So here’s the thing- when Avi Arad has decided to move into the video game adaptation arena, you know shit’s about to get real real. This is a man who spent over a decade knuckle-deep in Marvel, putting monumental effort behind bring both the great and the terrible comic book films to the screen. He’s still doing so today, though post-Incredible Hulk Marvel Studios has been handlin’ they bidness without ole Avi. That doesn’t mean the 64 year old producer is done changing the action movie landscape, as he’s just announced his second grand video-game-to-movie project, and it’s a big one: Metal Gear Solid.

Blogger and Podcaster John Ricciardo was on-site at Japan’s 25th Anniversary Metal Gear Solid event earlier today (later tonight in Japan, actually, since they’re future people) and was able to live-tweet Arad’s announcement and some of the producer’s thoughts on the franchise. Here’s a rundown of the important stuff.

Avi Arad on stage with Hideo. “for a property to survive 25 years, it’s a phenomenon”

“For many years I fought to bring comics to theaters – and video games are the comics of today”

Talking about game mechanics vs. cinematically and how Metal Gear had the promise of connecting entertainment and animation and gaming, etc

“We will take our time and tell the story with all the nuances, ideology, cautionary tales needed.” Avi Arad

Promising to be true to Hideo’s story. Metal Gear was first interactive movie he’d ever seen

He seems genuinely enthused about Metal Gear though, which is good.

Talking about Hideo’s love for Columbia Pictures. He just called “Matt Damon” “Matthew Bourne” 🙂

So many ppl in Hollywood who would love to play these roles. Actors always looking for emotional, challenging characters.

“We’ll tell these actors and directors who you want, and maybe they’ll do it for nothing” – Avi Arad

Hideo mentioned Christopher Nolan, Hugh Jackman, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck among other favorites.

So there you have it- there are no other legit detail at present, just much speculation to begin. Who would make a great Solid Snake? The best director? Will they cherry pick from the games, immediately go for one of the more contemporary stories, or just start at the beginning?

I’m not particularly qualified to comment on MGS as a cinematic franchise, having only completed MGS2 many years ago, but I’ve played and witnessed enough playing of the game to know that whatever director they pick –and here’s where the obvious cry of “Nolan!” has at least some merit– is going to need to be a filmmaker that can make exposition fun. Because damn.

Still, stealthy spy missions, big robots, nanobots, conspiracy theory… this is juicy stuff, all backed by a fanbase that has already purchased 30+ million games. With Avi Arad behind the production and Sony’s own Colombia Pictures in charge, there shouldn’t be any crossed wires between the studio and the game makers as we’ve seen cripple a major VG adaptation before.

But here’s the real question: we’re still looking for the first great video game adaptation- could this be it?

Source | John Ricciardi (via Latino Review)