Hideo Kojima Cast Margaret Qualley in DEATH STRANDING After Watching Her Dance in a Wild Perfume Ad — GeekTyrant
In the ad, Qualley twists and contorts her face and body in sync with the bass-heavy "Mutant Brain" track by Sam Spiegel (Jonze's brother). It's weird, it's mesmerizing, and it's pretty unhinged even by perfume ad standards.
Kojima was immediately hooked. He shared on X: "Saw this and offered her the role." One fan hilariously replied, "That's probably the least surprising thing I've seen you say."
Qualley's performance in that commercial was a full display of physical control, expression, and oddball energy. It turned out to be the perfect unofficial audition for the world of Death Stranding , where characters often straddle the line between reality and surrealism.
As for her future in the Death Stranding universe, things are still up in the air. Qualley also played Mama's identical twin, Lockne, in the game, which leaves the door wide open for her to show up in Death Stranding 2 or even the upcoming Death Stranding movie.
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Geek Tyrant
22 minutes ago
- Geek Tyrant
Hideo Kojima Shares Thoughts on 28 YEARS LATER and Its Bigger Meaning — GeekTyrant
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later hit theaters this weekend, and like the infected tearing through mainland Britain, it's sparked a fierce wave of divided reactions. Some are praising it as a unique, punk-rock, and thought-provoking return to the rage virus saga, while others are scratching their heads at its direction, especially that ending, which I loved, by the way. One fan who definitely leaned into admiration is Hideo Kojima. The legendary Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator recently took to social media to share his thoughts on the film, and unsurprisingly, he went deeper than most. Kojima didn't just see it as a horror movie, he saw a layered, meta commentary on the state of the world and a meditation on generational trauma. Here's what Kojima had to say: 'I watched '28 Years Later.' It was a 'Danny Boyle x Alex Garland movie' with themes and visuals, drama, music, etc. that sets it apart from other so-called zombie movies. From '28 Days' to '28 Years.' 'It's been 23 years since the first movie was released. The world and the state of affairs have changed drastically. Everyone today, who experienced the pandemic, understands that it is not realistic to limit a pandemic to the UK alone. Alex understands that, too. 'Therefore, this is not a film about a pandemic; it is a meta-film that warns of an isolated Britain and a divided world. It is also a story of Jimmy growing up under his strict father. 'I wonder if the next film will be a contrasting story of a man with an upbringing unlike Jimmy's (father and country-less). Cillian Murphy also served as executive producer.' Kojima's take highlights how the film isn't just another rage-fueled bloodbath. It's a reflection of how the world has changed. The fear of infection is still there, but the focus has shifted. In the film, 'It's been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. 'One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.' Shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max with the aide of numerous specialized attachments, the movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O'Connell, Erin Kellyman, and Ralph Fiennes.' This is the first of two movies in the 28 Years Later trilogy, both have already been filmed. Boyle directed the first installment, while Nia DaCosta ( Candyman, The Marvels ) directed the second, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple . Whether you loved the film or not, it's always fascinating to get Kojima's read on things.
Digital Trends
an hour ago
- Digital Trends
What I learned about reviewing games between Death Stranding 1 and 2
Death Stranding was the first full game I ever reviewed for Digital Trends. It was 2019 and I'd just started contributing to the site as a freelancer focused exclusively on Destiny 2 guides and DLC reviews. I was only a few months in when my editor asked if I'd be interested in critiquing Hideo Kojima's latest game come November. I enthusiastically accepted through the safety of a text chat, but I was a little terrified in real life. Recommended Videos Despite writing about games for well over a decade in some form, reviewing them for blogs when I was in high school even, it still felt like a daunting responsibility. I'd be one of the first people to write about what I knew would be an important entry into video game canon. My voice would represent Digital Trends. It was a routine assignment, but the stakes couldn't feel higher. It felt like all eyes were on me. I found myself reflecting on that moment earlier this month when my review code for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hit my inbox. That email came with no anxiety attack attached, as I've reviewed countless games for Digital Trends since 2019. These days, I get an assignment like this, start my download, and get to work without thinking about it. A once nerve-wracking process has become second nature to me. But this time, I stopped before punching my code into my PS5. How have I changed as a critic since Death Stranding's release? To properly reflect on that, I'd have to revisit my 2019 review – something I just couldn't work up the courage to do. To be transparent, I've never really liked my Death Stranding assessment. I was proud of it in 2019 because it was my major review for a site as high profile as Digital Trends, but it was a critique born from a self conscious moment. I worried too much about whether my opinion would be right or wrong, wondering if a lukewarm take would out me as a fool who had no business assessing games for a large publication. I agonized over my opinion and would focus instead on how divisive I felt it would be. It felt like an immediate cop out, as if to remove my voice from the equation. It was Schrödinger's game: It could either be good or bad until you put the disc in. What I didn't do so much at the time was engage with what Kojima was actually trying to communicate to players. I made references to the fact that it was about connecting a divided America and noted that the social features stressed how much easier life is when we're on the same page, but so much time was spent treating the review like a book report. The acting is good. The visuals look great. The controls are interesting. There wasn't much substance to any of it; it was like I was assessing a laptop. What was the point of writing about it, let alone playing it at all, if I wasn't absorbing anything from it? To strengthen my approach to reviews, I'd have to change the way I thought about games. I wondered why I was so hesitant to interact with them the same way I do any other artistic medium. I could talk your ear off about the camera work in Citizen Kane and what it establishes about Charles Foster Kane at every juncture of his life, but I wasn't thinking about the minutiae of game design the same way. Why not? Surely these decisions aren't random. Something as simple as The Last of Us' crafting system communicates something about the world. It tells us that resources are scarce in an apocalyptic world that's been cleaned out by scavengers. As elementary as something like that is, that marriage of play and message is what makes games so special. I've spent the last six years following that thread and seeing where it leads me. I stopped approaching games as products to be evaluated on a checklist and began focusing on how effectively they communicated something to me. Fun became secondary to function. It's how I found myself loving Pikmin 4, a game that practices what it preaches about the joys of organization by turning Pikmin's classically chaotic strategy gameplay into something tidy and streamlined. It's why I lambasted The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered's roguelike mode, an addition that I felt spat in the face of the base game's mediation on cyclical violence. It's why Despelote is one of my favorite games of 2025, towering above glitzy games 1000 times its size. I don't just want games to distract me; I want them to speak to me. My criticism has improved thanks to that, sure, but what's more important is that my relationship to games has deepened too. They are no longer toys that I forget about the moment I put them down. I find myself more engaged with everything I play, always analyzing and interpreting rather than hyper focusing on immediate thrills. That has opened my mind up to games that I would have written off earlier in my life. I would have dropped something like The Banished Vault back in the day after failing to find the 'fun' in its oppressive survival systems, but now I'm more easily able to appreciate how its antagonistic nature creates a tone that mimics the merciless nature of its world (read Dia Lacina's phenomenal review). I've learned to embrace friction as a communication tool, something I wish I was more open to when initially reviewing Death Stranding in 2019. After all, the slapstick comedy routine that comes from trying to navigate uneven terrain makes the moments where the community bands together to build a road that much more meaningful. While a job like this can often leave writers entirely burnt out on games, I find myself more in love with the medium with each passing year. It has been my goal in the past few years to inspire that feeling in anyone who reads a Digital Trends game review. Gaming is an evolving artform and I believe that the way we talk about it needs to change to meet that transformation. It now feels hollow to praise a game simply because it has hyper realistic graphics and 100's of hours of content. What emotions do those games inspire in us? What do they tell us about our world? How do they challenge us in ways that go beyond physical skill? Those are the conversations I want to have more often whenever a game like Death Stranding 2 releases. I'm not writing all of this to try and dictate what a video game review should look like or how we talk about games. If you take anything from this, let is be that art demands different perspectives. It asks us to be open-minded, to challenge ourselves, to have confidence in our instincts. It is not a pop quiz to be aced. There is no objectively correct take. I wish I had a better handle on that in 2019, or at least trusted myself a little more back then to stand firm in my interpretation. Maybe Death Stranding 2 isn't really that much of an improvement over its predecessor; maybe I'm the one who really changed.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
‘Snowglobe 2' Publishes English Translation And Has Some K-Drama News
The English translation of the second 'Snowglobe' book was published in May 2025. Snowglobe 2, the second installment of the dystopian fantasy Snowglobe series, now has an English translation. However, that's not the only good news for international fans of the bestselling duology. The story will soon become a Korean TV drama. 'I'm officially saying for the first time that CJ ENM and Studio Dragon are co-producing the Snowglobe adaptation,' said author Soyoung Park. ' Studio Dragon is known for globally popular K-dramas like Goblin, Crash Landing on You and Sweet Home. I believe it won't be long before we can share even more exciting news. It still feels surreal to think that this story might reach people in an entirely new way. I can't wait to watch Chobahm and the other characters on screen.' The first book was a New York Times bestseller and described by Entertainment Weekly as 'The Hunger Games meets Squid Game.' It's a dystopian tale of a frozen world where most people, live and work in the extreme cold—except for the residents of Snowglobe, a climate-controlled domed city populated by celebrities. These celebs have sacrificed their privacy for a better life, spending most of their waking hours on camera. Snowglobe seems perfect from the outside and worker Chobahm dreams of a career producing the entertainment that's made there. Chobahm's favorite show is Goh Around, starring Goh Haeri, Snowglobe's biggest star. Then, with very little warning Goh Haeri disappears and Chobahm is chosen to take her place. Her surprising resemblance to Goh Haeri means no one suspects she's a replacement and, as a result, she gains access to the inner working of Snowglobe. When Chobahm discovers some of the dome's darkest secrets, she decides to share them with the world. She discovers even more about Snowglobe's darker side in the second volume. Soyoung Park is the author of the 'Snowglobe'duology. Casting the k-drama version of this story should be interesting and the most desirable roles to play will be Chobham and the 'young master' Bonwhe. Fans of the book have offered Park more than a few suggestions as to the actors they see in those roles. 'I love hearing readers' casting ideas for Chobahm and Bonwhe, but I try not to share my own since casting is about to happen,' she said. "It feels a bit like waiting for a Christmas gift from Santa—I don't know who will bring the characters to life, but I have a feeling they'll be just right. It's so thrilling to think someone out there is preparing to step into their shoes.' The fictional actors who work in Snowglobe only have the occasional moment that's off screen. To Chobahm privacy seems like a small thing to give up for a warm comfortable life, but it's harder than it seems. Some people can shrug off the intense scrutiny, while others suffer and perhaps have to opt out. Park is confident she would survive such close and constant inspection. 'I believe privacy has become a new currency,' said Park. "So, if I woke up as a celebrity tomorrow, I'd accept that people would start putting their noses into my life—but I wouldn't live the way they expect me to. In a way, publishing a novel is just as transparent. Readers can read between the lines and judge what kind of person I am. If I were too worried about that, I wouldn't be able to finish a single story. So, if I became a celebrity, I'd still do my best to be myself—because that's the only way I can keep living as the main character of my own story, not as a famous side character in someone else's.' Although Snowglobe is a dystopian fantasy the novels explore some real-life subjects: corruption, money and power, abandoned children, an unequal society. There might be some lessons that the real world could learn from Snowglobe. 'One of the biggest lessons in Snowglobe is the illusion of control,' said Park. 'In Snowglobe people inside the dome don't have control over the footage. Directors decide what to show and how to show their lives. In our world, we're in charge of what we post. But let me ask you: Do we really have control?' According to Park, it's easy to lose control of our own narrative when we offer up our lives to social media. 'Social media has taken over,' said Park. 'Social media makes us feel that if we don't get enough likes from followers, we're doing something wrong—we start thinking that our lives are not enough to be liked." Snowglobe's protagonist Chobahm wants to feel special and her quest to feel special is what leads her to Snowglobe. Park wanted her readers to follow Chobahm's journey to see where she arrives. 'Chobahm shows us how to feel assured and good about ourselves without external validation," said Park. "Her journey reminds us that we're already more than special because each one of us has our own story and that's what makes each of us truly irreplaceable.' Chobahm is a resilient character who overcomes physical hardships and also the disappointment of learning that Snowglobe is not what she expects. When faced with obstacles, however, she doesn't slink away. She takes on the powerful Yibonn family and dismantles the status quo. 'Heroes change the world to save others,' said Park. 'But ordinary people change the world to save themselves. This is one of my favorite lines in Snowglobe 2, because it captures Chobahm perfectly. She's not trying to be a savior—what she's doing is fighting to save herself from a system that was never built for her. She is resilient because she keeps going—despite having no certainty, no safety net, and no guarantee of success. And her bravery doesn't come from fearlessness—it comes from refusal. She refuses to be rewritten or erased. And sometimes, that kind of survival instinct is powerful enough to dismantle an entire world.' In the second book Chobahm discovers the extent of an underworld that serves as a dark shadow to the brilliantly lit Snowglobe. 'I truly enjoyed exploring the place in Book 2,' said Park. 'Without giving away any spoilers, I should say that what happens in the underworld was deeply emotional to write. I hope readers will feel that same sense of discovery and depth when they get there.' Snowglobe 2 was translated by Jongmin Lee Comfort. Her translation of the book On The Origin of The Species And Other Stories was long-listed for the National Book Award for Translated Literature.
