asian Americans, if their casting director was really that bad at their job, they should have hired another one. They just didn't want an Asian lead.
Expecting a 1 to 1 adaptation isn't what I would expect but I don't really understand the direction of this film. And I'm a huge of Death Note, and I'm just not amazed by anything regarding this production.