Hideo Kojima says Margaret Qualley got her Death Stranding role after he saw her dance in a viral perfume ad

Hideo Kojima is known for casting and rubbing elbows with the best and newest international film stars, and he reveals what made him choose Margaret Qualley for the role of Mama in Death Stranding: A viral 2016 Kenzo fragrance commercial directed by Spike Jonze.

In the advert, Qualley contorts her face and body in time to the fast-paced and bass heavy Mutant Brain by Jonze's brother, Sam Spiegel.

It's weird and wonderful, odd even by perfume advert standards, so it's easy to see why Kojima tweets he "saw this and offered her the role." One person replies, "That's probably the least surprising thing I've seen you say."

Qualley puts her skills as both a dancer and actor on full display, showing impressive mastery over every facet of her physicality – little did she know she was making the perfect audition tape for a motion capture gig in Death Stranding.

YouTube

Watch On

Mama in the game is a genius inventor, and also has an invisible BT connected to her, so it's a weird role, but Qualley is used to those, starring in The Substance and being part of a cult in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

It's not certain if she'll be in Death Stranding 2, but she does have an identical twin, Lockne, also portrayed by Qualley, so we could be seeing more of her. Or she may be in the Death Stranding movie.

Kojima's love of films and movie stars has been well-documented over the years. Whenever there's a new rising star he'll often post a picture of them having a video call, like with Fallout star Emma Purnell. He does say that "70% of my body is made of movies" in his Twitter bio, so he has a reputation to uphold as the biggest cinephile in game development.

While you're here, check out all the upcoming video game release dates of 2025.