What Happened To Oscar Isaac's Metal Gear Solid Movie?

From "Super Mario Bros." to "Twisted Metal," video game franchises of all shapes and sizes are getting film and television adaptations these days. Though such productions were once considered surefire failures, recent efforts have shown that they can be critical and financial hits with the right folks behind them. Thus, it seems a bit strange that one of the most successful and narratively rich gaming series out there, "Metal Gear," hasn't received an adaptation. As it turns out, a "Metal Gear Solid" feature is in the works, with none other than Oscar Isaac attached to the role of Solid Snake.

Isaac signed on to lead Sony's "Metal Gear Solid" movie back in 2020, and since then, fans haven't gotten many updates on the endeavor. Thankfully, after ages of radio silence, the actor has provided an update on the film. "We're searching, we're searching like Solid Snake. We're climbing through air ducts, we're looking for the story," Isaac told IGN, citing script issues as the team's big holdup. This isn't the most encouraging update "Metal Gear" fans could've gotten, but if nothing else, at least Isaac's comments clarify that there is indeed some progress being made on the project.

At the same time, to say that progress on the "Metal Gear Solid" movie has been slow is a tremendous understatement.

Talks of a "Metal Gear Solid" film date back to 2006, when the mastermind behind the stealth game saga, Hideo Kojima, revealed it was entering the early development stage. Sadly, as the 2010s began, things already weren't looking good for the project. Producer Michael De Luca gave a grim update on it, telling Collider that creative and marketing clashes were hampering progress. "In the case of 'Metal Gear Solid,' the agendas just ... not because the parties weren't amicable, it was just kind of impossible to get the agendas to match up," he said.

Thankfully, De Luca's comments didn't mark the end of the "Metal Gear Solid" movie. With Sony set to distribute, it was announced in 2014 that Jordan Vogt-Roberts had signed the dotted line to sit in the director's chair. The writing process began, and eventually, Oscar Isaac landed the lead role. At the time of publication, it has been nearly 20 years since the "Metal Gear Solid" film was first said to be on the way. That's quite a long development period for any movie, let alone one based on preexisting and rather cinematic source material.

Hopefully, Oscar Isaac's comments on the "Metal Gear Solid" film are a sign that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and that someday soon, fans will get to see Solid Snake sneak around on the big screen.