Star Wars veteran Oscar Isaac is set to portray the iconic bandana-wearing super spy, Solid Snake, in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid adaptation from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and, as it turns out, Isaac himself is a huge fan of the original video game franchise. Ever since his role in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the 42 year old Guatemalan American actor has cultivated a reputation for taking on eclectic science fiction roles in films such as Annihilation and Dune. Vogt-Roberts’ film has yet to receive a release date, but chances are high that Metal Gear Solid will be Isaac’s next sci-fi outing.
The Metal Gear franchise is the brainchild of renowned Japanese game developer Hideo Kojima, who, working with Konami, released the first game in 1987 for MSX home computers. The 2D stealth game was acclaimed upon its release and is widely viewed today as one of the earliest pioneers of the stealth game genre. Once the games made the jump from 2D pixel sprites to 3D models with 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, the series began to adopt a more overtly surrealist style of storytelling that has been notorious for incorporating political subtext and dense societal commentaries that are oftentimes hard to decipher. Indeed, for anyone unfamiliar with the franchise, the unexpected fourth-wall-breaks may come across as pretentious and self-indulgent. Luckily, Isaac seems to have a grasp on what makes the franchise so great.
In a recent interview with Total Film, Isaac said that he, “just loved the game.” He describes the game as a “psychedelic military horror,” that is also “an anti-war story” which “are the elements [he] really loves.” Check out the actor’s full comments below:
I just love the game. I love the feeling that the game would give me every time I’d play. It’s just a strangely isolated, mournful, lonely game to play that has these incredible moments of violence and terror, with these weird, psychedelic concepts and villains. But, yes, it’s kind of like psychedelic military horror things that happen.
And the truth is, underneath the whole thing, it’s an anti-war story. So I think those are the elements I really love. And, like I said, I love the feel of playing it, and the big question of: can something like that be transferred – or can you explore those themes in a really interesting way – on film?
Given the fact that Metal Gear Solid is among the most famous video game franchises of all time, the role of Solid Snake could easily have gone to just about any other actor in Hollywood. However, fans of the series are fortunate to have someone so clearly invested in the source material involved in the role. Isaac is famously candid about his work experiences, so his optimism toward Vogt-Roberts’ project bodes well for the film.
Hideo Kojima has always been an outspoken cinephile, so to have his flagship franchise finally adapted into a live-action Hollywood blockbuster is poetic. The game developer was always intentional about framing his projects through a cinematic lens (both figuratively and literally), so the jump from video game to film shouldn’t be too jarring for Metal Gear Solid. However, given Isaac’s packed filming schedule for the foreseeable future, it may be several more years before the actor finally dons the iconic bandana.
