Quinton Flynn interview—October 2008 (part 2)

 Audio

|Length: 17:54| Download the audio! (.zip)|

Part 2 of 2

This part, the second part and conclusion, is my favorite and contains my favorite answer that Quinton gave to a question. He gave a very honest and real look into the world of being a voice actor without a contractual commitment to a series of any kind (or being freelance as he said). It’s a part of voice acting—or show business in general—that a lot of people don’t think about as they’re day dreaming of getting the role to voice or play an awesome video game character or a kick-ass superhero (like I myself have often done). I know for sure now that I love stability and knowing how my rent is going to get paid each month way too much to commit whole heartedly to something as uncertain as a career like that in Hollywood. And really, if you’re not going to leap over with reckless abandonment like Quinton or some of the other wonderfully talented voice over artists I know out there, is there a reason at all to even look over the edge?

I hope you guys enjoy the conclusion.

- AM

AM: Do you have a project that you’ve always wanted to do but have yet been able to?

QF: Actually, there’s a writer I work with named Richard Harrell back in Cleveland and he and I have a couple of original projects that we’d like to do. We have a feature film idea and we also have an independent short. Then also, we’ve come up with a couple of [projects]–one is a sitcom, one is a drama—that someday we would like to have see the light of day. I would love to see also where Adventures in Anime could go. I would love for the industry and Hollywood to get hip to what we’re doing and maybe want to band with us to make something of that.

AM: I definitely would love to see that happen.

QF: It’s not unlike Flight of the Conchords or Curb Your Enthusiasm or [The] Sarah Silverman Show or maybe the old Smothers Brothers show. And also, it can be a little sitcomy as well. It’s fun to do that and also have the original music accompanying it. God knows what could happen with it.

Also, for a number of years, I’ve wanted to do a solo album and at some point, that may happen.

[Note: Where's the pre-order button?!]

AM: Very cool! I’ll look forward to that.

QF: Thank you.

AM: Do you feel your opinion of show business has changed for the better or worse since actually being in it?

QF: I think the worse because it’s gotten real and growing up I had a fantasy, like anybody, when I was watching everything through television or a movie theater or listening to the radio. [I had] no idea the real mechanics behind it. It seemed so magical to me. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, I’ve been probably working as a professional voice actor for about 15 years. Before that, I was doing various things…music and comedy, little things here and there. I actually did some extras work and I actually did some work as a production assistant [and] production coordinator. The more I’ve been in it, the more real it’s become in that it is an industry just like any other business and there are so many people who make it up.

The difficult thing for it in my position being a freelancer is that unless I was to get a series of some kind, there is an instability. So five days a week, I have to be available for auditions…or interviews. I have explained it to some people that have steady jobs as: You have a steady job, you get paid X amount of dollars and you’ve got your insurance and you get paid holidays. Imagine if your job was to look for work five days a week. So, that’s the trade off in being in the kind of profession that I’m in. When we’re working, it’s great and when we’re not, it can be a little scary. Also, celebrities are doing a lot more work in the field that I’m in that weren’t when I started. So, there aren’t as many opportunities as there once were but there’s always been an ebb and flow. So, it’s anybody’s guess what’s next.

AM: I want to dip into Metal Gear very briefly because Guns of the Patriots came out this year in June and was a huge success and completely blew up…

QF: Was I even in that?

AM: Yeah! You had a tiny role, this guy named Raiden. Barely seen.

QF: Oh, right. Just making sure.

AM: One of my very best friends, who’s also a huge Metal Gear fan, he says that Raiden is sort of the ultimate “f you” from Kojima because in Sons of Liberty, he’s the rookie and he’s kind of whiny and you’re kind of forced to play through him after the first hour. But, in Guns of the Patriots, he’s completely awesome and guess what? Computer character. Were you happy with the direction Raiden was taken in in MGS4?

QF: I loved it. In fact, I guess the way I describe him is a kick ass, world weary, war torn cyborg ninja. He went from in here: “Come on, Snake!” [Quinton uses his MGS2 voice which was naïve, full of youthful passion and perhaps even a little hope] to “Snake, now it’s my turn to save you” [Quinton dials down the above mentioned traits and switches to his MGS4 voice, one full of the pain and hardship of of being betrayed, seeing war, and waging internal battles with himself]. Something like that. It would sound different over a proper microphone but his intensity changed for sure.

I loved what we did with the original role of Raiden. My experience was completely different from that of the gamer because I was going in acting with other actors and actresses that loved his dialog…and it was just a terrific acting experience. But once it’s put into the game and it’s in someone else’s hands and it comes out the other side, that’s something else. So, I don’t have the experience gamers had and, of course, because this was the second installment in the series, no one was expecting this character. And there was a lot of pro and con about Raiden and there was all this hoopla. But then, what I found is that over the years, it kind of died down and people started to like the original Raiden. But anyone who stuck to their guns and said, “Nope, I can’t stand him”, they were all thrilled with the new Raiden and I think that’s great. I think everybody’s happy now.

AM: I personally never had a problem with Raiden. When I was playing through Sons of Liberty for the first time and Raiden was thrown into there, I did kind of have a “what the fuck” moment but aside from that, I thought Raiden was great. As I heard one Metal Gear fan say, Raiden was great because in the Metal Gear before that, Solid Snake had kind of gotten screwed and the way that Raiden got screwed, that would have never ever actually happened to Snake again. So it was only right to have someone there who wasn’t as experienced to fall for that trap again.

QF: Sure. And I think anyone else who perhaps didn’t like Raiden in that game was happy when Snake would make snide little comments toward him.

AM: [laughs] Yeah!

QF: It was almost like Snake was speaking for the gamer.

AM: Exactly. Now, I know you’re a huge fan of music as we’ve established a little bit earlier. If you had to live the rest of your life with one song on infinite repeat, what would it be?

QF: Oh boy, that’s hard. I can’t give just one. It’d either be “Hey Jude” by The Beatles, penned by Paul McCartney, “Golden Slumbers”by The Beatles, penned by Paul McCartney, or “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles, penned by George Harrison.

[Note: Yes, he really is THAT big a fan.]

AM: Now, you know that movie Across the Universe came out last year. Have you seen it?

QF: I was in a video store when they had it on and I started watching it and I didn’t like it. And I know there is a younger demographic out there who really liked it…but it didn’t speak to me. I’ve heard so many people do version of The Beatles’ songs and great versions that I love. Earth, Wind, and Fire did a great version of “Got to Get You Into My Life” and Aerosmith did a great version of “Come Together” and both those songs were from a film that Robert Stigwood did in the late 70s called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band that features The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. It also featured George Burns, Steve Martin, and Alice Cooper and a lot of other people and to watch it, that would be a guilty pleasure and I might have to put it on pause from time to time to check my teeth for cavities cause that film wasn’t so great and the versions weren’t too great but those two versions of the songs were awesome.

Richie Havens did a great cover of “Here Comes the Sun” and there’s probably plenty of other versions that I’m not thinking of but when I saw what they did with Across the Universe, to me, it was nothing new that I haven’t seen before. I just didn’t buy a lot of it. It was a mix of the Sgt. Pepper’s movie I mentioned with some of the darkness of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, maybe a taste of The Who’s Tommy. I don’t think I’m the audience they were going for. They had a particular way they were trying to paint the era at the time with the songs and to me, it was bullshit. It just seemed like a bad commercial. It didn’t ring true for me and I don’t think it was an authentic reenactment of the time. Some people dug it, other people like me went ‘blah’. And I might be the minority and that’s okay.

AM: No, I’m right there with you! I watched it for the first time a few nights ago and visually, it was gorgeous but I didn’t buy it. I did buy the chemistry that was supposed to exist between the two [main] characters, I didn’t buy any of it.

So, what’s coming up for you projects wise?

QF: Well, I’m doing a radio spot on Monday.

[laughter]

QF: I’m also finishing up the third song, “The Yaoi Song”, I was talking about. We’re on post production on that for Adventures in Anime. Later down the road, Jeff and I are going to do a version that maybe cuts together from live performances we did. Aside from that, I do have a couple of projects that I’m involved in that I can’t talk about and then, I don’t know. We’ll see what auditions come across the table.

AM: A while back, you did a mockumentary called A Hard Day’s Day which I’ve always been insanely curious about but I don’t think there’s a way to get this on DVD is there?

QF: At one time, the producer was taking orders and then, that seemed to fall away. I worked on that with Dave Kessler who directed the film and wrote it and I did some punch ups on it as well. He and I even did some additional footage like behind the scenes extra interviews for a DVD but at this point, it has yet to be released. I don’t know why but I do know that obviously, you can see it on Youtube anytime.

AM: [laughs]

QF: But if we’re lucky, sometime down the road, maybe we’ll get to put that together and release it. That would be fun.

AM: In a movie mockumentary documenting the life and times of Quinton Flynn, would you like to see Paul McCartney play you?

QF: That would be fantastic…if he has the range!

AM: Yeah, he might be a little limited.

QF: [in Paul's British accent] No disrespect to Paul. I mean, c’mon man!

***

Don’t forget to check Quinton and Jeff Nimoy out on their web series Adventures in Anime. A very special thanks to Quinton for talking with me so openly, honestly, and passionately about all his many loves.

*There were a few bits of precious audio that had to be edited out of the interview for time. But don’t worry, I put them on ice and kept them cool just for your listening pleasure. You can check it out by clicking here!*

< Back to Part 1