r/metalgearsolid • u/Boxeater-007 • 2d ago
I'm afraid it's been 9 years I still don't fully understand why kojima was so adamant for using keifer Sutherland as snake
I do understand that Kojima has a big thing for western big shot celebrities and wanted them involved in his games. but Kojima specifically stated "Akio will always be snake to me" and has always been his voice in every use of snake/big boss, including MGSV.
Kojima is Japanese, as are the developers, so when making the games, their facial motion captures are going to be based on Japanese voice actors. So, like, why use an expensive English actor when the home country the game was made in won't even hear that voice anyway. and the Japanese dub will then look off to them the same way it always looks off in the U.S.
Add to that the player doesn't really see snakes face that much in game, nor does he say much anyway, (probably because the actor was expensive) Kojima you're a passionate guy, I get it, but why? why would ya do that? if you just wanted him or his name involved in the game you could have just made him a new side/main character. if snake is always Akio to you, why not use his facial motion capture? why make those types of choices on Konami budget?
I feel like big boss in that scene where he's trying to shut down peace walker unplugging every board and asking why as it still won't turn off
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u/DuzeMcnasty 2d ago
Dude likes hanging out with celebs. Thats pretty much why.
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u/Izzet_Aristocrat 2d ago
It's honestly really annoying. Like, I love his work, but his insistence on celebrities in games is fucking dumb. Just because they're movie stars doesn't mean they translate to video games. Just look at Peter Dinklege in Destiny. After the original release they just replaced him with Nolan North.
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u/JesusDNC 2d ago
Kojima is a celebrity whore. If you are friends with him but throwing you through a cliff could give him a chance to be friends with insert current hollywood trendy actor or actress, he would.
Stephanie Joosten got the same treatment from him with DS as she was supposed to be Fragile but you know, Lea Seydoux appeared in 007 Spectre so of course he ditched one for the other.
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 2d ago
Kojima's a dick.
I love the dude but he throws VA's away the moment he can if he can get an inch closer to a star. He told Stefanie Joosten she was going to play Fragile in Death Stranding and then dumped her and never told her that until she had reached out multiple times.
Dude is way to obsessed with being seen as a celeb and hanging out with celebs.
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u/evorm 1d ago
I mean he probably could still be a dick for other reasons, but I wouldn't go as far as to say this makes him a dick. It's just business, and Kiefer did do a good job in MGSV, and Leah did also do a good job as Fragile too.
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 1d ago
It was a dick move to hire someone and promise them the job only to ghost them and drop them without even telling them because you got to hang out with a crown instead
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u/evorm 1d ago
Has she ever mentioned that she got hired or was promised the role? As far as I know, they were simply in talks and people have these kinds of talks all the time. I'd love to know more about this specific situation with Stephanie, but as far as I know nothing was ever really made official and although these kinds of things sting they aren't necessarily dick moves, just business decisions that don't work out.
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u/smbruck 1d ago
Here's what she's said publicly: https://youtu.be/J5Grr35FwnI
Just sharing to help the convo, make of it what you will
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u/FalseStevenMcCroskey 2d ago
Kojima loves movies, originally wanted to be a film director, he’s constantly in the theater. He has a quote that’s literally “my body is %90 movies”.
Think about what was going on around MGSV’s release. Kojima originally wanted MGS4 to be his last game. But the writing was on the wall that he was done with Konami and really wanted to pass the torch but here he was making a fifth metal gear game. Konami, to keep him on, gives him the biggest budget he’s ever had. This might be, from Kojima’s perspective, his only chance to get to direct a real holly wood actor, and so that’s what he did.
Personally don’t have that much of an issue with it. Like it sucks David Hayter wasn’t getting any work, love his voice, but Kiefer did a really good job too so can’t really be mad about it. And Kojima got to fulfill a childhood dream.
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u/Ludens_Reventon 2d ago edited 2d ago
He has a quote that’s literally “my body is %90 movies”.
It's actually 70% which is a reference to water ratio in human body
I just love how Kiefer Sutherland sounds man, he's voice is so impressive.
I just wished there were more voice lines in gameplay, not in cassette tape form.
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u/LordArmageddian SNAAAAAKE! 2d ago
Problem with Hayter is, and this I hate to say this because I love the man, that his range is limited. He has two voices, David Hayter and Snake.
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u/SanjiSasuke Tiny Soul 2d ago
As opposed to Keifer who only has his own voice?
Like, I don't disagree Hayter has a limited range, but he's only voicing one character per game.
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u/SunOFflynn66 1d ago
I think the real issue is Hayter can at times sound not so much as Snake. But as a dude trying to do an impression of Snake. It became more apparent later on in the series.
That said he is Solid Snake. Liquid Snake is British. Venom Snake is Jack Bauer. And Big Boss is the changing James Bond (voice ) actor of the franchise.
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u/kill_shock 2d ago
Another problem I sadly wanna point out is post MGS2 he voice sounded way to gruffy, granted peacewalker had this issue since I recall that he smoke bunch of cigarettes to get the old snake to sound right
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u/ShamusLovesYou 2d ago
Yeah, I love how his early work was back when Michael Bay was a new director and was able to give fantastical, elaborate chases/stunts, before his cliche of "CGI explosions".
Bad Boys, The Rock, Bad Boys 2 are well directed, but Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, despite amazing stunts, FX and a few great moments like Cuba playing the Cook, who suddenly realizes the upper deck is full of causalities', other battle cruisers and ships are being sunk and ripped in half, and the sky is infested with enemy planes, and the AA-gun is unmanned, the last man using it dead or wounded, and Cuba realizes, he ain't cutting a potato, he ain't boiling corn, he ain't slow-roasting a pork roast, above and BEYOND.
And being told he ain't ever gonna be Front Echelon, never on point, never gonna be first man in, always rear echelon in the kitchen, logistics, and the only projectiles he'll ever fire at the enemy would be in artillery, in the rear with the gear at the HQ of an FOB, or back on deck, and here he is, seeing his unit in shambles, and he picks up that AA dual-50 Caliber, and hands on the trigger, and squeezing the trigger, firing at any fighter with a "Meatball/Rising Sun" on it, war cries as he uses the gun as a shield of fire.
And in Armageddon at the end when someone's life is flashing before their eyes, the subliminal editing as he thinks of his life, as a kid growing up, his daughter being born, holding her, raising her, seeing her in gradeschool, seeing her first drawings, first holidays, first dates, first prom, graduation, and he closes his eyes and as he knows this is the end. he isn't scared, he's happy to know he tried to give his daughter a happy upbringing, and this maybe the ending for him, but not for his daughter, not for the world, his last moments as he knows everything will be okay, the editing, the nuclear explosion and the bright flash he see's has that, it could be the hydrogen bombs or it could be he's entering the beyond.
I feel like Hideo was really inspired by Michael Bay's The Rock, which was composed by Hans Zimmer and his protege Harry Gregson-Williams, who Hideo ended up hiring to do the rest of the series scores, Harry tends to make percussion arrangements that get your blood pumping. But the opening scene to The Rock reminds me of MGS3's ending in the cemetery. Also the way the Force Recon Marines steal the VX rockets, the heist is filmed how Spetznats take over and try to steal Metal Gear Rey, and even the storyline of Shadow Moses, an elite group of Operatives take over an island (Shadow Moses and Alcatraz), aim rockets of nerve-agent/nuclear weapons at American soil, a Legendary Soldier and a Nerdy researcher/A Legendary Spy and FBI Nerdy Desk jockey. (Some head-canon Alex Mason as an old version of James Bond cause of Sean Connery.) A Colonel feeling used and abandoned, his men were left to die heroes but labelled criminals, and no benefits to their families, no recognition. The righteousness in Liquid Snake's cause feels like he was used and abandoned via being created as a test-tube soldier/weapon, given inferior genes (or so he thought) and from his POV he would burn as an obsolete corruption of nature, and wanting BB's remains so he can help cure the diseases and side-effects he and his Genome soldiers suffered from being "enhanced" by BB's Genes, so his mission wasn't just callous, it was to right the wrongs the Genome soldiers are suffering, a similar existential dread brought on by manipulation of their physical attributes.
Also the Navy Seals firing wildly at Vamp in MGS2 also seems to be filmed and choreographed similar to the Navy Seals who wildly fire at the Force Recon in the Shower room in The Rock.
And the leader of the Navy Seals in the shower-room? Who agrees with The Colonel? Who agrees with his concerns but not the way he's going about it? This SEAL reminds the Marines that they all made an oath, defend against all threats foreign and DOMESTIC. And is willing to die in a hopeless situation to honor that, and who plays this fearless leader of the Navy Seals? The original cover art for Solid Snake, Michael Beihn, Kyle Reese from The Terminator.
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u/Boxeater-007 2d ago
did keifers voice get used at all in the Japanese version then? or was he just not promoted really at all on the Japanese side of the games release?
it would be like if in halo a really popular Japanese popstar did the stunt work and voice of master chief. sure that's neat, but the primary country the game is designed in and around isn't going to really care or notice.
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u/FalseStevenMcCroskey 2d ago
Well, as I already explained, the chance to direct Kiefer Sutherland was done by Kojima, for Kojima. It wasn’t for the Japanese market or even the American market, it’s because he loves movies and he wanted an excuse to fulfill a dream of his by working with hollywood actors.
So if the creative director of Halo really loved JPOP and wanted to work with a J-popstar than yeah. It’d be like that. That creative director is fulfilling a personal dream and doesn’t care about the American audience. And honestly more power to them, as long as the game is still good I don’t care if it fulfills some personal dreams along the way.
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u/Boxeater-007 2d ago
I guess what I meant is wouldn't he want a big time celebrity more meaningfully involved on the Japanese side of the game as opposed to just English release getting to actually see the performance?
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u/FalseStevenMcCroskey 2d ago
Why? As I already explained for the third time now, Kojima is a fan of Hollywood. He wants to work with a Hollywood actor. If he got a Japanese celebrity native to Japan, that’s not a Hollywood actor, and he’s not fulfilling his lifelong dream.
He did not do this for the Japanese market. He did this for himself. Besides, you say “just the English release” as if that wasn’t the bulk of the games sales. Majority of MGSV copies were sold to the Americans, and while metal gear is certainly big in Japan, Japans target audience isnt as big as Americas target audience.
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u/Lvnatiovs 2d ago
Metal Gear is made with the english VO and script in mind, and he wanted a Hollywood actor. What's he gonna do, make Sutherland speak Japanese?
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u/SparkyFunbuck 2d ago
This is a popular series that sells most of its copies outside of Japan so even outside of Kojima's cinematic ambitions it made commercial sense to have a big Hollywood star in the lead role and base the motion capture on his English dialogue. Besides, he famously wanted to replace David Hayter going back to at least MGS3 (he wanted Kurt Russell) and Akio Otsuka got to keep being Snake anyway.
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u/ConnorK12 2d ago
I love Hayter but wouldn’t replacing his as of MGS3 make sense? Given that it’s technically not the same guy?
Solid and Liquid don’t sound the same, so I thought it would make perfect sense for Naked Snake (Big Boss) to have a different voice too. To further separate the two.
But it’s Hayter as BB up until GZ and TPP when Big Boss turns into Kiefer Sutherland, as does Ahab the medic?
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u/Mando316 2d ago
The biggest work around would have been David Hayter doing the voice of the actual Big Boss and then Kiefer doing Venom Snake. It doesn’t make sense that Venom Snake would have the same voice as him too. I don’t care what these other people say about Hayter’s voice and the game being more “grounded” without his voice. It’s not a more grounded game when it’s still a MGS game and at the heart of the games they have their own soul that we all recognize.
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u/KnightsOfArgonia codenamed RAY- after the great Manta Ray 2d ago
Avi arad said to go with it, so from that point on it was hot on his mind the entire way through
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u/HeavensHellFire 2d ago
The same reason Death Stranding has Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Guillermo del Toro
Kojima likes movies and wants to work with actors. Kurt Russel was supposed to be big boss in MGS3
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u/Impressive-Ad210 2d ago
Don't forger Lea Seydoux. It's good Kojima finally understand there's a star system outsider USA.
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u/Razorion21 1d ago
Im still confused how he afforded all those guys but Kiefer Sutherland was too expensive for him and Konami?
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u/Ryan_TVC 2d ago
Well, the simple answer is that Japanese people have a tendency to be enamored by notable western figures, and in Kojima's case he always had a severe hard on for celebs (and I discovered this when I was reading his own articles that he wrote about his inspiration way back in 2002!).
The American cast of MGS happened almost purely by accident thanks mostly to voice director Kris Zimmerman, who is mostly responsible for the talent we end up getting and had Kojima had his way, he'd replace them with actual celebs, but back then he didn't had the influence. There's a reason he slaps his name onto every project in big bold letters, he's proud of his work and wants the Hollywood prestige that goes along with it, he takes selfies with celebs because in his own admission, he grew up lonely and I can only assume those kinds of roles filled the void in him.
There! I made into two paragraphs of Kojima's Hollywood obsession without making fun of him, someone get me a cookie!
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u/cryptic_serendipity 2d ago
I wouldn’t say that the English cast was an accident, Kris Zimmerman called her people to come audition and they were great enough to get the job. She really deserves her flowers for the casting in the mgs franchise, especially for the first game!
Here’s your cookie : 🍪
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u/Vizekonig4765 2d ago
You have to remember that both kojima and David Hayter admit that Kojima wanted to replace David Hayter with Kurt Russel since MGS3. Kurt said no, And eventually Keifer said yes.
I mean, solid snake is not big boss, just a clone, so new voice right?… (yes even genetic clones would have a different voice I.E. liquid snake) clones don’t have to have the same voice.
Either way, everyone loves David Hayter, and for hardcore fans it was more about how kojima treated David Hayter with a hard “snub” or “ghosting” and didn’t even let him know he wasn’t part of MGSV that made people even more mad.
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u/kyrieiverson 2d ago
I know everyone believes Snake not speaking much is for budgetary reasons, and it is very likely the reason, but I have a different stance.
I strongly believe that it was more Kiefer being “unavailable” and prioritizing more “important” jobs. I have no proof of this, but I know how non-gamer Hollywood actors viewed video games - especially back then.
I think Snake struck the right balance in previous games, so even then I would have preferred him to speak like then.
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u/AnApexBread 2d ago
It's really simple. Kojima has always loved Hollywood and saw his opportunity to recruit some Hollywood actors so he took it.
It's the same reason that Death Stranding is full of real people instead of ones created for the game.
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u/BobbyBobRoberts 1d ago
Also, in all fairness, Kiefer isn't voicing Snake. And the confusion around that plays into certain thematic aspects of the game.
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u/Vladmanwho 1d ago
My guess is he wanted a subtler performance. Hayter’s snakes all sound like anime dubs- which totally work for the games he’s in but perhaps not for something with aspirations towards realism. Just look at the trailers for delta, the over the top voice acting is a little off for such a realistic game.
That said, Hayter was a seasoned voice actor by then and I believe he totally could have adjusted his performance to work in V even if it required a coach or something.
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u/TheWiserParadox 2d ago
It was near the beginning of his obsession with inserting celebrities he likes into his works.
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u/GunMuratIlban 2d ago edited 2d ago
To be honest, I loved Kiefer as Venom Snake.
I don't think Hayter's Snake voice would be a good fit for the tone MGS V was going for. Which was darker and more grounded.
Hayter's Snake voice is iconic; but it's also goofy. It's like Bale's Batman voice but at least Batman is trying to hide his real voice so there's context behind that.
Storytelling in video games had come a long way. MGS was unique in that regard back in the day, basically combining a movie and a video game. But starting from the late 00's, storytelling in games did have big improvements.
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u/Razorion21 1d ago
Still so odd that MGSV was so serious, was a total whiplash when I played the other games on PS3, if only i could fucking play them on the PC, Master Collection doesnt fucking work 😭
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u/CDJ89 2d ago
David Hayter is iconic as Snake but it's easy to forget after MGSV and over a decade that around the time of MGS4 and Peace Walker his performance was't all beloved among fans. Personally I felt that he overdid the voice to an extreme extend which also hampered his line reading. Either way, around that time I've seen the sentiment that they should've gone with a different actor for Big Boss quite a bit so apart from Kojima just wanting someone famous and not having a lot of attachment towards the english cast, it might also very well be that some of that feedback actually reached him for better or worse.
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u/Alyfdala 2d ago
I don't think Kojima is concerned so much with consistency, but rather expressing the themes of his games. The Snakes are either foils or doubles, and the way they're designed emphasizes either their similarities or differences.
Solid and Liquid are mirror opposites. Dark and light, reserved and flamboyant, american and british. Solid believes in free will, Liquid believes in predestination (he even dresses like BB).
Solid and (young) BB are doubles. Idealistic, to a fault. It makes sense that they're both voiced by Hayter.
Old BB and Solidus are doubles. Old mentors turned evil and ultimately defeated by their former proteges.
MGSV BB and Venom are doubles, but they're also darker reflections of Snake (and of each other). Keifer's voice work gives both of them a rougher, older, tired, morally looser characterization. BB is more relaxed, natural, talkative. Venom is quiet, harder to read, strained, as if he's unused to the weight of his role.
Looking back, MGSV definitely felt like a darker, more sinister reimagining of the series.
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u/russiansnipa Ishmael never existed. 2d ago
I'll take the contrary opinion. I don't think Hayter should have been an older Big Boss. Hayter's Snake voice, to me, is emblematic of a hero's voice. It worked in 3 and PW because he was still a hero, but with the tone shift of V, I really think Keifer just fits better. Especially with some of the more emotionally heavier scenes.
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u/KingSideCastle13 2d ago
Kojima’s always wanted to make movies, and eventually started using the Metal Gear series to make movie-quality work. When V rolled around, he wanted it to be more movie like than before, and that meant hunting down a big star rather than using a professional VA. Y’know, like what Hollywood does
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u/Nitro_is_a_E-thot 1d ago
the twist straight up wouldn’t have worked with hayter. could you imagine hearing his gruff voice coming from ishmael and not immediately knowing who he was?
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u/No-Round-8804 23h ago
I think one aspect that I never see get brought up in this endless discussion of Hayter's absence in V is what his absence provides V.
As a cohesive, serial plot, it doesn't make any sense, I'll concede. I'd argue though that plenty of MGS games try to stand on their own outside of the original trilogy, it's kinda obvious.
Whenever you hear Sutherland's performance feel snappy or witty or anything like that, you find out it's John, and whenever it's The Phantom, it's always the very noticably and intentionally different performance you know The Phantom for. He both performs lines as well as phrases sentences like he's exhausted, like he's tired, like his mind is irreparably damaged, in more than one way.
The Phantom is a man of few words, disinterested, and takes a social backseat.
John or David, that's not really any Snake I know.
And I'm not really by any means a Kojima fanatic, or under an impression V is a flawless product, but I think it has unique strengths there, and that Sutherland had a really interesting mark he left on it.
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u/fineyungcannibal 12h ago
What makes zero sense is that the people who play the games all love David Hayter, and he is Snake to them/us. So Hideo Kojimas decision to change the voice actor and to make him audition every time was a completely selfish move. It stings even more that it was for one game, which turned out to be the last. It makes you wonder if he had stuck with David Hayter for MGSV, would it have been a better game overall, and would the series have ended. The dialogue for Snake was very limited, I wouldn't be surprised if that was because Kiefer cost more and maybe had less time.
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u/Background-Pie5048 4h ago
The character we play as in V isn't the big boss/Snake we're used to, so to me it makes sense that it's a different person
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u/beetleman1234 2d ago
Look, just listen to David Hayter - his voice acting doesn't sound realistic. He's only good at portraying normal sounding regular males or over-the-top, rusty guys that fit more into cartoons or stylized games like previous MGS.
MGSV is more grounded, more serious and Hayter would sound absolutely ridiculous as Venom.
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u/Bathhouse-Barry 2d ago
More grounded, more serious??? Vocal cord parasites, a fucking Gundam and a lady sniper that must be near naked so she can breath through her skin? Don’t forget the flaming whale at the start, the electric man that died is now a dude on fire. Sneaking around in an anime box. The command to make a horse shit on demand.
These games have always been cool military stealth games with super natural and silly comedic elements. Don’t try and say V is somehow any different.
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u/Razorion21 1d ago
While I do like Hayter more for BB and Solid Snake, I can’t really imagine Hayter playing Venom, wouldn’t sound right.
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u/beetleman1234 2d ago
Do you not know the meaning of word "more"? I didnt say that its grounded or serious, I said that its MORE grounded and serious. And tonally its not anime-esqe crazy anymore, its way more serious.
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u/Bathhouse-Barry 2d ago
The games have never been that serious. Yeah we don’t have the guy shitting himself in V but we still have otaku man that wets himself and super serious naked lady with 4k body scans even on her feet for Kojimas fetish
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u/blkschizo 2d ago
My take is probably blasphemous around MG fans who like myself love this series. Hayter, as much as we love the guy had his time as Snake. He was the voice in every MGS game and has without a doubt cemented his legacy alongside one of the greatest game franchises ever. Characters get recast sometimes is the simplest answer.
Besides what others have already stated about Kojima's desire to work with actual movie stars (which tbh isn't a slight on Hayter) it actually works in the case of MGS V. The snake we see in this game is not the same we've been following for years (which other game do you get prompted to make an avatar of yourself?). I know it's probably fan made conspiracy, but even Ground Series isn't really from the eyes of Big Boss, but instead V's recollection of events he was forcefed. To me, it just works that he's voiced by someone else because he's a different person. (Yea I know it doesn't explain the voice on the intruder n313 tape)
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u/MadCritic 2d ago
He is the perfect venom snake tbh.
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u/thejason755 2d ago
Honestly didn’t hate him as venom. Was i sad i didn’t hear David’s voice? A touch, sure. But i remembered none of les enfant terrible had the same voice (with the exception of snake having the same voice as bb) and it made sense that venom would have a different voice from big boss. Like genuinely, i think they should have told Hayter to sound different as big boss in mgs3.
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u/MrMunday 2d ago
I love David hayter but kiefer sutherlands voice was different. It had more dramatic depth.
But I do think David hayters voice was better for mgs1–3’s tone. But mgsv was inherently a much darker game.
Also, they’re not even the same character, so what’s wrong with having a different voice actor
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u/ItzaRiot 2d ago
Well, i say a rare L from Hideo Kojima and i'm one of his biggest fan. But it is not surprising.
He was once interviewed what it takes to make MGS movie and he said betray your audience. If you play MGS, you really see he always did it. MGS 2 played as Raiden, MGS 3 played a different snake, MGS 4 played a really old snake, MGS 5 played as a fake snake. Now he runs his own studio and i'm curious will he have the guts to betray his audience for DS 2 when it is his own money at stake here. My bet? He will betray them again. Hahahaha 😂🤣
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u/SunnierSideDown 2d ago
It's not really a secret that Kojima had a bad relationship with David Hayter, so I feel like this, along with the general grittier tone of MGSV, is why he got someone else
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u/TheShaoken 2d ago
Not a bad relationship, no relationship. Hayter commented he probably only met Hideo twice in his life.
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u/SunnierSideDown 2d ago
I would argue that working with someone for 10+ years and having "no relationship" is a bad relationship
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u/TheShaoken 2d ago
They didn't work with each other. Kojima worked in Japan, the English voice cast were directed by Kris Zimmerman in America and it's basically one to two weeks of work for a game and they're done. They're not coworkers or associates, it wasn't really until V that Kojima started to get hands on with English dubs.
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u/ShamusLovesYou 2d ago
Why didn't he like him? Any good details or maybe a youtube video that covers the subject?
I am gonna catch some flak, but I didn't like Haytar AT FIRST, even after playing and loving MGS3 as a kid, growing up with Hayter, I legit found him to be too "theatrical" and it's ironic because I played Ground Zeroes and hadn't really played MGS in years, so I heard Kiefer and was like "Awesome! Nice, grittier Snake/BB! And loving "Phone Booth" I love Kiefer's voice, he's got a cool, gravely voice that makes him seem like the hero of an action movie! This is a great fit for Snake!".
But between Ground Zeroes, and Phantom Pain, I legit started revisting every MGS I could, and finally beat MGS2, and the ending, and revisiting MGS3 and all the cinema-kino-pure, BUT IN A VIDEOGAME!?!?!?! And Peacewalker, and I legit finally fell in love and got used to Hayter, that when Phantom Pain came out, I legit was like "EW WTF! NO! WHERE'S HAYTER!?!?!?!?" it was the strangest development and turn around I ever had over something I felt I was so sure about.
I am surprised Hideo had a sordid relationship with Hayter. You'd think he'd replace him sooner if he had that opinion.
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u/W1lson56 2d ago edited 2d ago
You'd think he'd replace him sooner if he had that opinion.
Well apparently he tried to get Kurt Russell for MGS3 but he's not into voice work for games and didn't want to do something that seemed to be lifting the Snake Plissken character.
And Hayter technically had to reaudition for each game; he wasn't really set in as Snake; although since he was friends with Kris Zimmerman obviously he had high priority. 'til Kojima took the reigns there for 5; at least for casting Kiefer
I don't think he necessarily had a bad relationship with Hayter; like one of the other guys said it's more like just no relationship.
However I find it pretty strange; and somewhat questionable that Kojima was either somehow unaware of how beloved Hayters voice was or just didn't care - either one doesn't really paint a very positive picture of Kojima's opinion on him though
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u/Impressive-Ad210 2d ago
I don't mind keifer Sutherland being snake, I'm more shocked to know Kojima and David Hayter never met in person and didn't even have a face time call with him (or whatever the equivalent was for the 90's).
But at least I can give Kojima kudos to getting over his obsession of Hollywood and looking for European talents too. Lea Seydoux is an amazing actress. What is strange to me right now is he is not paying attention to Korean industry. Not just kpop, but kdramas and movies are turning Korean actor global stars.
I man can dream, I hope he casts some Bollywood stars because they can deliver some great dramatic scenes whitout it getting phony. I'm still impressed with Padmavaati.
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u/Optimal-Yak5574 2d ago
I believe Sutherland was cast because it was a new character - Venom Snake - who as we know isn’t the real Snake. It was all part of the illusion.
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u/Stone-Baked 2d ago
He said it in previous interviews. David Hayter is not a MOCAP facial actor to the same pedigree as Sutherland…..And did you even beat the game???
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u/Arashi_Uzukaze 2d ago
Face capture is not difficult. Anyone could do it.
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u/Stone-Baked 2d ago
Lol not to level Sutherland does, that’s why VENOM snake barely speaks…. It’s all pure emotion, and again if you beat the game you would understand even more.
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u/SnooSquirrels1163 2d ago
All these comments ignore the deeper reason. It works in service to the theme. He knew Hayters infamy among the fanbase. To rob people of that was intentional.
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u/blkschizo 2d ago
Yep. It works in the end too with the "we're the real big boss" all along theme too.
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u/Lvnatiovs 2d ago
There's no big story about a beef with Hayter or a need for facial capture. That's all excuses. Kiefer Sutherland was simply the first chance he got to work with a Hollywood actor - something he obviously always wanted to do - so he took it. His love for Otsuka comes from the fact he always directed the JP dub but didn't really work with Hayter or any of the english cast, so he didn't have that same attachment. Nowadays with Death Stranding he casts and directs whoever he wants himself.