Apparently the director of the stunning Oldboy, Chan-wook Park, was asked to direct the Metal Gear Solid movie...and he said no.

Joystiq have the news and some interesting comments:

Anyone familiar with Oldboy will recall the exaggerated fight scene shot entirely from the perspective of a classic side-scrolling brawler. This sequence, as Chanwook claims, earned him idol status in the gaming world. Oddly enough, Chanwook admits, "I've never played [a video game]."

Stunning. Going from Uwe Boll to Park is a hell of a leap, okay, they didn't ask Boll but that would make a great tag line!

That fight scene is superbly recognisable as a scrolling game, but actually was more or less and accident. It was only once they were on set did Park suddenly think to try it as one take. It works amazingly well, but there appears to have been no gaming influence whatsoever. Still, what a choice for Director. Who are they going to try next? Gans?