Back in 2012, MGM acquired the rights to a movie adaptation of Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky\u2019s post-apocalyptic novel.<\/b>
\nBack in 2012, MGM acquired the rights to a movie adaptation of Metro 2033, Dmitry Glukhovsky\u2019s post-apocalyptic novel.
Much like the first game, the movie was planned to follow the story of the first book, though scriptwriter F. Scott Frazier planned to Americanise it, setting it in Washington D. C. Unfortunately \u2013 or fortunately, depending on how you see it \u2013 production has been halted and the rights have reverted to Glukhovsky.
\u201cThe project with MGM optioning this book and developing a script had brought us to nothing and the rights reverted to me,\u201d Glukhovsky tells me during a recent interview. \u201cSo currently we are speaking with a new set of producers about a possible adaptation but this is a very long and difficult process. I\u2019m still optimistic. We\u2019ll see if the release of Metro Exodus can push the IP across a little bit the oceans and see how that works.\u201d
As mentioned previously, the writer was planning to scoop out most of what makes Metro what it is. Part of Metro\u2019s charm is how intrinsically Russian it is, set within the veins of Moscow \u2013 subway lines that double as a fallout shelter and with a private, government-only line running parallel to it.
Even outside of the setting, Metro 2033 is a story full of metaphor. It\u2019s about tribalism, nationalism, and a misplaced fear of the foreign.
\u201cA lot of things didn\u2019t work out in Washington DC,\u201d Glukhovsky explains. \u201cIn Washington DC, Nazis don\u2019t work, Communists don\u2019t work at all, and the Dark Ones don\u2019t work. Washington DC is a black city basically. That\u2019s not at all the allusion I want to have, it\u2019s a metaphor of general xenophobia but it\u2019s not a comment on African Americans at all. So it didn\u2019t work.
\u201cThey had to replace the Dark Ones with some kind of random beasts and as long as the beasts don\u2019t look human, the entire story of xenophobia doesn\u2019t work which was very important to me as a convinced internationalist. They turned it into a very generic thing.
\u201cThey\u2019re kind of afraid of setting it in Moscow because Americans have a reputation for liking stories about America. Again, with Metro Last Light and Metro 2033 \u2013 the books and the games \u2013 selling millions and millions of copies worldwide, it\u2019s probably not as improbable now that people would accept a story happening in Moscow because that\u2019s going to be the unique selling point. We\u2019ve seen the American version of apocalypse a lot of times and the audience that like the genre are educated and saturated and not really wishing to get anymore of that.\u201d
Metro Exodus, the next video game in the series, is set for release on February 22.<\/p>\n