Nailing the Oddness of Death Stranding Should Be Easy for the Hereditary Producer and A Quiet Place Director

Last Updated on Apr 10, 2025 @ 11:06:10 AM.


When Death Stranding was first released in 2019, it became known as one of the most fascinating and divisive games of its generation. Its dreamlike visuals, odd themes, surreal narrative, and cerebral melancholy set it apart from Hideo Kojima’s previous action-blockbuster brainchild Metal Gear Solid.

Shortly after the game was released, it was revealed that a Death Stranding movie is in development. Translating a uniquely strange project like that to the big screen requires getting the right creative team behind it. Thankfully fans of the game can rest easy knowing that the director and producers attached are very well suited to capturing a specific brand of abnormality.

The Death Stranding Movie Is in the Right Hands

The Green Knight
Tell me this doesn’t look like a cutscene from Death Stranding! Image credit: A24

The movie will be helmed by Michael Sarnoski, whose first feature-length film was the critically acclaimed Pig starring Nicolas Cage and more recently, A Quiet Place: Day One. While Pig showcased the director’s skill when it comes to introspective storytelling, A Quiet Place: Day One proved that he’s more than capable of crafting high-stakes intensity on a vast scale.

The fact that A24 is producing the movie adds further credibility to the project. For the uninitiated, A24 is one of the largest independent film studios in Hollywood and is also responsible for films like Hereditary, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and The Green Knight. The Green Knight actually also bore a similarly ethereal tone and twisted visual landscape to Death Stranding, proving A24’s consistency in handling offbeat, high-concept material.

Hideo Kojima’s Vision on the Big Screen

Sam and Cliff in Death Stranding
Death Stranding featured a star-studded cast. Image credit: Kojima Productions

Surprisingly, the development of the Death Stranding movie seems to be coming along a lot faster than the long-gestating Metal Gear Solid film adaptation, which has been stuck in various forms of creative limbo for over a decade. This may be thanks to how creatively freeing and visually distinctive the Death Stranding universe is.

As of the time of writing, it is unclear whether the movie will feature any of the game’s original cast, including Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, or Mads Mikkelsen. Given the fact that those are all Hollywood names, the cinematic nature of the source material and the performances already having been performed in motion capture, it would make sense to recreate them in live action, but we can’t say for sure.

As A24 continues to extend its reputation for genre-bending critical hits, there’s real potential for Sarnoski’s take on Death Stranding to become something special. It is a bizarre, high-concept world to tackle, but with the combined pedigree of the team behind it, they just might be able to nail adapting the signature peculiarity that Kojima fans are so fond of.

For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out how Ubisoft is ready to fight back against Assassin’s Creed Shadows harassment, or how Microsoft could be playing the long game with Xbox Steam rumors pointing to one conclusion.

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