Snake voice actor David Hayter was befuddled by Metal Gear Solid’s convoluted plot: ‘I’d be like ‘what does this mean?’ and they’d say ‘just say it”

Actor, writer and director David Hayter has had a long and successful career in multiple industries, but for videogame fans he’ll always be the voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss. The first 3D entry in the Metal Gear series, 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, was a cinematic leap forward in an era where videogame voice acting was in its infancy, and Hayter’s gruff performance as the battle-weary Solid Snake gave the character a believability and depth that simply wasn’t common at the time.

In a new interview with Fall Damage (spotted by GR+) Hayter discusses his time on the series, how he settled on Snake’s voice, and whether he had any clue about what was going on. “When we started Metal Gear and I started taking on Snake, I didn’t want him to sound like Kurt Russell from Escape from New York,” says Hayter.

Snake’s character was modelled after Russell’s character Snake Plissken, something that Hideo Kojima would explicitly acknowledge in MGS2 by making the character’s alias Iroquois Pliskin. “I knew that there were similarities there and I felt like he needed to sound more weathered, you know,” recalls Hayter. “That he had been through a lot more than I had been through at that point in my life.”

Elsewhere in the interview Hayter is asked about the often baffling plot that unfolds across the games, which is rammed with double-bluffs, triple agents, shadowy cabals, outright misinformation, and countless references to real-world events and organisations. The story is often brilliant: but there is simply no denying that it is initially very hard to get your head around some of what it’s doing.

“Do I understand the story of Metal Gear Solid? Uh, basically I do,” says Hayter. “Do I understand all of it? Absolutely not. I didn’t understand all of it while we were recording it. I’d be like ‘What does this mean?’ and they’d say, ‘just say it.’ And I’d be like, ‘Okay.'”

One of my favourite lines in Metal Gear Solid 2 comes when Commandant Scott Dolph exclaims in surprise “the La-li-lu-le-lo”, a moment I admire mainly because the voice actor doesn’t crack up as he’s delivering it. But that’s the kind of script these games have: at times they’re utterly wacky but, as Hayter points out, that’s the secret sauce.

“That’s what makes Metal Gear, Metal Gear.” says Hayter. “There’s more information. There’s more character development. There’s more detail to the story than you can ever possibly absorb, no matter how many times you play it. That’s what makes the world feel real and rich and lovable.”

Hayter himself has made a welcome return as the face of the now Kojima-less series for Konami, as the publisher gradually feels its way back into the series (most recently with the excellent remake Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater). Speaking last year, Hayter says he can see a future for the series without Kojima, but boy is it gonna be different.

“I think it’s absolutely possible,” said Hayter. “Will it be the same? No. There’s no way to replicate his exact genius, his exact weirdness, his specific personality.

“I’ve been a working screenwriter for 26 straight years and written on countless pieces, and I think I’m pretty good at it. but I look at the Metal Gear scripts, and I’m like, ‘I could never do this.'”