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It's a damn shame Billy Zane never appeared as Ansem again after KH1

Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,297
Everything he says.... is just hammy gold. Richard Epcar took a couple of games to be able to live up to it. (His first attempt in II... hoo boy)

"Welcome the darkness into your heart."

"SUBMIT!!!!!"

"HUNG GUARDIAN!"

Was there ever a reason why Billy Zane didn't continue as Ansem?

I imagine his recording process for this game was "Okay, I have no idea what any of this is about... but I'm going to have FUN."
 
Boy

Boy

Member
Apr 24, 2018
4,565
Everytime i see his name i think about him saying " I HAVE A CHILD!!"
 
Nickgia

Nickgia

Member
Dec 30, 2017
2,265
ThirdUnevenGoral-max-1mb.gif


Still the best speech in KH.
 
Arkeband

Arkeband

Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,663
Uzumaki Goku said:
Was there ever a reason why Billy Zane didn't continue as Ansem?
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I believe Zane got kind of thrown under the bus in Hollywood after he was in "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" post-9/11, but I don't know if that contributed to S-E's voice acting decisions. It's possible that someone at Disney had an axe to grind.

Google brings up this reddit thread, though:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
 
Dlent

Dlent

Member
Nov 2, 2017
178
IIRC, Disney cut ties with him after he played a role in an anti-American, middle eastern film. I missed him, too.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,662
Arkeband said:
I believe Zane got kind of thrown under the bus in Hollywood after he was in "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" post-9/11, but I don't know if that contributed to S-E's voice acting decisions. It's possible that someone at Disney had an axe to grind.

Google brings up this reddit thread, though:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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Hmm according to that thread, it seems on the surface at least they just didn't want to pay Zane to reprise his role. If I remember right, there were a few celebrities that didn't reprise their roles in the second game. Mandy Moore as Aerith being one of them.

I'd believe in Disney nixing him after the Valley of the Wolves role too.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,297
Kyrios said:
Hmm according to that thread, it seems on the surface at least they just didn't want to pay Zane to reprise his role. If I remember right, there were a few celebrities that didn't reprise their roles in the second game. Mandy Moore as Aerith being one of them.

I'd believe in Disney nixing him after the Valley of the Wolves role too.
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Yeah, who they got to play Aerith in KH2.... kinda sucked.
 
Okabe

Okabe

Is Sometimes A Good Bean
Member
Aug 24, 2018
19,939
Its because he was on THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIVERRR
 
SteelBeast6Beets

SteelBeast6Beets

Banned
May 13, 2019
1,589
I agree with everything the OP states. KH's Ansem still has my favourite VO in video games.

Kyrios said:
Hmm according to that thread, it seems on the surface at least they just didn't want to pay Zane to reprise his role. If I remember right, there were a few celebrities that didn't reprise their roles in the second game. Mandy Moore as Aerith being one of them.

I'd believe in Disney nixing him after the Valley of the Wolves role too.
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David Boreanaz didn't reprise his role as Leon either.

Kyrios said:
Mena Suvari. She was in American Beauty.

I think she was the "official" voice of Aerith for quite a while, including Advent Children.
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Andrea Bowen voiced her in pretty much every other appearance after Advent Children, including KHIII Re:Mind.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,662
SteelBeast6Beets said:
I agree with everything the OP states. KH's Ansem still has my favourite VO in video games.


David Boreanaz didn't reprise his role as Leon either.


Andrea Bowen voiced her in pretty much every other appearance after Advent Children, including KHIII Re:Mind.
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Thank you, I knew there was at least one other lol

Yeah I think Bowen's first role as Aerith was Crisis Core?

Oh and Lance Bass was Sephiroth in the first KH.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
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Oct 25, 2017
115,784
Dlent said:
IIRC, Disney cut ties with him after he played a role in an anti-American, middle eastern film. I missed him, too.
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He was kinda soft-blacklisted by Hollywood for that. Nowadays he's making a living as a (really great, mind you) character actor doing villainous guest spots on TV shows.

Kyrios said:
Thank you, I knew there was at least one other lol

Yeah I think Bowen's first role as Aerith was Crisis Core?

Oh and Lance Bass was Sephiroth in the first KH.
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To be fair, Bass' Sephiroth only had like seven lines and you couldn't hear any of them under the music and sound effects. George Newbern did a way better job.
 
TechnoSyndrome

TechnoSyndrome

Member
May 15, 2019
2,456
I remember reading about someone meeting Billy Zane at a con and he was super stoked to talk about the role. Seemed like he was totally down to reprise the role if Disney offered.
 
Aadiboy

Aadiboy

Member
Nov 4, 2017
3,652
Billy Zane was the best voice actor in KH1, and honestly, probably the whole series.

The double-edged sword of Disney using celebrity actors in KH voice roles is that they put out great performances (for the most part) but they're too expensive or busy to consistently voice their characters.
 
carlsojo

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,843
San Francisco
It's one of the more iconic performances in a game IMO. Just incredible voice acting.

When he was replaced it just sucked the life out of the character and it never felt the same.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,662
PlanetSmasher said:
He was kinda soft-blacklisted by Hollywood for that. Nowadays he's making a living as a (really great, mind you) character actor doing villainous guest spots on TV shows.



To be fair, Bass' Sephiroth only had like seven lines and you couldn't hear any of them under the music and sound effects. George Newbern did a way better job.
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Or even notice that he talks due to the constant panic in that fight lol

But yeah Newbern was much better obviously. Fit the character well.
 
PAFenix

PAFenix

Unshakable Resolve
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Nov 21, 2019
14,687
The change in VA's for him was very off putting for me back in the day. I grew used to Xemnas after a while, and think he's fine now, but yeah Zane was great in the original!
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,784
Aadiboy said:
Billy Zane was the best voice actor in KH1, and honestly, probably the whole series.

The double-edged sword of Disney using celebrity actors in KH voice roles is that they put out great performances (for the most part) but they're too expensive or busy to consistently voice their characters.
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At least in Zane's case it wasn't a money thing, it was a Hollywood blacklisting thing. Hell, Zachary Levi probably gets paid a LOT MORE than Zane does and he did KH3!

Kyrios said:
Or even notice that he talks due to the constant panic in that fight lol

But yeah Newbern was much better obviously. Fit the character well.
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I'm gonna be interested in seeing how well the Arrowverse Superman voices Sephiroth in VIIR. I don't know why they keep picking Superman actors to voice him, but at this point it feels like it's being done on purpose.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,297
SilverX said:
No way man, this is a kids game. Shit.

This is what Nomura gets for designing Ansem with man cleavage
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For some reason, I always heard it that way but just realized it was "COME GUARDIAN!"

PlanetSmasher said:
At least in Zane's case it wasn't a money thing, it was a Hollywood blacklisting thing. Hell, Zachary Levi probably gets paid a LOT MORE than Zane does and he did KH3!



I'm gonna be interested in seeing how well the Arrowverse Superman voices Sephiroth in VIIR. I don't know why they keep picking Superman actors to voice him, but at this point it feels like it's being done on purpose.
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Shame Mandy Moore didn't return as Rapunzel for KHIII.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,662
abrack said:
Isn't it "Come, Guardian"?
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Yeah because after he says that line, it stands errr floats in front of him lol

PlanetSmasher said:
I'm gonna be interested in seeing how well the Arrowverse Superman voices Sephiroth in VIIR. I don't know why they keep picking Superman actors to voice him, but at this point it feels like it's being done on purpose.
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He sounds pretty good! Maybe not as deep sounding as Newbern but I liked what I heard so far (which is like 2-3 lines maybe?).
 
Darkstorne

Darkstorne

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,825
England
Yeah, he was great! He used to live in the same village as me when I was a teenager. He and his then-girlfriend Kelly Brook used to visit the garden centre I worked at on weekends. It was weird talking to them and thinking about KH, or just trying not to think about how stunning Kelly was...
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,297
PlanetSmasher said:
At least in Zane's case it wasn't a money thing, it was a Hollywood blacklisting thing. Hell, Zachary Levi probably gets paid a LOT MORE than Zane does and he did KH3!



I'm gonna be interested in seeing how well the Arrowverse Superman voices Sephiroth in VIIR. I don't know why they keep picking Superman actors to voice him, but at this point it feels like it's being done on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It seems like with KHIII ReMind they kept the established voice actors, but for the remake decided to get new ones. Wonder why?
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,784
Uzumaki Goku said:
It seems like with KHIII ReMind they kept the established voice actors, but for the remake decided to get new ones. Wonder why?
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Square has mentioned that the remake had its voice cast completely replaced because it's an alternative interpretation of the events of VII. They want to make it clearly distinct from the original VII timeline so they recast all the characters to ensure they stand apart and it doesn't muddy the lines of what's "canon" and what isn't.

Basically, don't expect Chris Edgerly as Cid whenever he shows up in VIIR.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,297
PlanetSmasher said:
Square has mentioned that the remake had its voice cast completely replaced because it's an alternative interpretation of the events of VII. They want to make it clearly distinct from the original VII timeline so they recast all the characters to ensure they stand apart and it doesn't muddy the lines of what's "canon" and what isn't.

Basically, don't expect Chris Edgerly as Cid whenever he shows up in VIIR.
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Yeah, things will be different.

I hope people are going to be okay with that.

That's why I'm not too upset like some people are over the way Kingdom Hearts does Cloud vs. Sephiroth. It's a KH take on Cloud vs. Sephiroth, the original FFVII will always be there for the original take.
 
SilverX

SilverX

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Jan 21, 2018
13,019
Aadiboy said:
Billy Zane was the best voice actor in KH1, and honestly, probably the whole series.

The double-edged sword of Disney using celebrity actors in KH voice roles is that they put out great performances (for the most part) but they're too expensive or busy to consistently voice their characters.
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I think they spent most of the VA budget getting Jesse McCartney to voice Roxas. He was actually very popular when he got the role and his 15 minutes of fame were over shortly after that. They also had Brittany Snow as Namine who was a minor celeb, but I'm pretty sure she cost more than just the typical VA like Romano, Boreanaz, etc. did in KH1.

But those two celeb voices were nowhere near as good as KH1's cast. Especially since the celeb voices were replaced with flat sounding VAs and Aerith's was actually thought to be one of the worst performances in gaming lol
 
DarkSora

DarkSora

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Oct 28, 2017
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PlanetSmasher said:
Square has mentioned that the remake had its voice cast completely replaced because it's an alternative interpretation of the events of VII. They want to make it clearly distinct from the original VII timeline so they recast all the characters to ensure they stand apart and it doesn't muddy the lines of what's "canon" and what isn't.

Basically, don't expect Chris Edgerly as Cid whenever he shows up in VIIR.
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But isn't the Japanese version of the game keeping the original Japanese VA's?
 
Undeniablybiased

Undeniablybiased

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Oct 25, 2017
3,535
Yeah the numerous voice actor changes from KH1 to 2 really sucked. Every single one was a downgrade, and some were genuinely horrible.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

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Oct 26, 2017
19,636
Yeah, Billy Zane Ansem is one of my favourite villains in gaming, but only because of his voice.

Richard Epcar is great in other roles, but he doesn't really land it for me as Ansem.
 
"D."

"D."

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,487
Yeah I also thought Billy Zane was great as Ansem. All I hear is Raiden whenever his current VA talks.
 
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