Michael Sarnoski, the director and writer for the upcoming A24 live-action adaptation of Death Stranding, has revealed an update that gives hope to fans that they are one day closer to seeing their favorite characters on their Beach via the big screen. During an interview with IGN, Sarnoski shared creator Hideo Kojima’s reaction to the script, saying,
I’m writing the script right now and hopefully almost done with that and really excited to dive into it. I’ve been talking to Kojima and A24 a lot about it. They’ve read a draft. We’re working on some revisions together, and they all seem super excited and happy with it. Kojima has been really generous in letting me play in his world but letting me tell a story with my own characters and my own sort of corner of this world, but keeping it honest to the game and doing something that fans will really like. So it’s been a great process so far, and I’m really excited to share it.
Sarnoski also opened up about his creative process with Kojima, who is producing the live-action adaptation, with IGN describing the video game developer as “quite the cinephile.” Sarnoski, explaining further,
I was impressed that when he read this script, without me needing to talk to him about it, he knew every single [movie] reference. He was like, ‘Oh, you’re doing a Come and See reference there! I see that. I like that.’ He just knows movies incredibly well. So that’s been very cool to see.
As for the live-action characters, Sarnoski has previously stated that he would like to focus on new characters for his adaptation, as it is one of the things he loves most about this format, comparing it to his work on A Quiet Place: Day One.
That’s what I loved about doing Quiet Place: that, okay, I get to play in this sandbox, but I can have my own characters; I can explore something that’s meaningful to me. I think there are such fundamental themes in Death Stranding about connection and expression, and all of this stuff, that it was easy for me to find a character that made sense in that world that I could really dive into. You might see some characters from the game pop up. But it definitely feels like something that could happen alongside the game and honors what’s going on in the game but very much is its own thing.
Sarnoski is known for his empathetic drama thrillers, such as 2021’s Pig starring Nicolas Cage and the upcoming dark adaptation of Robin Hood, The Death of Robin Hood, in which Hugh Jackman portrays the titular character. No casting for Death Stranding has been revealed as of yet, and by the looks of it, those announcements might come later rather than sooner.
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