Legendary video game director Hideo Kojima has had quite the month when it comes to Death Stranding, the 2019 post-apocalyptic title that was the debut game from his studio, Kojima Productions. Not only did a sequel get announced at The Game Awards 2022, but it was also revealed that he would be partnering with Barbarian executive producer Alex Lebovici and his Hammerstone Studios to create a film adaptation based on the game’s world. After the shock and awe at both of these announcements wore off, fans have been clamoring to learn any details about either of the upcoming projects, and now a new interview has come out where he discusses how he wants to make his feature film debut, saying that he does want to make a “blockbuster film” with “flashy explosions” but rather a film with a more “arthouse approach.”
In a recent interview with IGN at the Kojima Productions office in Japan, Kojima discussed the seven-year anniversary of the company, some of the themes of Death Stranding 2, and touched on his approach and vision for the upcoming video game adaptation. When asked how he came to be working with Lebovici and his Hammerstone Studios, he talked about getting a lot of calls from Hollywood about many different projects, not just for Death Stranding. He touched on how he didn’t want to make a giant blockbuster, and it was that shared vision that got him to team up with Lebovici and Hammerstone:
With how a single dead body in the world of Death Stranding can turn entire cities into mile-wide craters, explosions would definitely be something that would want to be avoided. Kojima continued to discuss how the project isn’t driven by money and that it was the goal of making a film more akin to an arthouse movie that made him team up with Lebovici, who was the only person who agreed with this vision. “Making money isn’t something I’m focused on at all, either,” said Kojima. “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.”
