By William Hong
Even though it has been nearly 10 years since I first played it, I've never forgotten the opening scene from Metal Gear Solid. Legendary soldier Solid Snake emerges from the icy Alaskan watery depths to infiltrate a well-guarded warehouse. Armed with only his fists and his wits, Solid Snake successfully evades the guards without leaving a single hint that he was ever there. The game's taut, opening salvo was just the beginning of a ground-breaking cinematic experience, the likes of which console gaming had never seen before. Almost 10 years and several sequels later, the Metal Gear franchise has become a massive success, both with critics and fans, for its memorable characters, twist-laden plots, self-referential humor, and over-the-top action. The franchise also set a new standard for quality voice acting in video games. In the center of it all was Solid Snake. But who is the man behind the voice of one of gaming's most popular icons?
In the Western hemisphere, that man is David Hayter, who is almost as resourceful as his digital counterpart. He's fought mutants as Sean Barker in the American live-action Guvyer movies. He's also the voice of Captain America in the Spider-Man cartoons and Takahome in the anime Fushigi Yugi. Hayter firmly cemented his acting legacy when he landed the roles of Solid Snake and his predecessor, Naked Snake.
Not content with acting, Hayter wanted to be more involved with the creative process. Established voice actors tend to eventually become voice acting producers and directors. David Hayter became a screenwriter instead. As a screenwriter, he has writing credits for the first two X-Men films and next year's Watchmen movie. Even with all his recent success as a writer, Hayter will always be remembered for providing Solid Snake with his gruff, yet lovable, persona.
Q&A with David Hayter
Interviewed by William Hong and Oliver Chien
Anime Expo 2008
On landing the role of Solid Snake
The casting director who did Captain Planet five years earlier was Kris Zimmerman, who is also the English voice director for all the Metal Gear games. She called me in to audition in '98. I went in, auditioned, and got the part. It was actually the last voiceover job I ever got. I stopped doing that as a job after I became a screenwriter.
On the transition from voice acting to screenwriting
I was very lucky as a screenwriter. The first movie I worked on was X-Men. It was a pretty easy transition because that was an $80-90 million movie. I got to stay in a nice house in Toronto and make a lot more money than I had in voice acting. I found I really enjoyed the behind-the-camera stuff and being a part of the creation of the project as opposed to just being an actor. Though certainly, both jobs have their charms.
On balancing screenwriting and voice acting
It's difficult in terms of time. Each time I've done a Metal Gear game I've been working on two different scripts at the same time. That makes for a pretty tight schedule. It's a lot of brain power to apply. At the same time, doing voice work is easier mentally, but harder physically, because I get shot, beat up, throw up, electrocuted, and acting it out is pretty exhausting. It's mentally easier than writing a screenplay. It's sort of two different muscles, but to get everything done has always been a little difficult.
On reprising his role from the live action American Guyver adaptations
If they did a Guvyer 3 I think I would have to do it, because I always feel close to the roles I've done. I would certainly do it. I don't pursue any acting work now, but I have filmmaker friends and other people that ask me to do things every now and then. I'd like to
do it if it was a good job, but it's not something I'm searching for.
On favorite Metal Gear game
My favorite has been Metal Gear Solid 3, but now I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 4 and that's so amazing that it may surpass 3. I don't want to say that until I finish, but so far Metal Gear Solid 3 is outstanding.
On which of his characters is tougher: Naked Snake or Solid Snake
Depends on what point in their career. If it was Naked Snake in MGS3 before he became Big Boss, he was just getting started. If was Solid Snake later in his career, he'd be tougher. It's matter of where they are in their careers. I imagine Big Boss in his late 30s would be pretty tough...
On favorite Metal Gear Characters
You know, I love them all. I love Meryl and Otacon. Maybe Otacon is my favorite, because we are sort of like Abbot and Costello together. I like him a lot. I like Mei Ling and Sniper Wolf. I even like Raiden. Nobody likes Raiden! [laughs]
On fan tributes and parodies
[In Solid Snake voice]Crab battle? Crab battle!
I have seen Crab Battle, Metal Gear Awesome, and Metal Gear Awesome 2. I love those, and I love hearing people doing their Solid Snake impression. That's my hobby, going online and listening to people do that.
On the Voice Acting process for Metal Gear Solid 4
Recording the dialogue
Metal Gear Solid 4 was just a bigger game all around. We don't do a lot of rehearsal. You just get the script and go record it. Metal Gear Solid 3 took me about 4 weeks to do. Metal Gear Solid 4 took me from February to October last year. So months upons months of recording. All to the [footage of] motion capture actors that work in Japan. It was a lot more in depth this time. But I think that's a lot better for performance for the characters to be able to see the actor, to see the bodies doing what they are doing [in the game]. It was certainly involved, intense, and at a higher level.
Using reference footage
The gameplay clips weren't done. They were making them while we were recording. What I saw were the Japanese motion capture actors in their black ping pong ball suits, running around and going through their motions. If you had Drebin sitting on top of his truck, there would be a big wooden construction, and the actor would be sitting on top of that. It gave you a good idea of what was happening in the scene, but it was nothing compared to watching those scenes in the game fully fleshed out with color and camera movement. It was a whole different world.
Differences between recording Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4
It wasn't more challenging than Metal Gear Solid 3. We didn't get to see anything because the cut-scenes weren't done. We didn't get to see the characters -- only the timing. That was really hard. It's far more difficult [to record] when you can't see the actors. When you can see them moving, like in this game, if you see Snake sit down, you'll hear me make that sound [Ugh] because I can see the actor do it and put in these details that an older Snake would have. He gets up like [Urrggh] and that sort of stuff I couldn't do in Metal Gear Solid 3 because I couldn't see them. I made that part of my deal. I want to be able to see the scenes as we are recording so it'll be better for the game. They didn't have it, so they just sent videos of the motion capture actors.
Meeting producer Hideo Kojima
I met Hideo Kojima for the first time two months before we finished recording Metal Gear Solid 4. He came out for a day. He brought a couple of translators and showed me the game. He's a really nice guy. He doesn't direct me at all. The English voice director Kris Zimmerman does that. I did six games before I met Kojima.
On a potential Metal Gear movie
I pitched it, but the producers didn't hire me. But if they change their minds, I'll definitely do it. I think Hugh Jackman would be great [for the role of Solid Snake]. He and I have worked together in the past. He played a pretty bad ass character [Wolverine], and he'd be pretty good at that. Viggo Mortensen would also be great, too.
For more APA coverage of 2008's Anime Expo:
Video: Otakus in Action
Anime and the North American Downfall
Panels and Games
Sword of the Stranger
Top Ten Anime Music Videos
Shoko Nakagawa
Akemi Takada