By The often rumored Metal Gear Solid film adaptation has been confirmed by the wolf himself, Hideo Kojima, at last night’s Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary party in Japan. Kojima, the franchise’s creator, spoke at length about his intentions for the film, including name dropping some specific actors and directors he’d like to have involved. Some of the names include Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Christopher Nolan, and Hugh Jackman.
More importantly, Avi Arad, who was instrumental in establishing the Marvel film franchise and last produced The Amazing Spider-Man, was announced as the adaptation’s producer. John Ricciardi, a former EGM editor and co-founder of English localization company 8-4, live-tweeted the event and was able to share some choice quotes from Arad:
For a property to survive for 25 years, it’s a phenomenon. […] For many years, I fought to bring comics to theaters – and video games are the comics of today. […] We will take our time and tell the story with all the nuances, ideology, cautionary tales needed. […] [There are] So many people in Hollywood who would love to play these roles. Actors [are] always looking for emotional, challenging characters. […] We’ll tell these actors and directors who you want, and maybe they’ll do it for nothing.
The film will be produced by Columbia Pictures, which is a subsidiary of Sony. While no other news was announced, it’s good to see that Arad will be heading the adaptation. He very obviously cares a lot about the franchise, and given his pedigree with the first generation of Marvel films, he has a knack for adapting larger-than-life characters to the big screen. All I ask is David Hayter has some sort of role, whether it’s behind the scenes as a screenwriter or in some sort of acting capacity. The circus of rumors officially begins now.
[Destructoid, via John Ricciardi’s Twitter]