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Original Snake Voice David Hayter Has No Love For Hideo Kojima (Kotaku)

filly

Member
I believe we might be all missing the point here.

Hayter showing no love for Kojima sounds like a broadcast to Konami to say - "I'm here guys and if you want me I'm open to your sequels even without Kojima."

That aside, it seems strange to me that the voice of metal gear in western countries never met the creator. Especially since Kojima met with Norman Redus and they never even got to make good on silent hills.
 
I believe we might be all missing the point here.

Hayter showing no love for Kojima sounds like a broadcast to Konami to say - "I'm here guys and if you want me I'm open to your sequels even without Kojima."

That aside, it seems strange to me that the voice of metal gear in western countries never met the creator. Especially since Kojima met with Norman Redus and they never even got to make good on silent hills.

Del Toro probably with those connections. It's not really strange since localization is handled by the US team.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
I swear I've heard an interview where he said he met Kojima briefly, but I guess I'm mistaken. He was also in the live action portion of MGS4, although wasn't that produced by an outside studio?

wut. hayter is an absolute nobody without MGS. that's 99% of his fame. he knows that and is bitter that he was replaced, particularity considering when he's seen in public 99% of the time it's because of his role as solid snake. it sucks he had to go through that, and i feel for him. but he's way too salty about and has handled it poorly from the start

It's 99% of his fame, but it's not even his primary career.
 
That poster isn't really asking a question though, he's assuming Kojima isn't intelligent enough to understand English and that his decision to replace Hayter is based on his own ego and desire to go Hollywood rather than the decline in Hayter's work as Snake.

Kojima's given a few interviews in English and has an English Twitter in addition to his Japanese Twitter, but I doubt anything would convince someone so seemingly determined to dislike Kojima.

??? Lack of understand of a foreign language says NOTHING about a person's intelligence. If that's how you read it, then you're reading way too much into it. He's saying that as a non-native or fluent English speaker, how would he be able to assess the quality of an English speakers performance? It's like people who prefer subbed anime to dubbed, but not because they think the dubs are bad (which they're perfectly capable of assessing), but because they think the subs are better (which they have no real way of assessing)

I don't think it's a stretch to think Kojima wanted someone Hollywood in MGS5. His love of American cinema is VERY apparent. From the original Big Boss being based off of Sean Connery and Snake Kurt Russell, to Policenauts characters being based off of the Lethal Weapon characters, Snatcher based off of Blade Runner/Harrison Ford...it's not a stretch he finally had enough acclaim to get a big name American actor and went with him
 

Wereroku

Member
I believe we might be all missing the point here.

Hayter showing no love for Kojima sounds like a broadcast to Konami to say - "I'm here guys and if you want me I'm open to your sequels even without Kojima."

That aside, it seems strange to me that the voice of metal gear in western countries never met the creator. Especially since Kojima met with Norman Redus and they never even got to make good on silent hills.

Kojima wasn't involved with the english versions of the games until probably 3. It was cast and directed by someone else. I mean hell he has stated that the english versions aren't canon. Also Norman Reedus is a famous actor of course he wants to meet him. He probably doesn't give a shit about an english voice actor.
 

ISOM

Member
I just can't believe you replace Hayter with Sutherland and waste his talent by having him hardly talk in MGSV. I know he talks more in the tapes but it's nowhere near the amount dialog Snake speaks in previous games. You basically paid an actor millions to be a silent protagonist.

It was the dumbest decision about MGSV.
 

ramuh

Member
Wasn't Hayter's voice getting bad for this voice work? I thought I read an article where it was getting harder and harder for him to do Snake's voice.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
I believe we might be all missing the point here.

Hayter showing no love for Kojima sounds like a broadcast to Konami to say - "I'm here guys and if you want me I'm open to your sequels even without Kojima."

That aside, it seems strange to me that the voice of metal gear in western countries never met the creator. Especially since Kojima met with Norman Redus and they never even got to make good on silent hills.

uh...jokingly or not he says as much in the interview.
 
I swear I've heard an interview where he said he met Kojima briefly, but I guess I'm mistaken. He was also in the live action portion of MGS4, although wasn't that produced by an outside studio?



It's 99% of his fame, but it's not even his primary career.

yeup. he doesn't need MGS for money. that's for sure. but you certainly can't underestimate that it's literally the only reason he gets recognized in public

It was the dumbest decision about MGSV.

wut. no. sutherland was absolutely great, and quite literally the last thing wrong with MGSV
 
Wasn't Hayter's voice getting bad for this voice work? I thought I read an article where it was getting harder and harder for him to do Snake's voice.

People keep talking and talking but all you ever hear him at cons and in interviews is doing the voice perfectly. Yet, people still keep bringing PW. He even does it in the newest interview.
If anyone has Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro on blu, you can see him do it there as well in a 20+ minute interview with him about his dub on Lupin III when asked what would Solid Snake say to Lupin.
 
And even though Konami as a company are also assholes at least you appease them by saving millions of dollars on the games budget by using Hayter since he's a fan favorite anyway.

nope. hayter himself even speculated that he was replaced because he himself pushed the limits in terms of what VAs are paid with MGS4. it definitely stands to reason that they were fine with the change because the money was not substantially different
 
Wasn't Hayter's voice getting bad for this voice work? I thought I read an article where it was getting harder and harder for him to do Snake's voice.
I watched an interview yesterday where he said the voice doesn't hurt or harm his throat in any way.
 

Spacejaws

Member
For those saying the voice took a nose dive after 3 fucking hell did you see some of the shit they made him say? You could be the best va in the world but if you are given some really rubbish dialogue it pretty much gonna come across as garbage.

The entire script and dialogue of peace walker is atrocious. How can you be suprised the voice comes across as hammy, its the least of its problems and in my opinion probably a sympton of an aimless script/direction.

Hell Kiefer probably refused to say half the bullshit they gave him.
 

Wagram

Member
I don't blame the guy. You voice the character for so long and all of a sudden they simply replace you with no explanation. It's alright though, Hayter voiced Snake in the actual Metal Gear games.
 

Wereroku

Member
nope. hayter himself even speculated that he was replaced because he himself pushed the limits in terms of what VAs are paid with MGS4. it definitely stands to reason that they were fine with the change because the money was not substantially different

Really you think Hayter's salary was anywhere close to what Sutherland was paid? I would say there is orders of magnitude separating their paychecks.
 

Zee-Row

Banned
nope. hayter himself even speculated that he was replaced because he himself pushed the limits in terms of what VAs are paid
I'm sure he would've taken a cut though. He did it during the re-recording of Twin Snakes just to make sure Konami got the original cast back. I truly believe Hayter loves the series enough to do something like that again.
 

Ratrat

Member
For those saying the voice took a nose dive after 3 fucking hell did you see some of the shit they made him say? You could be the best va in the world but if you are given some really rubbish dialogue it pretty much gonna come across as garbage.

The entire script and dialogue of peace walker is atrocious. How can you be suprised the voice comes across as hammy, its the least of its problems and in my opinion probably a sympton of an aimless script/direction.

Hell Kiefer probably refused to say half the bullshit they gave him.
Its because in PW and MGS4 he is noticeably worse than the entire cast. He was singlehandedly bringing the quality down.
 
For those saying the voice took a nose dive after 3 fucking hell did you see some of the shit they made him say? You could be the best va in the world but if you are given some really rubbish dialogue it pretty much gonna come across as garbage.

The entire script and dialogue of peace walker is atrocious. How can you be suprised the voice comes across as hammy, its the least of its problems and in my opinion probably a sympton of an aimless script/direction.

Hell Kiefer probably refused to say half the bullshit they gave him.

his voice was awful in PW. they very clearly asked him to try and make snake sound older and the best he could come up with was the frog in throat snake voice. not really sure why there's any other interpretation of this
 

Wereroku

Member
Its because in PW and MGS4 he is noticeably worse than the entire cast. He was singlehandedly bringing the quality down.

Was that his fault or the fucking voice direction he was being given. He has even spoken like normal before maybe he was told to speak differently.
 

ramuh

Member
Ah I see. It just seems there is to me (maybe because of how voice is recorded etc.) that there was a clear difference between his earlier works as Snake vs. his later parts.
 

Ridley327

Member
And even though Konami as a company are also assholes at least you appease them by saving millions of dollars on the games budget by using Hayter since he's a fan favorite anyway.

Do we actually know what they paid for Kiefer? I know people have this idea that Hollywood=big bucks, but Kiefer sure as hell isn't getting millions for his on-screen roles these days.
 
mgs belonged to hayter
mgs2 belonged to hayter
mgs3 belonged to hayter
mgs4 belonged to hayter
mgspw belonged to hayter

he earned those roles (whether he beat out the other guys or won by default/Kurt Russell saying no lol)

mgsvgz/tpp never belonged to hayter. that role wasn't his to begin with. how people dont seem to understand that (hayter included) is beyond me.
 
wait, so it was possible that he voice snake after mgs4?

im not a big mgs fan but i had the impression that the only reason 24 voiced snake is because maybe hayter wasn't interested or something

anyway, i only consider snake, snake if its voiced by hayter
 

Ratrat

Member
Was that his fault or the fucking voice direction he was being given. He has even spoken like normal before maybe he was told to speak differently.
see:
his voice was awful in PW. they very clearly asked him to try and make snake sound older and the best he could come up with was the frog in throat snake voice. not really sure why there's any other interpretation of this
If he doesnt have the range than why should he get hired? He needed to be able to do voices from 30-70 and he couldn't.
 
Ah I see. It just seems there is to me (maybe because of how voice is recorded etc.) that there was a clear difference between his earlier works as Snake vs. his later parts.

there is. he's a one-note voice actor, when they asked him to do more, he couldn't do it. plain and simple. it took kojima pulling the cord to make the change. obvious that's not something kris zimmerman could change
 
I couldn't imagine any of Venom Snake's lines being delivered in the Hayter voice.

"I won't scatter your ashes to the heartless sea...you're all diamonds."

Wouldn't have been good with Hayter's voice IMO
 
Was that his fault or the fucking voice direction he was being given. He has even spoken like normal before maybe he was told to speak differently.

Voice direction is critical. Something that is rarely mentioned. I could make the best voice actors sound bad if you put me in the director's seat.
 

Zee-Row

Banned
Do we actually know what they paid for Kiefer? I know people have this idea that Hollywood=big bucks, but Kiefer sure as hell isn't getting millions for his on-screen roles these days.
This is just my speculation but didn't Konami and Kojima have their fallout because MGSV Ground Zeros and Phantom Pain had crazy budgets that Konami was no longer willing to pay after those games came out? To me they just said enough's enough.
 

Veldin

Member
I don't think people realize how often Hayter gets asked about MGS and Kojima. This isn't so much him being salty as it is being honest when he's approached about it again and again.
 
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