Death Stranding 2's Norman Reedus calls Hideo Kojima "one of the most brilliant people" even if his ideas are wild: "OK, pick up the baby doll and cry"

Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus says working with Hideo Kojima is wild because the famed developer will sometimes randomly give direction like, "'OK, now pick up the baby doll and cry.'"

The actor behind Sam Porter Bridges said as much in an interview with BAFTA last week to promote Ballerina. "Hideo is one of the most brilliant people I've ever worked with," Reedus says. "He tries to explain it and I'm trying to get my head around it - I've never done motion capture before."

Emphasizing how surreal mocap can get, Reedus explains that "you have a skin-tight lycra body suit with balls all over you that you stick to everything, you're supposed to be making out with Lea Seydoux, and you're banging foreheads on camera. Same with Mads [Mikkelsen]. And then Hideo will go, 'Okay, pick up the baby doll and cry.' And you're like, 'What about?' And he's like, 'And you cry because the strand of the stray.'"

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Reedus does his best, very funny Kojima impression in the clip above that's definitely worth a watch.

"I don't know what any of that means, I'm very sorry. I trust you, but I don't know what that means," Reedus recalls saying. Despite the confusion around whatever's going on in Death Stranding's world, Reedus still had nothing but good things to say about the game director: "It's wild to work for him... He's great. I love Hideo. He's got really unique ideas [about] where he thinks the gaming world will go next. They're kind of mind blowing."

Reedus previously said no one could understand what's going on in Kojima's brain, but he's not alone in the sentiment, either. Hideo Kojima himself admitted Death Stranding is "weird," which seems like a pretty sizeable understatement .

Hideo Kojima has been hard at work editing the final Death Stranding 2 trailer – one he says will make people go, "What?!"

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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