Kojima has since gone on to ditch already cast lesser-known actors to replace them with big stars. Death Stranding not only did that but also ditched all original character designs, favoring the copy-pasting of real actors’ faces instead. While it’s a practical approach that’s likely to draw more attention, it might also cause the entire industry to ditch not just voice actors but also original character design.
And wait. It gets weirder. Not even the actors Kojima wants are really the actors he wants. Look at this character from Death Stranding, aptly called Samantha Strand.
Kojima Productions, Sony
Very pretty, sure, but she doesn’t exist. We don’t mean that in the good sense that that’s an original character design, but in the sense that Lindsay Wagner, the actress modeled for that character, currently looks like.
Gage Skidmore
Kojima created the character through the likely hard and bizarre work of scanning old footage of Lindsay Wagner from the ’80s, presumably while she was still hot enough for him. Kojima doesn’t simply want famous actors; he wants a bizarrely pristine version of them that only exists in his head. The closest Kojima comes to some redemption here is the fact that Wagner’s real looks make an appearance, but only as a cameo that gets killed off by cancer after one scene. Classy.
Kojima Productions, Sony