Original Solid Snake Voice Actor: "I've Got no Love For Kojima"

[Steven Bogos]

Original Solid Snake Voice Actor: "I've Got no Love For Kojima"

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David Hayter, the original voice of Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake, says Kojima had been trying to replace him for a long time.

A narrative has arisen concerning Hideo Kojima these days, painting him as the struggling artist hero, being kept down by the the Game Informer show [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165299-Hideo-Kojima-Banned-From-Accepting-at-2015-Game-Awards-by-Konami].

Fans will know that Hayter, who had been the longstanding voice of Snake, was unceremoniously replaced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122946-Metal-Gear-Solid-V-Drops-David-Hayter-As-Voice-Of-Solid-Snake] for the series' latest installment: Metal Gear Solid 5, in favor of Hollywood big shot Keifer Sutherland (of 24 fame).

But Hayter explains that Kojima had been trying to replace Hayter ever since Metal Gear Solid 3, when he approached Kurt Russell (who's Snake Plissken character in Escape From New York is the inspiration for Metal Gear's Solid Snake). Russell turned the role down, and Kojima was "stuck" with Hayter.

When asked if he would ever work with Kojima again, Hayter said "I don't feel any need to go back and work with him again."

To top it off, the poor guy revealed that he just can't bring himself to play MGS5. "Yeah. That'll be 60 hours of humiliation that I can't get to."

Source: Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/-i-ve-got-no-particular-love-for-kojima-says-original-voice-of-solid-snake-351199.phtml]

Permalink

 

[Mahorfeus]

Eh, as much as I liked Hayter's performance, I don't think that there is necessarily anything wrong with Kojima replacing him. Maybe there would have been less of a stink about it if he had managed to do so as early as MGS3. It is a damn shame, though.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Yeah, I heard about this on another site.

Sucks for Hayter, really sounds like he loved his character.

 

[Naldan]

By 3, the performance of Hayter combined with the character of Snake already was iconic. I find it pretty stupid that all the protagonist-Snakes have pretty much the same voice. And no, this is not covered by the story. It, even though there is a certain pseudo-reason, it doesn't make that much sense still. Because it's not a fact that this happens then.

Anyway, I know that Kojima had different people in mind when creating Snake. But it was not just one installment. And being such a big movie-lover, Kojima should know that continuity is key. Sutherland impersonated the voice pretty good in 5 in my opinion. In the 15 lines or so he had.

Don't know. I find this pretty disrespectful for the actor, the fans and the character. Big Boss having a different voice would be fine, and yes that would be 3. But do you really think Solid Snake of 4 would then have had Hayter back? And why has Big Boss in 5 a different voice?

And before someone comes with plot-twists: It already was that case in Ground Zeroes.

 

[Denamic]

Eh, as much as I liked Hayter's performance, I don't think that there is necessarily anything wrong with Kojima replacing him.

Technically, no. But changing voice actor is not the same as, say, changing your lead texture artist. If you change the character's voice, you change the character. Without having an in-universe explanation, that is a bad thing.

Spoiler: SPOILER, DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED THE GAME

If it was just the Snake you play, it would be fine. It would even make perfect sense. But the real Snake also changed, so that explanation's out the window.

Besides, it sounds like there's more to this than just a casting change. I smell drama.

By 3, the performance of Hayter combined with the character of Snake already was iconic. I find it pretty stupid that all the protagonist-Snakes have pretty much the same voice. And no, this is not covered by the story.

Yes it is.

 

[Objectable]

That's weird. This isn't an article about Akio Ōtsuka.
Yeah, I'm a snob. Shoot me.

 

[EHKOS]

He's whining like a ***** about it and I've been waiting to yell on the internet about it.

Spoiler

It's not Big Boss, it wouldn't make sense. Honestly I would have preferred Naked Snake to be voiced differently as well.

I mean, BB wasn't played by Hayter in 4. "I have no love for the man who created the roll I worked on and the games I starred in" sounds like a tantrum to me.
"But IIII wanna play Big Boss! He's my character!" His voice may be iconic, but it certainly wasn't GOOD. Now that bit is my opinion, but I never really liked the silliness factor besides the gags. The VA performance of most of the Metal Gear games is campy, even when it shouldn't be.

This is coming from someone who loves 3 and TPP to death, I even have a Diamond Dogs patch on my jacket shoulder.

 

[Fox12]

I can see both sides.

As a game developer, I would want the best people available to perform my characters. If an actor didn't impress me then I'd want them gone as soon as possible.

As an actor, though, it would be really embarrassing to know that the big boss (tee hee) wanted me gone. I feel really bad for him.

 

[Squilookle]

Well it sucks to be working away like that knowing your boss was hanging a sword over your head the whole time..

But in the end, Hayter's gonna Hayt.

 

[HomuraDidNothinWrong]

Kiefer was better.

That's weird. This isn't an article about Akio Ōtsuka.
Yeah, I'm a snob. Shoot me.

Give this man a can of coke before you shoot him.

ehhh. Kiefer was only better because of the "you're all diamonds" scene. It's the only part where his acting background helped sell a scene. For the rest of the game, its pretty forgettable that Kiefer is even there, he barely talks.

 

[stormtrooper9091]

David, don't Hayter for that

Kojima was quite insane for a while now so it's not a surprise

 

[Something Amyss]

Well Kojima's never gonna work on another Metal Gear game anyways, so if he was the one who wanted Hayter replaced, then maybe this means on the off-chance that Konami ever makes another Metal Gear game, Snake will be voiced by Hayter again.

It does, however, reduce my chances of seeing Hayter voice plasma Serpent in the new Diamond Cog Plasma game.

...I mean, I'm not even a fan of the series. I'd probably still throw money at them if they did that.

 

[FalloutJack]

I wouldn't paint Kojima bad for trying to replace David Hayter with Kurt Russell. That's like a compliment. It's not good for him, but it shows that he was highly-valued in the sense of wanting to replace him with a top-billed actor.

 

[Bindal]

On the one hand, I can get behind Hayter. He basically is Solid Snake in the english dub, having at least some credit in forming the character as Kojima and having him replaced as Snake would have been just wrong.

But on the other hand - he's Solid Snake (and Naked Snake, as he is basically the 'template' for Solid Snake), but he's not Big Boss. That's why I was fine with him getting replaced in MGS5. It just created a bit of a consistency error as he got replaced in Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain, but still did the voice in Peace Maker. If he would also have done Ground Zeroes and not Phantom Pain onwards or from Peace Maker onwards, it would have been a bit less jarring in term so consistency.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Kojima was super into the Hollywood aesthetic, it makes total sense that he would want to get a Hollywood actor to voice Snake.

As far as this saying anything bigger about Kojima, well I tend to find that people are rarely so good, or so bad, as they are portrayed in people's stories about them.

 

[JayRPG]

It's not as if that was Hayter's only job, he is a VA, they do a million different voices/jobs.

I doubt he would have been in any kind of financial difficulties having lost the job. The reasons he is bitter are almost entirely selfish, he didn't want anyone else to voice the character, his career certainly hasn't been affected.

He has to think realistically though, when he was first brought on MGS wasn't as big as it was, it didn't have the same budget it has today, and surely he knew that Kojima has a real love for movies. He was replaced by a big name star, he wasn't just shuffled out for another random VA.

 

[josemlopes]

He's whining like a ***** about it and I've been waiting to yell on the internet about it.

Spoiler

It's not Big Boss, it wouldn't make sense. Honestly I would have preferred Naked Snake to be voiced differently as well.

I mean, BB wasn't played by Hayter in 4. "I have no love for the man who created the roll I worked on and the games I starred in" sounds like a tantrum to me.
"But IIII wanna play Big Boss! He's my character!" His voice may be iconic, but it certainly wasn't GOOD. Now that bit is my opinion, but I never really liked the silliness factor besides the gags. The VA performance of most of the Metal Gear games is campy, even when it shouldn't be.

This is coming from someone who loves 3 and TPP to death, I even have a Diamond Dogs patch on my jacket shoulder.

Spoiler

He is in Ground Zeroes with the Kiefer voice. It doesnt really matter at this point though

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well Mr. Hayter, you can take solace in the fact that MGS5 has the flatest most boring character depictions of the series.

And Kiefer couldn't hold a candle to you. Maybe if it was 80's Kiefer, and not uninvested grumble man.