Death Stranding 2 also features Marinelli’s wife, Alissa Jung: “I was also looking for someone to play Lucy, but in the midst of the pandemic it wasn’t easy. One day, Luca asked me if I had found his ‘counterpart.’ I told him no. He told me that his wife is an actor and also a director, so we met and I found her really brilliant, intelligent, perfect for the role of Lucy. We scanned them both at the height of the pandemic. Neil also has scenes with Norman, while Alissa, who plays Lucy, has mostly scenes with Luke. I can’t say more, or I’ll reveal some spoilers.”
Among Kojima’s favorite scenes filmed for Death Stranding 2, he mentions one shot by Marinelli and Jung: “Luca, meanwhile, was filming the series Mussolini: Son of the Century, directed by Joe Wright. When I offered him the role he was beautiful, he looked like a young Alain Delon. But when I scanned him he had changed: I asked him what had happened. He replied: ‘I’m getting fat to play Mussolini.’ We couldn’t do much, so we scanned him as he was.
“A year later, at the time of motion capture, he had changed again. I thought: ‘Oh God, it’s not the Luke I expected,’ but we then solved it digitally. It was quite a problem, but what he shot is really good! Most of the scenes with Alissa and Luca are just between the two of them, and the interesting thing is that, because they are husband and wife in real life, they have an incredible chemistry.
“Luca comes from the theater, and Alissa is a director as well as an actor. Sometimes she tried to take over on the set too! We shot at the SIE studio in Los Angeles. It’s a huge studio, almost like a big Hollywood set. Me and a couple of my staff went to manage the shoot, but there were many other people including technicians, makeup artists, and others. When Luca started acting, however, everyone came over to watch. This had never happened to me before.”
The Music of Death Stranding
Kojima’s games also impress with their beautiful soundtracks, and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is no exception. One of the star artists of the new title is Woodkid, and the game director recounted that he met him by chance in Paris in 2020, when the artist wanted to introduce himself, being a fan of Kojima’s, by playing one of his songs. Kojima was also struck by Woodkid’s music videos, which have atmospheres like that of Death Stranding, and Kojima decided to contact him to have him work on some songs for the soundtrack of the second chapter.
The music was an important legacy to continue, especially after the passing of Ryan Karazija of Low Roar, whose musical style had profoundly marked the first chapter. Kojima explained that he had also included some unreleased Low Roar tracks in the new game, sent to him by the singer’s family.