Interviews
‘Death Stranding’ Movie Will Be “A Different Kind of Dark,” Says Director Michael Sarnoski
The latest from A Quiet Place: Day One, and Pig filmmaker Michael Sarnoski, The Death of Robin Hood, arrives in theaters this week, but the director is already hard at work on his next project: the feature adaptation of Death Stranding.
Kojima Productions and A24 previously teased not to expect a direct translation of the 2019 game, which introduced “a catastrophic series of events that blurred the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead, bringing forth nightmarish creatures into a fragmented world on the brink of collapse.”
The adaptation is said to delve into the mysteries surrounding “Death Stranding,” with the game’s creator, Hideo Kojima, revealing it would introduce a brand new story.
While plot details remain scarce at this stage, writer-director Michael Sarnoski is nearly finished with the script. In a chat with Bloody Disgusting, the filmmaker teased more about what to expect, at least tonally.
“It’s not going to be as dark as Robin Hood. That was a movie that really had to capture this kind of visceral violence so that we could go to this deeply soulful place, and feel that contrast, yet also feel how those things coexist in this world. That was really important to me. Death Stranding is a game that deals with heavy stuff like the veil between life and death, isolation, connection, loss, and the distance between people both in space and time generationally. And so it has all of these pretty weighty themes, but it’s also like an adventure game and an adventure movie,” Sarnoski says.
Expect a different kind of darkness in his adaptation. “So, I think it will definitely have some darkness to it, because yeah, there are ghosts and things like that in that game. There’s heavy stuff to explore, but I think it’s going to be a different kind of darkness.
“I think I like making movies that don’t shy away from the darkness, don’t try and sugarcoat it, don’t try and make it easy, but find a way through it, and a way to integrate it into the light and hope as well.“
Sarnoski explains why he gets so confrontational with darker themes and subject matter: “So at the end you don’t feel like you’ve copped out on the dark things to get to the light, but that you’ve found a way to properly bring both of those things into yourself. That’s what we needed to do, because there’s no escaping the darkness and the death, and the sadness and all that stuff of life, but we have to find ways to still be good to ourselves and good to other people through that.“
Featuring an all-star cast including Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Guillermo del Toro, and Margaret Qualley, 2019’s Death Stranding centres on courier Sam Porter Bridges (Reedus) as he embarks on a mission to deliver hope to humanity by connecting the last survivors of a decimated America.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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