[UPDATE 3/29: The image is confirmed to be a fake and is based off a makeup tutorial video. Read full details.]

For the past month, rumors  have swirled that Emma Stone, hot off an award-winning performance in La La Land, will appear in Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding. While Hideo Kojima has yet to comment on the matter, an image has started making the rounds on various message boards that appears to show Emma Stone as a character in Death Stranding.

It's hard to pinpoint where the image originated, but it has since been posted on NeoGAF by user opricnik. In the image, Emma Stone appears to be dressed in military garb, with white hair and strange black ooze coming from her eyes, not unlike Mads Mikkelsen's character in the game. This seems to suggest that Emma Stone will be playing an antagonist in Death Stranding, assuming the image is legitimate and not something made to throw off fans.

Unfortunately, there's no way to confirm the validity of the image unless someone involved with the project decides to talk about it. However, the image, while blurry, is fairly convincing, and impressively detailed. The image is supposedly a still taken from the game's planned E3 2017 trailer, so fans will likely have to wait until June to learn whether it's the real deal or not.

While fans should take this image with a huge grain of salt for now, it wouldn't be completely out of the question for Emma Stone to appear in Death Stranding in some capacity. After all, Hideo Kojima has been open about his admiration for the actress, and she has dabbled in video games before, lending her voice to 2012's Sleeping Dogs.

Plus, Kojima has already left some clues for fans that seem to tease Stone's involvement in the game. This past December, Kojima strongly suggested on Twitter that he had the opportunity to meet Emma Stone in person for the first time. And then in February, Kojima posted images on Twitter that pointed to a woman doing motion capture work for the game. These images included a mannequin wearing a Lionsgate beanie, which is the company that owns Summit Entertainment, the studio that produced La La Land.

Of course, Hideo Kojima also has a reputation for messing with his fans, so it's possible that this is all a ruse and Emma Stone isn't involved with Death Stranding at all. Even if Emma Stone has nothing to do with the project, though, Death Stranding is not exactly hurting for Hollywood talent with Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, and Guillermo del Toro all playing characters in the game.

Death Stranding is in development for PS4.

Source: NeoGAF