‘Metal Gear Solid’ enthusiasts have opposed when it was announced that longtime veteran voice actor David Hayter would no longer be playing the role of Naked Snake, also known as Big Boss, and his clone, Solid Snake. But ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ and its standalone prequel, ‘Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’, were not the prime time was set to be dismissed.
[blockquote cite=”David Hayter”]I had to re-audition for Metal Gear [Solid] 3 to play Naked Snake. They made me re-audition to play Old Snake, and the whole time, they were trying to find somebody else to do it. I heard that Kojima asked one of the producers on Metal Gear [Solid] 3 to ask Kurt Russell if he would take over for that game.[/blockquote]
When time came for advancement on ‘Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’ and ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’, David Hayter was not formally notified that he had been redeemed. Alternately, he said that he just happened to encounter one of the producers at a recording studio, the two had a few drinks, and he was told then that there would be no need for him to audition or work out a deal.
David Hayter called the situation a “debacle,” and said he does not plan to play either of the most recent listings. “That will be sixty hours of humiliation that I cannot get to,” he said. “It is just too painful.”
Lest you are holding out optimism that David Hayter might reunite with series creator Hideo Kojima now that the latter is free of Konami Holdings Corporation, just don’t. “I have got no particular love for Hideo Kojima,” he said. “I do not feel any need to go back and work with him again.” We are assuming that he will remain as the man we all remember him as, and David Hayter does not have any more tears to shed.
‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ is an open world action-adventure stealth video game developed by Kojima Productions, directed, designed, co-produced and co-written by Hideo Kojima, and published by Konami Holdings Corporation for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It was released worldwide on September 1st, 2015. The game is the eleventh canonical and final installment in the ‘Metal Gear’ series and the fifth within the series’ chronology.
