Kojima wants Death Stranding to have an arthouse feel instead of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. The director is also moving away from an “explosive experience” for the movie adaptation. Kojima recently sat down with IGN to discuss the live-action adaptation of Death Stranding. The director revealed that it was Hammerstone Productions that shared his vision for the upcoming movie adaptation. “I was on video calls with lots of people in Hollywood every week beginning last year, and not just for Death Stranding,” Kojima shared during the interview. “I received a lot of offers, but my intention from the start was never to make a blockbuster film. Alex Lebovici from Hammerstone Studios shared my vision with regards to that. There were a lot of pitches to make a large-scale movie with famous actors and flashy explosions, but what good would explosions be in Death Stranding?” “Making money isn’t something I’m focused on at all, either. I’m aiming for a more arthouse approach, and the only person who offered to make a film like that was Alex Lebovici, which makes me think he’s a rather unusual type,” Kojima adds. Lebovici was the executive producer for the 2022 horror film Barbarian which was a film that did not have a huge production or “flashy explosions.” Lebovici previously said that the upcoming film will be a “grounded” and “authentic” film. Kojima also shared that he has not yet decided if Sam Porter Bridges, the protagonist of the video game, will be appearing in the movie adaptation. The game director explained that he is just trying to avoid the failure of other video game adaptations which are solely based on the game which sometimes does not translate well to films. “The failure of film adaptations of games from a while back has led to a lot of movies that cater to gamers, right?” Kojima explained. “That’s why they have the same kind of look as a game. I don’t want the Death Stranding movie to be like that. Rather, I’m taking the approach of changing and evolving the world of Death Stranding in a way that suits film well.” He adds, “I made Death Stranding to be a game, and games are games. There’s no real need to turn them into films. So in a way, the Death Stranding movie is taking a direction that nobody has tried before with a movie adaptation of a game. I think that what I need to make is something that will inspire some of the people who watch it to become creators 10 or 20 years down the line.” Kojima also mentioned that he was working on a short film that was unfortunately shelved due to the pandemic. The script for the project for this “first dip into Hollywood” still exists but he no longer has plans of continuing the project at the moment. Death Stranding is currently available to play on Xbox Game Pass and was recently added to the Epic Games 15 Days of Christmas giveaway. Death Stranding 2 was announced during The Game Awards and is currently being developed as a PS5 exclusive title at launch.
