Metal Gear Solid - The Movie

[fernandito]

From IGN.com:

Kurt Wimmer, the filmmaker behind sci-fi actioners Equilibrium and Ultraviolet, is up for the writing and directing gig on the game-to-film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid.

According to ComingSoon.net, producer Mike De Luca dropped Wimmer's name when asked about the status of the long-planned movie. The site scoops that Wimmer will meet with producers in the next few weeks to discuss possibilities.

IGN asked sources close to Wimmer about De Luca's comments. They had no comment on the matter, but didn't deny it either -- something is definitely up.

In spite of the spotty history of game-to-film adaptations, fans of Metal Gear have been relatively supportive of efforts to bring Solid Snake to the big screen. That enthusiasm hasn't been enough to get the production up and running, however, as the film has struggled in development for nearly six years. But it looks like an MGS movie could finally become a reality with Wimmer at the helm.

What exactly would the movie be about? It's unclear, but for his part, game creator Hideo Kojima has hinted that it might be different from any game storyline. "Things one can express in a game are different of those in a movie," he said in a 2004 interview with Variety. "It would have to be a very different script, almost a different story."

Given his previous flicks, what do you think about Wimmer's involvement in the Metal Gear movie?

[Still Servant]

Sweet, as long as Kojima is aboard, I'm fine with it.

I don't think he'd let them fuck it up.

[Mattrick]

Nicholas Cage should play Solid Snake.

[Ka-tet]

To be perfectly honest i think it gonna be shit><

But if kojima is behind it maby it can do the games justice?

[Storyslinger]

Great game, I hope they don't ruin the movie.

[fernandito]

Nicholas Cage should play Solid Snake.

You're joking, right? :unsure:

I keep picturing Christian Bale as Snake. Many want David Hayter [the voice of Snake] to star in the movie as Solid, but I just can't see that happening.

[Mattrick]

Of course I'm kidding.

Snake should be played by Stephen Dorff - http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1998_Blade/stephen_dorff_blade_003.jpg Just scruffier and rougher looking

[fernandito]

AX08: Hayter Talks Metal Gear
His film treatment, the series, working with Kojima, and more.
by Scott Lowe


July 7, 2008 - For ten years, voice actor/screenwriter David Hayter has been the voice of the iconic video game character Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series. As the man behind the English versions of the series' principle character, Hayter has a unique perspective on Snake and the franchise in general. With the whirlwind success of the series' latest installment, Metal Gear Solid 4, both the fans and the crew have started to look toward the future of the series. While MGS4 marks the last appearance of Solid Snake as the series' primary protagonist, producer/director Hideo Kojima insists that the series will continue with new story arches and characters.

With the continuation of the game series almost certain, the Metal Gear franchise has also expanded its focus to Hollywood. It has been long since the news initially broke that Sony Pictures and Konami would be teaming up to bring Metal Gear to the big screen. But shortly after the project had been announced, Hayter, as one of the people closest to the character and an accomplished screenwriter, opted to draft a treatment for the potential film adaptation. For reasons unknown, however, Konami rejected Hayter's treatment and announced no further plans to include Hayter in the film. During 2008's Anime Expo in Los Angeles, IGN caught up with Hayter at a press-exclusive panel to discuss the franchise, the potential film, and his personal approach to the series.



- Sirose Loyola
Since the announcement of the film, the internet has been aflutter with user submitted casting scenarios, many of which proposed Hayter as the ideal choice to portray Snake. When we spoke to Hayter at AX, he expressed his mixed feelings about the role.

"I don't think the studio would ever cast me," said Hayter. "But if they did, I would do it because I love the character and I feel like I could bring something interesting to it." But Hayter isn't without his reservations about taking on the character. "I don't want fame like I used to, when I was a kid. When you star in a movie like [Metal Gear Solid], it makes it difficult for you to walk down the street." Hayter also expressed his preference not only for the character, but the general nature of the film. "What I'd really love to do, is be the motion capture guy playing Snake," said Hayter. "And do it in a photo-realistic, fully CG movie. I'd love to play the character, but I'd also love it to still be Snake's face."

Hayter elaborated more, without giving away and crucial details in the event that Konami decides to adapt his version, about his treatment for the Metal Gear Solid film. "What I wanted to do was take the soul of the games and keep it exactly as is—keep the atmosphere, keep the characters, and even the storyline. Pretty close to what it is in that first game, because I loved Shadow Moses island as an environment." Hayter went on to cite the "haunted house feel" of Shadow Moses as a compelling environment. He also discussed some of the difficulties inherent in making a movie out of a game as extensive as the Metal Gear Solid series.

"The only thing that really holds back the cut scenes from Metal Gear from being movies, is that they are a little too Japanese in the way they are told," elaborated Hayter. "And it's too involved to tell in a two hour movie. There is a lot of detail—a lot of political detail, and a lot of historical detail—which I love, but you just don't have the time in a live action feature. Basically what it would be about is refining the characters, and creating dialogue that gives the same experience but is punchier and carries you from scene-to-scene a little more fluidly."

From there, the conversation drifted back to his role in the game series and his experiences with Hideo Kojima. Fans may be shocked to know that the two, despite having worked on the same project for ten years, had never met until a few months before the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Hayter also revealed that with each passing game, the amount of time he spent working on each title increased. For the first Metal Gear, Hayter had only spent ten days recording the dialogue, for MGS2 it took him three weeks, MGS3 took four weeks, and MGS4 took eight months.

Finally, we attempted to get a glimpse of what character in the Metal Gear universe that Hayter would choose to succeed Snake in the Metal Gear Solid 5, but Hayter carefully avoided the topic with a simple response: "Some other clone of Snake." For the time being, the future of the Metal Gear Solid series and film is undetermined, but given what Hayter shared with us at AX, we can only hope that Hayter will retain a vital role in any future projects.

[Steve]

SNAKE? SNAKE? SNAAAAAAAAAYYYKE!!!!

[fernandito]

It would be sweeeet if they could incorporate that into the movie somehow. Perhaps a scene in which Campbell thinks that Snake has been killed? :cyclops:

[razz]

Nicholas Cage should play Solid Snake.
wtf is wrong with you?
and do you think one movie could do the entire series? how would they do that? MGS 1, 2, and 4?

[fernandito]

The only way they could fit it all into one movie is if that movie is 10+ hours long...and even then... :)

I think Big Boss's origin-stories (Snake Eater, Portable Ops) can be told in a series of flashbacks.

[razz]

true, but it just wouldn't be right. like how when i think about it, i'm less and less interested in the upcoming Resident evil movie, because i'm worried ho will cast as Leon.

[John Blaze]

what does Hayter look like?

Remember the Snake movies Kurt Russel did? Escape from LA? Escape from NY?

That snake and this snake aren't related, but the looks are so close it's interesting.

[fernandito]

Kojima is a huge movie fanatico (hence the up to 45 minute cut scenes), and he's stated on several occasions that Snake (Russell) is probably the biggest influence on him while deciding how to depict his main antagonist, so he decided to name him Solid Snake.