Norman-Reedus-pees-on-ghosts game Death Stranding is becoming a movie
Hideo Kojima Productions is teaming up with one of the producers of Barbarian for a film adaptation of one of the strangest games of the last few years
Aux News Death Stranding
Someone notify Conan O’Brien and Nicolas Winding Refn that they might have some acting work lined up soon: Variety reports that a film adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s 2019 video game Death Stranding is apparently in the works. (Both O’Brien and Refn have cameos in the game, is the joke there, along with Guillermo Del Toro, Edgar Wright, horror manga legend Junji Ito, and a whole bunch of other people willing to lend scans of their faces, and sometimes their voices, to Kojima and his team.)
For those who don’t know, Death Stranding is about… Whoo, okay. Buckle the fuck up, because here we go: Death Stranding is about a post-apocalyptic version of America that’s been destroyed by “time rain” and a phenomenon that turns dead human bodies into nuclear weapons. Players control a courier, Sam Bridges (Norman Reedus) who travels the country rebuilding a magical internet network while a baby in a jar helps him avoid oil ghosts, which can be fended off by throwing grenades filled with Sam’s pee. The TV show Ride With Norman Reedus is mentioned on many occasions; Monster Energy Drink is your primary source of healing; a major character is named Die-Hardmann. (Real name: John McClane.) You spend most of the game walking slowly across slippery terrain with a giant stack of boxes on your back, hoping desperately that some other player left behind a ladder that will help you get across a river.
And now, that’s a movie!
Kojima’s own studio, Hideo Kojima Productions, will apparently be making the movie, in association with Alex Lebovici’s Hammerstone Studios (recently of Barbarian fame). It feels worth noting that Sony, which published the original PlayStation-exclusive version of Death Stranding, doesn’t seem to be involved with the movie, at least at the moment, and also that Kojima—a devoted cinephile—has spent nearly two decades at this point trying to get a movie version of his Metal Gear Solid franchise off the ground. We’re just saying!
That being said, there’s probably never been a better time for a prestige-y video game adaptation: HBO Max is gearing up for the release of its The Last Of Us adaptation on January 15, and shows based on Fallout, Twisted Metal, and God Of War are all currently in the works.
7 Comments
A Hideo Kojima game: Death Stranding: Norman Reedus and the Funky Fetus
“You know what Kojima stories need? No gameplay.”
Gotta get the Nolan Brothers to write and direct this thing. Jonny will love the convoluted story, and Chrissy will insist on using real piss.
So Metal Gear Solid 4 then?
It’s interesting, the end cutscenes in the game are basically movies all on their own and there’s a good movie’s worth of cutscenes throughout the game too. I’m down for seeing it though, the game is amazing.
We need to start a half-ironic campaign to cast Danny DeVito as the baby.
It’s stunning that this is getting made before a Metal Gear movie. To be clear, I honestly don’t think a Metal Gear movie is a good idea necessarily, but it’s so much more straightforward than Death Stranding