Death Stranding Almost Cast Keanu Reeves Instead Of Mads Mikkelsen

Famed game developer Hideo Kojima has revealed that Death Stranding could have starred Keanu Reeves instead of Mads Mikkelsen. The game features a number of celebrity faces, including The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus and esteemed director Guillermo del Toro, and Kojima has revealed that Reeves came highly recommended for the role of Cliff.

Death Stranding‘s Cliff was teased as one of the game’s most mysterious characters in trailers leading up the game’s release. A former US Army Special Forces captain, Cliff Unger’s story is an emotional rollercoaster brought to life through Mikkelsen’s performance. Mikkelsen provided the voice, appearance, and performance capture for Death Stranding‘s Cliff, marking the actor’s first appearance in a video game.

In a Twitter thread, Hideo Kojima shared a little backstory for Death Stranding, revealing that while Mikkelsen was planned for the role from the beginning of the project, Reeves was strongly recommended by Nicolas Winding Refn. The Danish director, who also provided motion capture for Death Stranding‘s Heartman, “recommended Keanu every time” he met with Kojima, trying to convince him to hire Reeves for the project. Kojima explained:

“From the beginning of the project, we decided to go with Mads for Cliff. The character was sculpted to fit Mads. I consulted with director Refn, who says, ‘I gave birth to Mads,’ many times. This was before the offer was made…However, he recommended Keanu every time we meet. His experience in ‘The Neon Demon’ made him think it was a great choice. So he highly recommended him.”

It seems unlikely that Reeves was ever a strong contender for the role of Cliff, as Kojima’s vision for the game involved Mikkelsen from the earliest stages of development.

See the comments on Twitter here.

While Keanu Reeves fans missed out on seeing the star play Cliff in Death Stranding, the actor features heavily in CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077. Reeves plays Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077, an outlaw and rockerboy visible to the player thanks to a chip implant. The character plays a seminal role in the game, having shaped a lot of what Night City is at the time the game’s story takes place. Reeves provided the voice, face, and motion capture performance for the role, with Johnny Silverhand being a close representation of what the actor looks like in real life.

Death Stranding fans may find it hard to imagine anyone else as Cliff due to Mikkelsen’s incredible performance as Cliff. Players are gearing up to experience the title once again thanks to the upcoming release of the Death Stranding Director’s Cut, which is set to introduce a host of new features and gameplay mechanics, as well as new story content. It doesn’t seem likely that players will get to see more of Mikkelsen’s Cliff in the new release, with Kojima previously announcing that Death Stranding Director’s Cut features additional content as opposed to cut content.

Death Stranding Director’s Cut releases exclusively on PS5 on September 24.

Source: Hideo_Kojima_EN/Twitter

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