When celebrities, actors, and filmmakers visit Japan, there’s a chance they’ll get a summons from Hideo Kojima, the game director and Metal Gear Solid creator, to come to his studio and have their likenesses scanned and added to his collection. Kojima is never above using his fame in the non-gaming world to meet famous people and post about it, but I always wondered what this process was like from the scannee’s perspective.
Now we know, thanks to S.S. Rajamouli, the Indian director best known for Baahubali and the mighty RRR, Polygon’s favorite film of 2022. Rajamouli is one of many filmmakers, actors, game creators, musicians, and other notable people who make cameo appearances in Kojima’s latest game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Polygon contributor Rajamouli appears as a character called The Adventurer, who needs to be rescued from a snowy mountain.
“When we were in Japan for RRR promotions, I visited Kojima-san’s office. He scanned me there, and honestly, I had no idea how or where he’d use it,” Rajamouli said in a statement provided exclusively to Polygon. “I just sensed something magical was in the making. To now see myself featured in Death Stranding 2 is a true honour. Kojima-san is a visionary, and I’m humbled to be even a small part of his extraordinary world.”
It seems Kojima likes to preserve a sense of mystery, even with his famous collaborators. But Rajamouli, for one, wasn’t worried — like many in the film world, he holds a high regard for video gaming’s most famous auteur.
Rajamouli is currently working on his next film, which has the working title SSMB29. It’s a globe-trotting, James Bond and Indiana Jones-style action-adventure featuring Indian megastars Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and according to Rajamouli’s reps, it has the biggest budget in the history of Indian cinema — a record previously held by RRR.