The on-again off-again Metal Gear Solid movie is still in the works four years after it was announced, its producer has insisted.
The last update came over two years ago, in March 2022, when Star Wars and Marvel star Oscar Isaac told IGN: “We’re searching, we’re searching like Solid Snake. We’re climbing through air ducts, we’re looking for the story.”
Oscar Isaac, Solid Snake himself, told IGN “We’re climbing through air ducts, we’re looking for the story [of the Metal Gear Solid movie]." https://t.co/BDe0xdQ2n2 pic.twitter.com/Y7hOJieK0K
— IGN (@IGN) March 23, 2022
Since then, nothing, with Isaac reportedly no-longer set to play Snake. But now, speaking to Brian Crecente as part of his newsletter, Game, producer Avi Arad provided an update, saying the script is still in development.
“We're working on the script some more, but I can't talk about it yet,” Arad said. “I think everyone's going to be really excited and surprised.”
Arad continued: “I think getting Metal Gear right will obviously be amazing because I think it's a lot more meditative than some of the other adaptations. Personally, I want it to be terrific.”
The Metal Gear movie was said to be in development at Sony Pictures with Kong: Skull Island’s Jordan Vogt-Roberts on board to direct. Speaking in 2017, Vogt-Roberts discussed how tricky it is to turn Metal Gear into a movie. “It is one of the most tricky and idiosyncratic properties on the planet, where the creator’s voice, Hideo Kojima, is a genius,” he said.
“It would also be one of the easiest properties for Hollywood to mess up. Luckily, there are very smart producers on it. It’s the type of thing where it would be very easy for Hollywood to be like, ‘Oh, it’s like Mission: Impossible!’ No, it’s not Mission: Impossible. ‘It’s like G.I. Joe!’ No, it’s not G.I. Joe. Metal Gear Solid IS Metal Gear Solid and can only be Metal Gear Solid.
“It is an incredibly tricky thing to adapt because of how specific the tone is. Kojima’s tone is so brilliant in what it does. The tone of this movie at times could take itself very seriously, be very intense, and then next moment, it can be very goofy and very sort of out there. There is no other property on the planet that I would want to protect and shepherd more than the Metal Gear Solid property.”
The development came after years of calls from fans for Hideo Kojima’s stealth series to get the movie treatment, but now, in the golden age of video game adaptations, it would perhaps be the perfect time to move forward. Arad, meanwhile, has form when it comes to video game adaptations, having worked on the Uncharted movie (which is getting a sequel) and, currently, the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
