Sony Taps Jay Basu To Write ‘Metal Gear Solid’
EXCLUSIVE: In-demand Brit writer Jay Basu has closed a deal with Sony Pictures to write the feature adaptation of fanboy favorite video game Metal Gear Solid. The project is produced by Avi and Ari Arad and is being steered by production president Michael De Luca. Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings Of Summer) is attached to direct.
Created by Hideo Kojima, the game was first launched on PlayStation in 1998 and follows the fortunes of Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from Foxhound, a renegade special forces unit. Snake must liberate two hostages — one the president of a major arms manufacturer — confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike.
This is the second big studio gig in a row for Basu. Deadline previously revealed that he was tapped by Universal Pictures to join its efforts to relaunch its library of classic monster movies. Basu’s action adventure The Pier, which he co-wrote with David Bowers, was recently voted runner-up in the annual Brit List of best unproduced screenplays. Basu also co-penned Vertigo Films’ sequel Monsters: Dark Continent with writer-director Tom Green, which is in postproduction.
Basu is repped in the UK by Josh Varney at management/production company 42 and in the U.S. by Jason Burns at UTA.
Sony declined comment for the article.
It is also the second splashy deal in a few days for Varney, whose client Ruairi Robinson saw Fox come on-board his The Leviathan sci-fi project after his proof-of-concept video went viral. Deadline exclusively revealed that Simon Kinberg will produce with Neill Blomkamp exec producing. Fight Club scribe Jim Uhls is writing that project.
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