"Metal Gear Solid" creator Hideo Kojima might have gotten off the hook because of the good relationship he has with John Carpenter. In fact, Kojima is a fan of Carpenter's 1981 Kurt Russell vehicle "Escape from New York."
The main character in Kojima's beloved stealth series is even named after New York's gruff villain and they even share the same mullet, eyepatch, gruff voice, and five o'clock shadow. Furthermore, there is another reference to Russell's character in "Metal Gear Solid 2," whereby Snake is called "Iroquois Plissken."
There were many similarities that the company that owns the rights to the film, CanalPlus, wanted to sue Kojima over the same issue.
However, Carpenter told The Hollywood Reporter that the only reason why CanalPlus did not sue Kojima is because he, the other rights holder, asked them not to.
Carpenter said, ""[CanalPlus] wanted to also go after the video game Metal Gear Solid, which is kind of a rip-off of Escape From New York, too, but I told them not to do that. I know the director of those games, and he's a nice guy, or at least he's nice to me."
On the contrary, CanalPlus sued Luc Besson over the movie "Lockout," a film he scripted that has more than a passing similarity to "Escape From New York." The two movies focused on a convict sent by the government into a prison to rescue the president's daughter.
Carpenter added laughingly, "It's the same story. I mean, you can't do that, can you? You have to change a couple things. He's after the president's daughter? Come on. So I took him to French court."
Notably, apart from featuring Solid Snake, "Metal Gear Solid's" plot had nothing in common with "Escape From New York" and it was essentially homage. Kojima has since provided another option explaining the origin of Solid Snake's name, according to Eurogamer.
In 2004 Namco's Bay Area studio, responsible for "Kill Switch," was working on an "Escape From New York" game before it was canned. According to the unveiled footage by that time, the game appeared like "Metal Gear Solid."
Fans can check out for another Carpenter video game reference at Saints Row 4's great homage to "They Live."
