Metal Gear Solid is making the leap from the game system to the big screen after almost a dozen games and over 20 years. Little is known, but the creators have revealed the star to bring series main character and gaming's greatest spy Solid Snake to the big screen; Oscar Isaac.
Isaac has spoken out about his love for the venerable franchise and his interest in seeing how director Jordan Vogt-Roberts can bring the games to the cinema. Isaac has led a storied career and is currently one of the most beloved movie stars in the industry, drawing immense audience interest with each film he appears in.
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Solid Snake made his first appearance in 1987 and has since starred in 5 games up until 2014. Though numerous other characters have carried the title of Snake, the original Solid Snake is the hero of most games in the franchise. The Metal Gear franchise began with a trilogy of NES games which gained international fame and massive success in the early days of home consoles. Not much is established about the lead character in those early games, he is the newest recruit to international espionage outfit FOXHOUND, sent in to deal with a variety of bipedal superweapons called Metal Gears. These games are great, but they were only the predecessor to the main event.
In 1998, Metal Gear Solid was released on the Playstation and created a legacy that would define a gaming genre. The entire franchise has been the brainchild of legendary auteur Hideo Kojima, known throughout the game industries for his bizarre brilliance. The Metal Gear Solid franchise is an absolute mess, thousands of videos and essays exist to try to unravel the complex plot, but it is absolutely full of detail. Solid Snake is upgraded from a fairly generic soldier to a tragic, complex, vulnerable yet unstoppable warrior philosopher. The character undergoes a world of evolution and becomes one of the most iconic characters in gaming. And some time in the near future, that character will be portrayed by Oscar Isaac.
Oscar Isaac is undoubtedly best known for his portrayal of Poe Dameron in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, but he has led a long and varied career outside of that massive franchise that is worth looking into. He began acting in 1996, scoring a few small roles in films and a bit part of the ever-present Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His first major film role came a decade later in the biblical epic The Nativity Story. He went on to roles in films like 2010's Robin Hood, 2011's Drive, and 2013's Inside Llewyn Davis, his first breakthrough role.
Isaac is hugely successful, fronting both crowd-pleasing genre hits and serious biopics without missing a beat. He has received praise in nearly every role he has played, even movies that were terribly received often take time off panning the film to give Isaac credit. He has portrayed a wide variety of characters and personalities, from dashing space pilots to aloof tech billionaires to real politicians with equal fervor. He has multiple big projects in the works, including portraying Duke Leto Atreides in Dune and joining the MCU as he is set to star in the upcoming Moon Knight series for Disney+.
Solid Snake has been portrayed by the same voice actor for almost every appearance in the games, David Hayter. Hayter's voice is iconic, so much so that his replacement in the most recent game sparked genuine fan outrage. He manages to sell Snake as both deeply threatening and completely vulnerable. His performance has spanned the test of time. Snake is a reserved character, necessitating a certain quiet emotionality that can be so difficult to pull off. Even though the role of an aging super soldier is not one Isaac has found himself in so far, the layers present in his previous work suggest he may be able to bring Snake to the big screen with a performance as powerful as the one fans know and love.
Consider Isaac's biggest role, Poe Dameron, one of the three stars of the highly controversial new Star Wars trilogy. The films have taken criticism and received praise for the elements of recursion from the original, but Poe might be the clearest attempt to redress a previous character. Before scriptwriting began, Poe was essentially going to be Han Solo, complete with Wookie sidekick. This went out when Han and Chewie were confirmed to appear in the film, but Poe was still intended to die in the first film of the new trilogy. The element that changed the director's mind was Isaac's performance, which inspired such faith that Poe was upgraded to one of the three primary series characters.
Solid Snake is a character that only a skilled performer can bring to life while also pleasing fans, and Isaac's experience, talent, and love for the franchise make him an inspired choice for the role.
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