This coming September, Metal Gear Solid will be 22 years old. That already makes me feel ancient as I can still remember bunking high school to play Hideo Kojima’s PlayStation classic. If you’re too young for that reference then here’s another way to make you feel old: The Metal Gear Solid movie adaptation has been in development for fourteen years now. And for six of those years, its been director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) that’s been trying to make this movie happen.
This has been the very definition of a passion project for the filmmaker. Although a PG-13 script mandated by Sony has been completed since 2018, Vogt-Roberts has fought for getting the film as close to Kojima’s “riskier, balls-to-the-wall” R-rated storytelling as possible. And as a result of that and a few other delays (go read the crazy story of how Vogt-Roberts was nearly killed in a Vietnam nightclub attack and then personally tracked his attacker across the world), there hasn’t been much public movement on getting Solid Snake’s adventures to the screen.
However, that changed slightly over the last few days as Vogt-Roberts, as stuck in lockdown with lots more free time just like the most of us, decided to share what he could about the production on MGS so far. This wasn’t much, but not much is still better than nothing. First up was a kickass piece of concept art showing off the video game’s signature giant Metal Gear Rex, and then also a concept animatic which was co-created by Industrial Light & Magic which “beautifully explored [Hideo Kojima’s} poetic military surrealism.”
Of course, while Kojima has filled the MGS games with all sorts of deep philosophical and existential ponderings, it’s also a game with a fairly prevalent whimsical side. And Vogt-Roberts played that up perfectly as he got original voice actors David Hayter (Solid Snake), Paul Eiding (Col. Roy Campbell), and Christopher Randolph (Otacon) to record a brand new in-game Codec that proves that even genetically engineered super soldiers get bored during a lockdown.
Ha! That was great! Know what would make it even better? If this movie could get made now! Vogt-Roberts announced in December that his new R-rated draft of the script is completed and he has previously indicated that he would like Oscar Isaac in the lead role with the actor saying he would be interested as well. But as of now, there’s been no official forward momentum on casting and production scheduling. Hopefully, that will get sorted as soon as the film industry starts opening up again in the next few months.
Last Updated: May 15, 2020
