Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds (2023) Movie Script
1
[waves crashing]
[pensive music playing]
[host 1] Please join me in welcoming...
- [host 2] Mr. Hideo Kojima.
- [host 3] Hideo Kojima.
[host 3] One of the most creative talents
in the history of gaming.
[applause]
Fantastic.
[pensive music playing]
In the space of gaming, he is the master.
- Absolutely love your work.
- Thank you.
[Del Toro] You can tell
it's a Hideo Kojima game
even if that credit wasn't there.
No way.
[Keighley] Video games
are the biggest, most powerful form
of entertainment in the world
and the numbers clearly show that
more than three billion people
on the planet play video games.
[crowd cheering]
And Hideo really is probably
the most well-known game creator
in the world.
It's kind of like stepping
into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
with Willy Wonka, you know?
[Reedus] You just kind of
go along for the ride.
[pensive music playing]
[Refn] I think that
it's the obligation of any artist
to push the boundaries of their canvas.
[tense music playing]
[tense music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [laughter]
[Miller] I'm really interested
in how people think creatively,
no matter what the discipline.
Any form of artistry,
the process is the same almost always.
And that is an interplay
between the intellect and the intuition.
[uplifting music playing]
[video game designer]
He's fighting all the time.
I don't know with whom.
Maybe himself.
[pensive music playing]
[pensive music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
The story from back in the day was that
Hideo wanted to go and pitch a game
but he didn't want to tell anyone
what it was.
He really wanted someone
to sign up for the game
without hearing what the game was.
And everyone in the Western world
was like, "You're crazy."
We know you're Hideo Kojima
but we're not going to sign up your game
until we know what you're making.
[Keighley] And Sony,
as far as I know, basically said,
"We're going to bet on you,
Hideo Kojima, as a creator."
We don't even need to know
what the game is.
We're just in.
[pensive music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[chuckles]
[tense music playing]
[people clamoring]
[objects clatter]
[helicopter whirring]
[tense music playing]
He is not someone
that just sort of rinses and repeats.
He really tries to, to reinvent
how the game is played.
But overarching all that is this view
that he wants to communicate something
to the player.
He really has a message
that he wants to deliver in every game
that he hopes translates to the player.
[Keighley] Like every game he makes,
there's a reason behind making the game.
[Sam] Hello!
[echoing voice] Hey you!
[Sam] I'm Sam.
[echoing voice] Hey, my name is Sam too!
- [chimes]
- [grunts]
[Sam] Thanks for the help.
The people she left behind
have been hard at work,
setting up Chiral network terminals.
But these terminals are still isolated.
[Die-Hardman]
We need you to bring them online.
[indistinct chatter]
[ominous music playing]
[tense music playing]
[tense music playing]
[overlapping chatter]
[beeping]
[laughs]
[pensive music playing]
[laughter]
[keyboard clacking]
I don't know, like,
new franchises right now.
I think that it's both, it's really brave
and it's really hard.
[Grimes] They're mostly making, like,
weird remakes and stuff.
It's, like, really hard to get funding
for, like, new work in the modern era.
When you balance
the commerciality expectation
of hundreds of millions of dollars
in investment.
At the same time, wanting to stay true
not just to your vision,
but to your whole idea of what gaming is.
That's like playing Russian roulette
with six bullets.
[indistinct chatter]
[background chatter]
[chuckles]
[slow upbeat music playing]
[slow upbeat music playing]
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[overlapping chatter]
[trilling]
[indistinct chatter]
[Miller] In the collaborative
arts or virtually all arts,
there's usually one voice ultimately.
[indistinct chatter]
The person who is that driving force
has to do one very important thing
and that is create the strategies
with which everybody else can work.
[indistinct chatter]
There's a kind of a Darwinian
battle that goes on in your mind,
and the strongest ideas survive.
They keep coming back to you
they won't let you go
until you become
a little bit obsessed with them.
[Miller] And you go from a very divergent,
broad view of the work,
and you bounce down
into a very, very highly focused,
granular level of the work.
And it's bouncing between the two.
[Miller] The extent
that they can articulate that
and convey it to the others
and inspire others working with them.
Then the work
will be a comprehensive whole.
Being across every single aspect
is incredible to me,
like, that's, that takes something
that I don't have.
Very, very special.
I don't know when he sleeps.
I don't know if and when
Hideo ever sleeps.
[laughs]
[light music playing]
[chuckles]
[Del Toro] People may be
in charge of processing the call or engine
and character construction,
rigging, whatever.
But the only person
in charge of the orchestra
conducting for the emotion
and the result is the auteur.
[thrilling music playing]
[uplifting music playing]
[uplifting music playing]
[background chatter]
So the part that we're doing
today is Sam reaches west.
I first heard of Hideo
through Guillermo del Toro.
So Guillermo called me and said,
"Hey, there's this guy.
He's going to call you. Just say, 'Yes'."
And I was like,
"What are you talking about?"
And he's like,
"Just whatever he says, say 'Yes'."
[indistinct chatter]
[Baker] I knew that
we were going to be stepping
into a big world with big characters.
Giving us a package to say to them, like,
"Hey, this package is from Fragile."
And so many times, I had to stop and go,
"Hold on a second, hold on a second."
"So, what you're saying is..."
and it would be whether
it's about the story, about the character,
about the breadth
and immensity of the design, um...
how it was going to relate to the player
and how those players
were going to relate to each other.
The story and the experiences just
kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
[Reedus] There's so many moments that
I've had with him where I'm like, "What?
Like, what are you talking about?"
And then at some point, she's
kind of warped in front of you, okay?
Like, being, like...
[Baker] Makes sense now, man.
[Reedus] Make so much sense.
It was confusing for a lot of us
because the story is so intricate
and it's so deep.
It was very confusing
but what was done in such a great way is,
I was felt like I was sort of drip-fed,
whatever my brain could handle
at that moment in time.
[Jenkins] Captain,
I need you to hand him over.
[actor] Shoot him, John.
Let him go.
Please.
Shoot him!
I gave you an order. Shoot him.
- Guys on Monday...
- I wanna, bye.
[Baker] Trust in this medium is key.
It is the bedrock foundation
for many reasons.
Number one,
everything is in an abstraction.
Everything is vague.
- [director 1] Good, Mark. Take three.
- [Mark] All right.
[Baker] There's just four white walls
with a bunch of cameras.
Right, we're all set.
Ready? Action.
Oh, Sam Bridges.
[Baker] So trust is at the root of it all.
So...
Fragile...
[Higgs] Like the world
and everything in it.
Me? I'm...
I'm no exception.
[Baker] Let's not forget little old you.
[Reedus groaning]
I know it ain't easy wearing a mask
all the time.
[Higgs] But now the mask
can come off, right?
[panting]
[Reedus] The more he would tell me,
the more I would understand.
And you have to understand,
I started making this game
not knowing anything
about what anybody's talking about.
So as the trust got deeper and stronger,
the storyline got more revealed to me
in a way that I could understand it.
And I knew we were doing something
really special. You know?
We want the player, same flashback...
[Mikkelsen] Every time we think
we have an idea of what this is about,
it's just another layer and another layer.
Except me. I see you, and I talk to you.
And I tell you that you must...
[Reedus] Just point me, just tell me...
Yeah.
- [laughter]
- And I'm like...
When you throw that away
and lose your fear,
all of a sudden, there's a certain freedom
in working like this.
[dramatic music playing]
You can just look at him and look at what
he's creating over there in the corner.
You say, "You know what?
I think I'm in good hands."
Let's just do it.
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Stay back.
[dramatic music playing]
[interpreter translates in French]
[Seydoux] It's, uh, complex and very deep.
It's almost a political statement.
Okay.
Okay, rolling.
[director 2] You ready, Fragile?
[Seydoux] Ready.
Sam.
- I see him.
- Mm.
[assistant 2] And just make that "Sam"
a little quicker.
It's like, "There he is."
[Seydoux] Okay.
You love her, right?
You love her.
There it is.
- [blasts]
- [panting]
We're pulling out.
We're pulling out.
Secure the area.
[director 3] Okay, cut there.
Okay, back down
at that original volume for open fire.
- Everybody ready?
- Got you. Yes.
Okay, here we go.
Rolling when you are ready, sir.
[Mikkelsen] Open fire.
Open fire.
Open fire.
[Mikkelsen] It feels quite open.
And he's very pleased, obviously,
because whatever we do,
that's not the end result.
He just, he needs us to do the base.
[Mikkelsen] Disengage!
Time to go, boys.
[Mikkelsen] And the more we can give him
real emotions or whatever in that base,
the happier he gets.
Don't let me down, boys.
[Mikkelsen] He's famous for being
a storyteller in his games.
It's mayhem with the assassin's war.
But there's a certain beauty,
a certain poetry to the entire image.
And I think that's also one of the keys
to why his games are so incredibly popular
because they have both sides of the coin.
[breathing heavily]
[dramatic music playing]
- [gunshots]
- [groaning]
It was interesting
because it's a world that I didn't know,
the world of video games.
Okay, same kind of thing here, right?
He brings you something you've always...
you've been waiting for.
How did you get this?
I don't know what to say, except thanks.
[Seydoux] It's also a way video games...
it's a way of reaching people.
Except thanks.
- I was thinking playing before back.
- [assistant] Yeah.
I think it should be...
it should be in a smile, no?
[director 3]
Yeah, it should have a smile on it.
And, "How did you get this?" is like,
you've been trying for weeks
and weeks to get this
and here he strolls up
and gives it to you, you know.
[Seydoux] Okay.
How did you get this?
I don't know what to say, except thanks.
Good, good. Good, good, good.
[Seydoux] Thank you.
[director 3] I think we got it, thumbs up.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- [director 3] Good.
- [applauding]
[director 3] That's a wrap.
You can come on out.
[suspenseful music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Refn] Being original is hard.
So most rely on an algorithm,
which is the enemy of creativity.
And I see Hideo
as the enemy of the algorithm.
What I think is unique,
is his sense of pacing,
his sense of drama.
I admire it.
It can go in detours
that the Western discipline
of storytelling would not go to,
and therefore, it makes it very impactful.
[sloshing]
[baby cooing]
[sloshing]
I think Hideo Kojima
is a very strange man.
I think he likes,
he likes to tell stories
in a way that is bizarre.
That is not usual.
[Grimes] It's in the uncanny valley
between, like, comedy
and, like, extreme earnestness.
Like, I just really can't tell
if it's a joke or not.
I'm just like,
is he freaking serious right now?
Like, is this real?
And it's, like, profoundly funny,
but also, like, deeply sad.
[background chatter]
[Hulst] Before Hideo Kojima
made Metal Gear,
everything was about engaging,
about combat.
He turned it around
and it was now about avoiding combat.
It was about hide and seek,
and stealth gameplay became a thing.
[ominous music playing]
[planes rumbling]
It was a thoughtful
approach to playing games
and that really burst, you know,
the stealth genre
which today is still used
in so many games.
[mysterious music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[waves crashing]
[birds chirping]
[eerie music playing]
[eerie music playing]
[zooming]
[epic music playing]
[Woodkid] I think one
of the big qualities of his work
is that it references other forms
of art constantly.
It's not video games
that talk about video games.
[faint laughter]
[laughs]
[tense music playing]
[light music playing]
[chuckles]
[birds chirping]
BOOKSTORE, HOUSEWIFE'S FRIEND
[background chatter]
[blasting]
[growling]
[calm music playing]
[calm music playing]
[applause]
[applause]
[Keighley] Welcome to
Countdown to Death Stranding.
We are here in New York City.
The World Strand Tour
has touched down here
for an incredible experience
and I'm honored to be joined
by Hideo Kojima
on the day that Death Stranding
is launching around the world.
[Keighley] I remember there
was a lot of tension when, you know,
during the development of the game,
because everyone kept saying, well,
"Where are the guns? Where's the fights?"
And Hideo is like, "No.
It's about something different.
It's about just walking
and experiencing this world."
And that's such a challenging idea.
[audience cheering]
[Woodkid] You can't give the audience
what they want all the time.
You also have to make them understand
that sometimes they want something
they don't know.
[audience cheering]
[Miller] The risk is
that people just don't accept it.
It's too radical in some way.
But of course,
the upside is that you change,
the medium that you're working in
and that's why
his work is so important.
[crowd cheering]
Outside of AAA games,
I think people often try and communicate
on a deeper level in gaming
but that was the first time
I'd ever seen a game of that scale
trying to go in a lot deeper
than what games would usually attempt.
[Del Toro] When you play Death Stranding,
the dynamics are exactly the opposite
of every other video game.
You are taught virtues
that seem impossible in gaming.
Patience, empathy, solidarity.
It's the only game I've played
where I thought I was a better person
at the end of the game ever.
[epic music playing]
[Grimes] I just love when, like,
really complex things are really popular,
because it makes me feel like,
mainstream audiences are, like, open
to, like, weird experimental art.
[birds squawking]
And that's always, like,
I don't know, a thing that can give you
faith in humanity, I suppose.
[slow upbeat music]
[Del Toro] The function of art,
and philosophy, and humanity is
if you want to call them something,
is to enhance the human spirit.
That's the function.
And video gaming is an art.
At its best is an art.
That's where art has its meaning.
It's not meant to please you, necessarily.
It's meant to inspire you.
It's meant to provoke you.
[Refn] It's meant to entertain you.
Death Stranding
has all those components in it.
It's all there, but it has so much more.
[Baker] Tentacles just went out
trying to find ways
to connect with people.
And there was something
that games could do
that no show, no movie could do.
Not as effectively.
It's one of the things
that I love about this art form,
is that you and I could go in
and look at a painting together
and we can have a conversation.
But there's a difference between
you and I picking up a paintbrush together
and painting something together.
And that, to me, is what games
allow us to do.
And that's especially what Death Stranding
at that time allowed us to do.
When art is strong enough, it's prophetic.
This was a COVID game before COVID.
Uh, this was...
a game that I think responded
to that shift
that the pandemic brought
before it occurred.
[laughs]
[leaves rustling]
Uh...
[Miller] There's no
cultural evolution, unless it is renewed.
That's the history of all creative.
It constantly has to be refreshed.
And that's where the creative courage
comes in.
[uplifting music playing]
[Refn] If we lose that singular vision,
we lose part of our humanity.
And if you are 100 percent true
to yourself as an artist,
then your heart and soul
will always beat for the future.
[uplifting music playing]
[Grimes] All games
are sort of, like, distilling
the most interesting things around you
into a narrative and that's basically
what storytelling is or movies are
or books are.
So it's interesting to see games
kind of, like,
enter the pantheon of storytelling
in this way.
[Miller] Games are stories.
The purpose of stories
is to make meaning out of life.
It's fundamental to us.
It's the only way we can explain the world
and our existence.
[uplifting music playing]
[enigmatic music playing,
CHVRCHES "Death Stranding"]
[waves crashing]
[pensive music playing]
[host 1] Please join me in welcoming...
- [host 2] Mr. Hideo Kojima.
- [host 3] Hideo Kojima.
[host 3] One of the most creative talents
in the history of gaming.
[applause]
Fantastic.
[pensive music playing]
In the space of gaming, he is the master.
- Absolutely love your work.
- Thank you.
[Del Toro] You can tell
it's a Hideo Kojima game
even if that credit wasn't there.
No way.
[Keighley] Video games
are the biggest, most powerful form
of entertainment in the world
and the numbers clearly show that
more than three billion people
on the planet play video games.
[crowd cheering]
And Hideo really is probably
the most well-known game creator
in the world.
It's kind of like stepping
into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
with Willy Wonka, you know?
[Reedus] You just kind of
go along for the ride.
[pensive music playing]
[Refn] I think that
it's the obligation of any artist
to push the boundaries of their canvas.
[tense music playing]
[tense music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [laughter]
[Miller] I'm really interested
in how people think creatively,
no matter what the discipline.
Any form of artistry,
the process is the same almost always.
And that is an interplay
between the intellect and the intuition.
[uplifting music playing]
[video game designer]
He's fighting all the time.
I don't know with whom.
Maybe himself.
[pensive music playing]
[pensive music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
The story from back in the day was that
Hideo wanted to go and pitch a game
but he didn't want to tell anyone
what it was.
He really wanted someone
to sign up for the game
without hearing what the game was.
And everyone in the Western world
was like, "You're crazy."
We know you're Hideo Kojima
but we're not going to sign up your game
until we know what you're making.
[Keighley] And Sony,
as far as I know, basically said,
"We're going to bet on you,
Hideo Kojima, as a creator."
We don't even need to know
what the game is.
We're just in.
[pensive music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[chuckles]
[tense music playing]
[people clamoring]
[objects clatter]
[helicopter whirring]
[tense music playing]
He is not someone
that just sort of rinses and repeats.
He really tries to, to reinvent
how the game is played.
But overarching all that is this view
that he wants to communicate something
to the player.
He really has a message
that he wants to deliver in every game
that he hopes translates to the player.
[Keighley] Like every game he makes,
there's a reason behind making the game.
[Sam] Hello!
[echoing voice] Hey you!
[Sam] I'm Sam.
[echoing voice] Hey, my name is Sam too!
- [chimes]
- [grunts]
[Sam] Thanks for the help.
The people she left behind
have been hard at work,
setting up Chiral network terminals.
But these terminals are still isolated.
[Die-Hardman]
We need you to bring them online.
[indistinct chatter]
[ominous music playing]
[tense music playing]
[tense music playing]
[overlapping chatter]
[beeping]
[laughs]
[pensive music playing]
[laughter]
[keyboard clacking]
I don't know, like,
new franchises right now.
I think that it's both, it's really brave
and it's really hard.
[Grimes] They're mostly making, like,
weird remakes and stuff.
It's, like, really hard to get funding
for, like, new work in the modern era.
When you balance
the commerciality expectation
of hundreds of millions of dollars
in investment.
At the same time, wanting to stay true
not just to your vision,
but to your whole idea of what gaming is.
That's like playing Russian roulette
with six bullets.
[indistinct chatter]
[background chatter]
[chuckles]
[slow upbeat music playing]
[slow upbeat music playing]
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[overlapping chatter]
[trilling]
[indistinct chatter]
[Miller] In the collaborative
arts or virtually all arts,
there's usually one voice ultimately.
[indistinct chatter]
The person who is that driving force
has to do one very important thing
and that is create the strategies
with which everybody else can work.
[indistinct chatter]
There's a kind of a Darwinian
battle that goes on in your mind,
and the strongest ideas survive.
They keep coming back to you
they won't let you go
until you become
a little bit obsessed with them.
[Miller] And you go from a very divergent,
broad view of the work,
and you bounce down
into a very, very highly focused,
granular level of the work.
And it's bouncing between the two.
[Miller] The extent
that they can articulate that
and convey it to the others
and inspire others working with them.
Then the work
will be a comprehensive whole.
Being across every single aspect
is incredible to me,
like, that's, that takes something
that I don't have.
Very, very special.
I don't know when he sleeps.
I don't know if and when
Hideo ever sleeps.
[laughs]
[light music playing]
[chuckles]
[Del Toro] People may be
in charge of processing the call or engine
and character construction,
rigging, whatever.
But the only person
in charge of the orchestra
conducting for the emotion
and the result is the auteur.
[thrilling music playing]
[uplifting music playing]
[uplifting music playing]
[background chatter]
So the part that we're doing
today is Sam reaches west.
I first heard of Hideo
through Guillermo del Toro.
So Guillermo called me and said,
"Hey, there's this guy.
He's going to call you. Just say, 'Yes'."
And I was like,
"What are you talking about?"
And he's like,
"Just whatever he says, say 'Yes'."
[indistinct chatter]
[Baker] I knew that
we were going to be stepping
into a big world with big characters.
Giving us a package to say to them, like,
"Hey, this package is from Fragile."
And so many times, I had to stop and go,
"Hold on a second, hold on a second."
"So, what you're saying is..."
and it would be whether
it's about the story, about the character,
about the breadth
and immensity of the design, um...
how it was going to relate to the player
and how those players
were going to relate to each other.
The story and the experiences just
kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
[Reedus] There's so many moments that
I've had with him where I'm like, "What?
Like, what are you talking about?"
And then at some point, she's
kind of warped in front of you, okay?
Like, being, like...
[Baker] Makes sense now, man.
[Reedus] Make so much sense.
It was confusing for a lot of us
because the story is so intricate
and it's so deep.
It was very confusing
but what was done in such a great way is,
I was felt like I was sort of drip-fed,
whatever my brain could handle
at that moment in time.
[Jenkins] Captain,
I need you to hand him over.
[actor] Shoot him, John.
Let him go.
Please.
Shoot him!
I gave you an order. Shoot him.
- Guys on Monday...
- I wanna, bye.
[Baker] Trust in this medium is key.
It is the bedrock foundation
for many reasons.
Number one,
everything is in an abstraction.
Everything is vague.
- [director 1] Good, Mark. Take three.
- [Mark] All right.
[Baker] There's just four white walls
with a bunch of cameras.
Right, we're all set.
Ready? Action.
Oh, Sam Bridges.
[Baker] So trust is at the root of it all.
So...
Fragile...
[Higgs] Like the world
and everything in it.
Me? I'm...
I'm no exception.
[Baker] Let's not forget little old you.
[Reedus groaning]
I know it ain't easy wearing a mask
all the time.
[Higgs] But now the mask
can come off, right?
[panting]
[Reedus] The more he would tell me,
the more I would understand.
And you have to understand,
I started making this game
not knowing anything
about what anybody's talking about.
So as the trust got deeper and stronger,
the storyline got more revealed to me
in a way that I could understand it.
And I knew we were doing something
really special. You know?
We want the player, same flashback...
[Mikkelsen] Every time we think
we have an idea of what this is about,
it's just another layer and another layer.
Except me. I see you, and I talk to you.
And I tell you that you must...
[Reedus] Just point me, just tell me...
Yeah.
- [laughter]
- And I'm like...
When you throw that away
and lose your fear,
all of a sudden, there's a certain freedom
in working like this.
[dramatic music playing]
You can just look at him and look at what
he's creating over there in the corner.
You say, "You know what?
I think I'm in good hands."
Let's just do it.
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Stay back.
[dramatic music playing]
[interpreter translates in French]
[Seydoux] It's, uh, complex and very deep.
It's almost a political statement.
Okay.
Okay, rolling.
[director 2] You ready, Fragile?
[Seydoux] Ready.
Sam.
- I see him.
- Mm.
[assistant 2] And just make that "Sam"
a little quicker.
It's like, "There he is."
[Seydoux] Okay.
You love her, right?
You love her.
There it is.
- [blasts]
- [panting]
We're pulling out.
We're pulling out.
Secure the area.
[director 3] Okay, cut there.
Okay, back down
at that original volume for open fire.
- Everybody ready?
- Got you. Yes.
Okay, here we go.
Rolling when you are ready, sir.
[Mikkelsen] Open fire.
Open fire.
Open fire.
[Mikkelsen] It feels quite open.
And he's very pleased, obviously,
because whatever we do,
that's not the end result.
He just, he needs us to do the base.
[Mikkelsen] Disengage!
Time to go, boys.
[Mikkelsen] And the more we can give him
real emotions or whatever in that base,
the happier he gets.
Don't let me down, boys.
[Mikkelsen] He's famous for being
a storyteller in his games.
It's mayhem with the assassin's war.
But there's a certain beauty,
a certain poetry to the entire image.
And I think that's also one of the keys
to why his games are so incredibly popular
because they have both sides of the coin.
[breathing heavily]
[dramatic music playing]
- [gunshots]
- [groaning]
It was interesting
because it's a world that I didn't know,
the world of video games.
Okay, same kind of thing here, right?
He brings you something you've always...
you've been waiting for.
How did you get this?
I don't know what to say, except thanks.
[Seydoux] It's also a way video games...
it's a way of reaching people.
Except thanks.
- I was thinking playing before back.
- [assistant] Yeah.
I think it should be...
it should be in a smile, no?
[director 3]
Yeah, it should have a smile on it.
And, "How did you get this?" is like,
you've been trying for weeks
and weeks to get this
and here he strolls up
and gives it to you, you know.
[Seydoux] Okay.
How did you get this?
I don't know what to say, except thanks.
Good, good. Good, good, good.
[Seydoux] Thank you.
[director 3] I think we got it, thumbs up.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- [director 3] Good.
- [applauding]
[director 3] That's a wrap.
You can come on out.
[suspenseful music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Refn] Being original is hard.
So most rely on an algorithm,
which is the enemy of creativity.
And I see Hideo
as the enemy of the algorithm.
What I think is unique,
is his sense of pacing,
his sense of drama.
I admire it.
It can go in detours
that the Western discipline
of storytelling would not go to,
and therefore, it makes it very impactful.
[sloshing]
[baby cooing]
[sloshing]
I think Hideo Kojima
is a very strange man.
I think he likes,
he likes to tell stories
in a way that is bizarre.
That is not usual.
[Grimes] It's in the uncanny valley
between, like, comedy
and, like, extreme earnestness.
Like, I just really can't tell
if it's a joke or not.
I'm just like,
is he freaking serious right now?
Like, is this real?
And it's, like, profoundly funny,
but also, like, deeply sad.
[background chatter]
[Hulst] Before Hideo Kojima
made Metal Gear,
everything was about engaging,
about combat.
He turned it around
and it was now about avoiding combat.
It was about hide and seek,
and stealth gameplay became a thing.
[ominous music playing]
[planes rumbling]
It was a thoughtful
approach to playing games
and that really burst, you know,
the stealth genre
which today is still used
in so many games.
[mysterious music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[waves crashing]
[birds chirping]
[eerie music playing]
[eerie music playing]
[zooming]
[epic music playing]
[Woodkid] I think one
of the big qualities of his work
is that it references other forms
of art constantly.
It's not video games
that talk about video games.
[faint laughter]
[laughs]
[tense music playing]
[light music playing]
[chuckles]
[birds chirping]
BOOKSTORE, HOUSEWIFE'S FRIEND
[background chatter]
[blasting]
[growling]
[calm music playing]
[calm music playing]
[applause]
[applause]
[Keighley] Welcome to
Countdown to Death Stranding.
We are here in New York City.
The World Strand Tour
has touched down here
for an incredible experience
and I'm honored to be joined
by Hideo Kojima
on the day that Death Stranding
is launching around the world.
[Keighley] I remember there
was a lot of tension when, you know,
during the development of the game,
because everyone kept saying, well,
"Where are the guns? Where's the fights?"
And Hideo is like, "No.
It's about something different.
It's about just walking
and experiencing this world."
And that's such a challenging idea.
[audience cheering]
[Woodkid] You can't give the audience
what they want all the time.
You also have to make them understand
that sometimes they want something
they don't know.
[audience cheering]
[Miller] The risk is
that people just don't accept it.
It's too radical in some way.
But of course,
the upside is that you change,
the medium that you're working in
and that's why
his work is so important.
[crowd cheering]
Outside of AAA games,
I think people often try and communicate
on a deeper level in gaming
but that was the first time
I'd ever seen a game of that scale
trying to go in a lot deeper
than what games would usually attempt.
[Del Toro] When you play Death Stranding,
the dynamics are exactly the opposite
of every other video game.
You are taught virtues
that seem impossible in gaming.
Patience, empathy, solidarity.
It's the only game I've played
where I thought I was a better person
at the end of the game ever.
[epic music playing]
[Grimes] I just love when, like,
really complex things are really popular,
because it makes me feel like,
mainstream audiences are, like, open
to, like, weird experimental art.
[birds squawking]
And that's always, like,
I don't know, a thing that can give you
faith in humanity, I suppose.
[slow upbeat music]
[Del Toro] The function of art,
and philosophy, and humanity is
if you want to call them something,
is to enhance the human spirit.
That's the function.
And video gaming is an art.
At its best is an art.
That's where art has its meaning.
It's not meant to please you, necessarily.
It's meant to inspire you.
It's meant to provoke you.
[Refn] It's meant to entertain you.
Death Stranding
has all those components in it.
It's all there, but it has so much more.
[Baker] Tentacles just went out
trying to find ways
to connect with people.
And there was something
that games could do
that no show, no movie could do.
Not as effectively.
It's one of the things
that I love about this art form,
is that you and I could go in
and look at a painting together
and we can have a conversation.
But there's a difference between
you and I picking up a paintbrush together
and painting something together.
And that, to me, is what games
allow us to do.
And that's especially what Death Stranding
at that time allowed us to do.
When art is strong enough, it's prophetic.
This was a COVID game before COVID.
Uh, this was...
a game that I think responded
to that shift
that the pandemic brought
before it occurred.
[laughs]
[leaves rustling]
Uh...
[Miller] There's no
cultural evolution, unless it is renewed.
That's the history of all creative.
It constantly has to be refreshed.
And that's where the creative courage
comes in.
[uplifting music playing]
[Refn] If we lose that singular vision,
we lose part of our humanity.
And if you are 100 percent true
to yourself as an artist,
then your heart and soul
will always beat for the future.
[uplifting music playing]
[Grimes] All games
are sort of, like, distilling
the most interesting things around you
into a narrative and that's basically
what storytelling is or movies are
or books are.
So it's interesting to see games
kind of, like,
enter the pantheon of storytelling
in this way.
[Miller] Games are stories.
The purpose of stories
is to make meaning out of life.
It's fundamental to us.
It's the only way we can explain the world
and our existence.
[uplifting music playing]
[enigmatic music playing,
CHVRCHES "Death Stranding"]