Artist Lauren Tsai, known for her stop-motion series The Dying World, has partnered with the rock band My Chemical Romance for a new short film. The project draws inspiration from The Dying World and its characters, utilizing "The End," the opening track from My Chemical Romance's 2006 album The Black Parade, as its musical foundation.
My Chemical Romance, who reunited in 2019 after a hiatus starting in 2013, are currently celebrating the twentieth anniversary of The Black Parade with a world tour. While rumors of a new album, dubbed MCR5 by fans, have circulated for years, the direct connection between this music video and any potential new MCR material remains unconfirmed.
Short Film Details
The narrative centers on Astrid, a student at the Paper Academy, who is reprimanded by the Dean for her repeated drawings of an unspecified subject. Astrid expresses a feeling of forgetting something important, while the Dean pushes her to keep up with her studies. Following this, the Dean instructs his assistant to dispose of the day's trash, which includes numerous garbage bags. Astrid, after listening to voicemails from friends and family, retreats to her room. As "The End" begins to play, the Dean's assistant enters, discards her sketchbook into a garbage chute, and Astrid follows it down, finding herself transported to The Dying World.
Tsai described The Dying World, initially presented in Part One: Forgetting, as a "trash dump for discarded thoughts" in an interview with Indiewire. This concept echoes elements of The Black Parade, where the album's central figure, the Patient, is taken to a realm of memories as his life concludes. The parallels between Astrid's experiences and the Patient's journey suggest a potential expansion of My Chemical Romance's established lore.
Tsai stated, “I was interested in someone who might have slipped into being forgotten themselves while they were still alive, so that’s Astrid. And Astrid is able to go between these two realms, although, in my mind, the Dying World and the real world are all one place.”
Notable Cameos
Astrid is voiced by Tsai herself, with John C. McGinley (known for Scrubs and Platoon) providing the voice for the Dean. The short film also features voice cameos from singer Billie Eilish as Astrid's friend and musician Phoebe Bridgers as her sister. Prominently, game designer Hideo Kojima makes an appearance as Astrid's teacher, leaving her a voicemail regarding overdue Japanese homework.
Kojima, a self-professed fan of My Chemical Romance, previously attended the band's concert in 2006 during the Black Parade era. His involvement in this project is particularly notable given his past collaboration with Tsai on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, where she contributed as an actor. In this instance, the roles are reversed, with Kojima featuring in Tsai's creative work.