Metal Gear Solid will become a movie, says Hideo Kojima, but he can't say when yet.
That's according to a HIDECHAN Radio piece during which Kojima, series creator, confirmed what fans have long wanted to hear: "We're going to do it as a movie."
It's going to be in English apparently, although he wouldn't be drawn on a potential release date. "I can't say when yet," he admitted.
A movie of MGS has been oft-rumoured over the years - particularly given Kojima's love of overblown, film-style narrative in the games themselves.
Various directors and writers have been connected with it - even everyone's favourite Uwe Boll - but Kojima's been unwilling to farm out production unless he was happy with the conditions. Presumably something's clicked, then.
Although videogame film adaptations are often derided, any MGS film would be stepping into a more competent genre - with Silent Hill recently picking up a lot of buzz despite critical pastings, and the prospect of a Halo film executive-directed by Peter Jackson.
We'll bring you more on any MGS movie news as it comes out.
Kojima himself is currently working on the next instalment in the MGS game series - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - which is due for PlayStation 3 and will very likely turn up at E3 next week in some form.
Metal Gear Solid (tentative title) is a live-action film, based on the Metal Gear video game series created by Hideo Kojima.
On April 28, 2006, Kojima announced in his weekly podcast, HIDECHAN! Radio, that "[they] are going to do it as a movie", referring to Metal Gear Solid, and that it is going to be in English. Kojima Productions distributed a catalog for upcoming games at E3 2006, which included an article on the movie project. In it, Kojima stated that "a movie project is underway", and that a contract with a party in Hollywood has been finalized.
Before the project was announced, German director Uwe Boll, known for his heavily criticized, low-budget video game-based films, claimed that he received a script from Konami for a possible Metal Gear Solid movie adaptation. In response, Kojima stated that they have never talked to Boll, and that "it's impossible we'd ever do a movie with him". After the announcement, Kojima reiterated that Boll will have nothing to do with the project.
Kojima has stated that he feels Viggo Mortensen "would make a perfect Snake". The Metal Gear Solid game is set in Alaska, and he states that this would be the perfect setting for the movie. Kojima has stated in the August 2006 issue of PSM also that it is a completely new story of the MGS series. It is unknown as of yet where in the MGS timeline it will take place, if it is indeed even canonical.
David Hayter, voice actor for the main character in the Metal Gear Solid games, Solid Snake, and scriptwriter on the X-Men films, has stated in an interview that he would love to do the screenplay. He has discussed it with the film producers, whom, according to Hayter, he is friends with. He hopes to be available, but scheduling might interfere, with him starting shooting of Black Widow, a Lion's Gate/Marvel Comics production, in Fall 2006. Lion's Gate has since dropped Black Widow. It is noteworthy that IMDb has the release date as sometime during 2008, although it has not been officially announced.
