The film adaptation of Konami’s movie-esque Metal Gear Solid series has been stalled in Hollywood development hell for a while now. David Hayter, screenwriter for X-Men, X-Men United, and Watchmen, talked about the status of the movie with MTV’s Movies Blog. Hayter is no stranger to Solid Snake, having voiced him in every video game appearance in North America.
With his voice work, Hayter was a perfect candidate to write the screenplay. "A couple of years ago, a producer friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in doing the adaptation," said Hayter. "And I said 'Of course. I know it pretty well.' I think I can say without contradiction that I know it better than any screenwriter on the planet. I've said every word that Snake has said. So I felt well-qualified."
"I did come up with a pitch for the movie which I thought was pretty cool and I would still love to do. But there are far larger issues in terms of who’s going to get the rights to do it and what sort of involvement Mr. Kojima is going to have. All that needs to be worked out before I would ever come up."
Upon submission of the script, the project began to stall as talks between Sony and Kojima went south. “I don’t believe they were ever able to successfully close a deal between Mr. Kojima and Sony. This is all just stuff I’ve heard," he stated. Hayter also noted that part of the problem may have been due to “political reasons” on the side of the game’s publisher, Konami.
Hayter remains quiet on the proceedings, as there is still a chance for the production to be revived and he would like to stay a part of the process. "I really want to spring some things on people," he said. "Having been intimately involved with ‘Metal Gear,’ I would like to give people a story that will grab the fans. The fans will know the context that we’re talking about once they see the trailers. They’ll say ‘Oh my god, they’re going there.’ But they won’t quite know how the story is going to unfold or what some of the big surprises are going to be. And that’s really the only way to keep a movie [adaptation] interesting."
