Legendary video game director Hideo Kojima been a pretty month when it comes to death thread, a 2019 post-apocalyptic game that was the debut title from his Kojima Productions studio. At The Game Awards 2022, not only was the sequel announced, but it was also revealed that he would be collaborating with Barbarian executive producer Alex Lebovichi and his Hammerstone Studios to create a film adaptation of the game world. After the shock and awe of both of those announcements wore off, fans have been clamoring for any details on any of the upcoming projects, and now a new interview has come out in which he discusses how he wants to make his feature film debut, saying that he really wants to make a “blockbuster” with “bright explosions”, but rather a film with a more “art house approach”.
In a recent interview with IGN at the Kojima Productions office in Japan, Kojima talked about the company’s seven year anniversary, some of the topics Death Thread 2, and touched on his approach and vision for the upcoming video game adaptation. When asked how he got his start working with Lebovici and his Hammerstone Studios, he revealed that he received a lot of calls from Hollywood about a variety of projects, not just for death thread. He mentioned that he didn’t want to make a giant blockbuster and it was this shared vision that led him to team up with Lebovici and Hammerstone:
Since last year, I’ve been on video call with a lot of people in Hollywood every week, and not just about Death Stranding. I got a lot of offers, but from the very beginning I had no intention of making a blockbuster. Alex Lebovici from Hammerstone Studios shared my take on this. There were many proposals to shoot a large-scale film with famous actors and bright explosions, but what is the use of explosions in Death Stranding?
With the way the only dead body in the world death thread can turn entire cities into mile-wide craters, explosions should definitely be avoided. Kojima went on to discuss that the project was not driven by money and that the goal was to make the film more like an art house film, which led him to team up with Lebowici, who was the only person who agreed with this vision. “Making money is not at all what I focus on,” said Kojima. “I’m aiming for a more art-house approach, and the only person who suggested making a film like this was Alex Lebovici, which makes me think he’s a rather unusual type.”
Transition from game to film
Kojima was asked if any decisions were made to have characters from the game appear in the movie as one of the few things we know about the story death thread is that it will introduce new characters and elements to the world, rather than just retelling the same story as the game. Kojima touched on how the video game adaptations tried to capture the look and feel of their games, and that was one of the main reasons they failed as films. He wants to change and develop death thread work like a movie and not just redo what he did in the game:
The failure of movie adaptations of games that happened a while ago led to a lot of films aimed at gamers, right? That’s why they look just like the game. I don’t want Death Stranding to be like this. Rather, I take an approach to changing and developing the world of Death Stranding in a way that is well suited to cinema. I made Death Stranding a game and games games. There is no need to turn them into films. So in a way, Death Stranding is taking a direction that no one has ever tried to film a game before. I think I need to do something that will inspire some people who watch it to be creative in 10 or 20 years.
death thread Set in a fractured world following a cataclysmic event known as “Death Stranding”, when the area between the living world and the afterlife, known as the Beach, intertwined with the physical world, opening a door between the living and the dead. , which leads to beings from the afterlife roaming a fallen world marred by a devastated society. The story follows Sam Porter Bridges, played by Norman Reedus, who works as a porter who travels across the desolate land to deliver goods to isolated survivors. When the last President of the United States dies, Sam is tasked with reuniting America and securing a future that the world’s survivors can hope for. Along the way, he meets many different characters, all portrayed by an all-star cast that includes Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro, Margaret Qualleyand Troy Baker, among many others. The game, along with its 2021 “Director’s Cut”, has sold over 10 million copies.
death thread Available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows. You can check out the teaser trailer for the upcoming sequel. Death Thread 2 (working title) below:
Source: Collider
