Interview with Michael McConnohie (Voice Actor for Dr. Kaufmann in Shattered Memories) (Silent Haven)

Date published: 2011.06.08
Source: Silent Haven

Alright Silent Hill fans this is a much anticipated one. I had the great honor of interviewing one of the greatest voice actors in the video gaming industry, Michael McConnohie. McConnohie is the President of the Nevada-based Voxworks voice-acting corporation and has been in over 170 titles, usually voicing charismatic characters.

He has done anime roles such as Enma from Naruto and Mobile Suit Gundam’s Ramba Ral. He has written directed and voice acted for the Transformers TV series. He has been apart of Power Rangers and voiced such characters as Master Tatsu in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and Etiquette Master in the animated film Little Nemo. He famously voice acted in such video games as Crackdown, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Mortal Kombat.

However, you may know him best as Dr. Michael Kaufmann from Silent Hill: Shattered memories. Michael McConnohie, in the interview, gives his philosophy of voice acting, talking about suits and the business of voice acting behind Shattered Memories. He answers questions about his work as the strong voiced Dr. Kaufmann in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories as well. I want to take the moment to thank Michael McConnohie for taking the time to really go into detail with me on my questions, It is a true honor and I am very grateful.

Michael McConnohie: I can’t really give your readers anything about game design, storyline, or other actors. Acting types rarely (i.e., pretty much never) get complete scripts of a game. For one thing, with the complexity of games today, such a script could be six inches thick or more; thousands and thousands of dialogue and reaction lines. There aren’t enough trees around to do that for every actor. Usually we just get our own lines and some (very) general guidelines on context so we can have a little idea of how to approach a given situation. Sometimes we’ll get a minutes’ worth or so of background on our character — a thumbnail so we have something to hang our performances on.

Likewise we don’t tend to get in-depth knowledge of other characters except something like “this guy’s trying to take over thus-and-such, and you’re in his way” or “that guy’s always been jealous of you” or “she blames you for her father’s death and wants you to suffer” or something like that.

I personally have never been given a list of other actors working in a game… Partially that’s due to privacy concerns, especially where name actors are concerned, but more generally it’s just part of the general paranoid pattern of game production.

Silent Haven: Is it common for producing companies to do this in the video gaming industry?

Michael McConnohie: It’s been the case for every major game I’ve ever worked on, bar none.

Silent Haven: You said that the producing companies are paranoid. What would they be paranoid about?

Michael McConnohie: Damn good question. Movie studios are the same, by the way. I blame the lawyers (but then I blame lawyers for a lot of things I don’t like). They have the coolest gig there is — they define the parameters of their own jobs, and then tell everyone else their safety and security (and paychecks) depend on doin what the lawyers say. This results in corporate memos requiring everyone to do things like refer to projects by code names so outsiders don’t have the chance to steal their proprietary genius ideas. Everyone signs non-disclosure agreements before working; hell, we have to sign NDAs before we can even audition. And we’re subject to legal action if we talk about a project or what we’re doing on it prior to its release.

There’s all this secrecy and security and no one’s allowed to even mention a project’s real name … and yet there’s always a promotional web site and a continuing series of press releases about the game during production. It’s a crazy business model, and the more money that’s generated by the industry, the worse the paranoia becomes. But what do I know, I’m just “talent…”.

Silent Haven: You basically said you went into the project blind. Wouldn’t this affect your performance as an an actor?

Michael McConnohie: Ohhh, yeah, but that’s more good than bad. The beauty part of being an actor with a solid character to portray is that once it’s set, once that character becomes a personality with its own motivations and drives and desires, I’m blessed with not having to think about how I would react in a given situation. I don’t have to figure out exactly what I’ll do or how I’ll feel — the personality we’ve created has its own existence and just takes whatever tuens it needs to for a given moment And trust me, Kaufman was creepy.

Silent Haven: How much knowledge did you have of Silent Hill prior to your work on Silent Hill?

Michael McConnohie: Honestly, zip point zilch. I knew there had been aSilent Hill movie earlier, and that it had been based on a game. But as for details, characters, plot lines … not a damn thing, which was incredibly liberating. No preconceptions. Then working with the director and the producers in the booth, we arrived at a reality for Doc K. Which, judging from various reactions since, apparently worked for the players as well.

Silent Haven: You, along with the other actors were uncredited in Shattered Memories. Does this frequently happen in video games or is this not normal?

Michael McConnohie: Oh, it’s far more often the case than not. For a lot of reasons, game companies might not want to muddy their credits with the names of actors. (And considering the monumental amount of work done by hundreds if not thousands of people before actors are ever even cast, I can understand that. That’s one of the reasons I support the approach at BlizzCon, for example, where game designers are the first ones signing autographs. That’s only fair.)

But fortunately or unfortunately, there always seems to be someone who has some knowledge of the production and leaks a little bit of actor info … then some players with really good ears start listening even harder, and soon enough we’re listed on IMDb or MobyGames or whatever — and once the info’s on one site, it spreads at the speed of cut-and-paste on all the other sites.

Silent Haven: You said you don’t know anything of the story or the other characters before hand or during the project. Do you ever go back and play the video games you were a part of out of interest or to see how the final project turned out?

Michael McConnohie: Nope. Never. This may be hard to believe for some gamers, but like the vast majority of actors who work in games … I don’t play them. At all. Of course, there are a few who do, but a very small fraction or working actors. As far as how a game turns out, if it works or not … the players, the market will let us know.

To begin with, if I wanted to play even a little of every game I’ve ever worked on, I would need to live a really, really l-o-n-g time. (Which I am planning on doing, of course — just not in front of a computer or game console. There are too many beautiful tropical islands out there.)

Far more importantly, though — this is my field of professional endeavor. My career, my job, my place of employment; you get the idea. Most fans can’t understand this; it seems to be the perfect life, being able to spend every waking moment enjoying games one way or another… But that’s the problem. I can’t enjoy them, I can’t divorce myself from what went into making them. I can admire a story line or performance, marvel at some really cool aspect of game play, a clever bit of coding, some really sweet texture work… But I can’t lose myself in a game.

Unfortunately, it’s the same thing with TV and movies. I admire performances, interesting lighting, subtle camera work, intelligent direction… I see all of the technical aspects and appreciate them for what they are, but I can’t immerse myself in that artificial world. I keep recognizing too many friends and being pulled out of it. “Oh so-and-so phoned that one in; wow, that was hysterical; hey, they really sold that scene,” or whatever.

Even in a movie theater, I know three seconds ahead of time when the film reel is going to change. Kinda sad, really; but that’s the price of following the acting muse. You lose your sense of wonder and involvement.

…And if someone still doesn’t understand, look at it this way: how many accountants go home at night and do tax returns to relax?

Silent Haven: Were you aware that you were a part of a re-creation project adapted from the first Silent Hill?

Michael McConnohie: Again, nope. Even until now I thought it was just another link in the chain of a very successful game franchise. Damn. Now you’re making me think. Hold on… (Time passes on the World Wide Interweb Thingy. God bless YouTube.) Oh man, you forced me to do research. It was a REBOOT. Now I’m really glad I didn’t know anything about it beforehand. It definitely would have colored my performance.

Silent Haven: You played a pretty important role within the game as a Psychiatrist/Psychologist which the games story is based around. Is psychology something that interests you?

Michael McConnohie: Oh, come on — I spend my life being other people, with all their quirks, desires, motivations and secrets. What do you think?

Silent Haven: What was significantly different about your work on Silent Hill compared to your other work?

Michael McConnohie: Oh, praise the game gods, I didn’t have to scream or die countless times. I got to just quietly be. So many of the games I work in have a fight or war of some kind going on (conflict being the essence of drama); so there are shrieks, screams, yells, attacks, death reactions. And while it means a paycheck, it also means a day or two of being unable to work because I’ve blown out my voice. For this one I got to — very quietly and calmly — commit the sickest, most twisted, wretched emotional manipulation… Damn, what fun! (Well, that answers the question of “is psychology something that interests me,” doesn’t it?)

Silent Haven: Do you prefer voice acting in video games than voice acting in other animation or even on stage or live theatrical acting?

Michael McConnohie: No, not really. When I say “it’s all good,” that’s what I mean. Some jobs are easier than others, some shorter; but all have something for a person who spends his life being somone else. (Side note: cute short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. called “Who Am I This Time?” that I recommend for those who read… If you need a movie, there’s one withChristopher Walken and Susan Sarandon, but the story’s better. And shorter.)

Stage gives immediate feedback; when a performance is clicking, you know it instantly — the audience doesn’t make a sound. And when you get genuine applause, it’s a helluva paycheck. Not so much the case in film, TV, animation or games where by the time there’s an audience the actor doesn’t remember most of what was done. On the other hand, I just appeared at a convention based on the Transformers series I did in 1985 where I had three generations of a family coming up for autographs, and here we are dissecting a game that came out a couple years ago. Instant gratification vs. longer-lasting interest. Is one or the other better? Somebody ought to do some kind of psych study on that. (Not me, thank you.)

Silent Haven: Overall, was Konami and the Silent Hill team pleasant to work with?

Michael McConnohie: Incredible. After umpty-ump months (or was it years?) of prep, they finally reached the point of putting acting performances into the game — and they were absolutely and fully engaged in yet another very lengthy process with no hint of burnout. Good senses of humor, while maintaining full focus on the work as we all pitched in to flesh out Dr. Kaufman. Usually the committee approach to creativity isn’t a very good one, but these guys were in the same groove from start to finish. Can’t say enough good about them. Would I work with that crew again? Abso-friggin’-lutely, stone pros, all of ‘em.