Sitting down to discuss the rollercoaster that was Kong: Skull Island, attentions quickly turned for director Jordan Vogt-Roberts onto his next big venture -- Metal Gear Solid. Mentioning that the MonsterVerse installment was so intensive it took a decade off his life, the filmmaker from Detroit said that he wanted to take some time before he went all in on the the video game adaptation.
“(After Kong: Skull Island) my mandate is clear: only take (a project) if you can wake up every day knowing why you are doing it," he explained. "And Metal Gear Solid happens to be one of the most important properties on the planet. If it can be shepherded to the screen and done with the honor and respect to Kojima’s work and voice that it deserves and create a new genre unto itself, then absolutely, that’s something that I could take on.”
Some Crossover With Kong Themes For MGS: Roberts
Mixing some darker themes with a touch of comedy for good measure, Vogt-Roberts believes that he can carry the same spirit from Kong across to Metal Gear. A process that will be difficult for a man that is a lifelong fan of the console experience.
“Metal Gear is just so idiosyncratic and such a tricky one because (creator) Hideo Kojima’s voice is so brilliant and understanding the dread and how tense you become and how alarmed you are when you’re being chased," he outlined. "And then there’s the philosophies and mythologies the characters represent. The tone of (Kong: Skull Island) weirdly has Metal Gear elements to it: it has serious dialogue in it and then it gets weird and not afraid to be self-aware. It’s just a matter of when someone makes a great video game movie, and not if it’s possible.”
Following a string of flops that carry on from the genre of video game to motion picture, will a studio ever get it right?
“It’s a matter of time,” he insisted. “It’s inevitable. To me it’s not a question of can you, but when the right pieces of come together. It’s about taking the right risks and understanding fundamentally how and why the game works, how it makes you feel, what emotions it elicits from you.”
Indie Comedy Also On Jordan's Radar
Having identified his Kong: Skull Island star John C. Reilly as a character he would like to explore in a spinoff, the director intimated than an independent flick alongside Nick Offerman could be the best environment to reunite the pair.
“I want to try, very quickly, to see if I can make a half-improvised indie with guys like (Kings Of Summer co-star) Nick Offerman and John C. Reilly and just go and have a skeleton crew and shoot it like that,” he said. “Kind of like what David Lowery just did (with A Ghost Story) after Pete’s Dragon. I hear his new movie is amazing, and he’s one of the best out there right now. So I’d love to get something like that out of my system, make a movie with no budget, skeleton crew and go back to that world.”
Source: Playlist
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