For decades, video game developer Hideo Kojima has been making a name for himself with both Japanese and international audiences as a game creator with cinematic influences. His most iconic series for Konami, Metal Gear Solid, a stealth-oriented science fiction-based spy franchise drew its style and visuals from a diverse pool of films including Escape From New York (and its lead character of Snake Plissken as brought to life by Kurt Russell), The Guns Of The Navarone (and its scene of the cast scaling a rocky incline), 2001: A Space Odyssey (and the computer HAL 9000), The Fugitive (and its dam chase scene), The Fury (an influence on the telekinesis of iconic boss fight Psycho Mantis), and many more. Hideo Kojima even featured himself as a cameo character in his games, most notably in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, where his character is given a self-referential bio stating, “70% of my existence is made of movies.”

Death Stranding the newest franchise created and helmed by Kojima, has found its cast boosted with major film and television actors, including Léa Seydoux (The French Dispatch, Dune 2, The Beast), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead, The Bikeriders), Margaret Qualley (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Stars At Noon, The Substance), and Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman). Kojima is also noted for his friendship with major directors of the film world, including George Miller, Guillermo del Toro, and Nicolas Winding Refn, who all lend their likeness to the Death Stranding series. Refn has even repaid the favor by casting Kojima in a small role in his Amazon series Too Old To Die Young as an assassin. Elle Fanning is set to join the cast of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, while the upcoming title OD boasts Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and veteran European character actor Udo Kier in its cast, while sketch comedian turned blockbuster auteur Jordan Peele joins Kojima as a writer.

Kojima’s Twitter account in recent years has served as a new platform for him to convey his various thoughts on cinema to fans of his work. He has even developed a following among people unfamiliar or distant from his games, who engage with Kojima specifically as a passionate and voracious fan of movies. One such title Kojima has heaped praise on is the American remake of Nosferatu by Robert Eggers. In a tweet, Kojima coyly refers to Eggers as “Egga-chan” and compliments every aspect of the film’s visual production from its “design, costumes, lighting, the use of shadows and smoke.” The attention to detail Kojima gives to how Eggers’s film creates its world highlights the work and involvement that directors have over even the smallest of aspects in a given project, and even highlights the commonality that his work directing the Metal Gear and Death Stranding series has with film production, now that video games are at a level of complexity and technical detail that allows for a stronger rooting in cinematic form and tradition.