Garret T. Sato – Mortal Kombat 9 Voice Actor Interview!

Those of you that follow me on twitter have most likely heard me talk about the awesome game community that I’m apart of.  I’m the Blog coordinator and I just wanted to share on of the interviews I did for them.  I’m absolutely obsessed with al things Mortal Kombat so I had numerous nerdgasms when I got a chance to interview one of the sexy voice actors from the series.

I had the chance to talk to one of the voice actors from Mortal Kombat to talk about the process of voicing game characters and ask him questions from the NoobToob Community. I hope you guys enjoy!

Hey there! First and foremost thank you for taking the time to do this interview. The first question I have is how to you come to do voice work for Mortal Kombat 9?

I got a casting notice from this website called Actors Access. I did my submission and got called in and later they booked me. It was one the more pain free auditions.

One of our members, HP1703 wanted to ask : How did you approach doing voice work for these already established characters and were you a fan of Mortal Kombat before working on the game?

I’m not really a big videogame type of person, but I had read for the film, and I read for the TV show so I was aware of world. My friend actually got the role I really wanted, Kabal. It was something that I became interested in because of the Asian influenced world that’s part of Mortal Kombat. It was a fun gig. I think there is also plans to do a feature film but I think there’s some kind of legal thing going on with the producers, you know how that goes.

The Mortal Kombat world has been around for quite sometime. I’ve been playing Mortal Kombat Games since I was able to play. It must have been a bit intimidating to be part of something so well known. You play a few of the bigger fan favorites, when voicing something that is so well known did you feel you had the freedom to experiment and bring your own spin to them? 

Yeah, when I was in the recording session I was told who I was going to read for three characters, of course I had to my research because I wasn’t to familiar with them in the game. The director gave me pretty much free reign in how I wanted to approach each character. It was just a matter of doing a little more intense accents on some or a deeper tone of voice on others, things like that. But, he pretty much let me create whatever voice I wanted to put on each particular character. Of course they have all the special effect they do after the fact that can change a bit of the tone of voices.
As for how I nailed each particular voice, I guess I really can’t say until I play the game itself.

You haven’t played the game yet?

Yeah, its been out for some time now hasn’t it. I’m not a really big video game player (laughs) I hope that doesn’t offend.

Not at all. Take off your shirt, I’ll forgive you.

(laughs)

But in all seriousness its quite amazing actually.

Really?

Yes! Its one of the few games that I’ve called out of work so I could finish the story mode. Something somewhat unheard of for a fighting game.

(Laughs) That’s how out of touch I am with videogames. I wasn’t sure.

I guessed that by your physique, You don’t look like you spend most of your time playing video games.

(Laughs) Yeah I’m not a videogame kinda guy.

Have you seen the characters that you voiced yet?

While recording they showed me pictures and concept art.

So what character was the most memorable to record?

Hmm, (laughs) I guess the one with the most dialogue? Truthfully it was Shang Tsung. The script was actually really really long, and we recorded the dialogue individually. Each line would be recorded one way, and then with a few different variations.

According to the game’s IMDB page you voiced Shang Tsung, Kung Lao , Sekktor ,who I fell in love with, and Goro. Well Sekktor is usually a cyborg and didn’t to much talking but others like Shang Tsung and Goro are the series hallmark characters, you didn’t feel a bit nervous having to re-imagine them? 

The only time I got nervous was when they had dialogue with weird words I’ve never heard of before (laughs) . I had to pick up the pronunciation and enunciation of them pretty quick. It was also a bit tricky because most of my characters I did , the way I read it had slight accents so I think I got away with a mispronounced word here and there.

What were some of the ‘weird’ words you had to get familiar with?

I think I forgot most of them; this recording took place more than two years ago. Its been awhile. (laughs)
What was weird about this recording was that is was such a top-secret project. I had listed it on my actor’s page when I booked a gig and I was notified by the casting director that I had to take all the information down. All the information I knew about Mortal Kombat was to be kept out of the public. They were very protective so the storyline wouldn’t get out. It was one of the most well guarded projects I’ve been attached to.

Well all the secrets paid off , I have to say that Mortal Kombat has one of the most satisfying stories for any fighting game I’ve ever played. It raised the bar. I have one more question from the Noobtoob community – HorizonsEvent asks “Why are you so sexy?” I’m going to modify that to a “How do you stay so sexy?”

(laughs) A lot of dead man’s curls. Ah, well I just come from an active background. I was body builder prior to getting into acting. I’ve been working out for years, for me working out is like a drug to me. If I don’t keep moving or skip a work out I feel like I’m missing something and have to get back into the gym.

There are two people listed for giving their voices for Kung Lao, how did that work? Did maybe one do the main voice work and the other do the fighting sounds, grunts and such? 

I didn’t see the other actors at the recording, but its possible that they used some of my work and some of his work. Unfortunately, I haven’t played the game yet to hear for myself.

So what projects do you have coming up? Feel free to whore them now. I’ve actually been looking at some of the things you have in production on your IMDB page and there’s some really cool sounding Sci-fi and martial arts projects coming up. Are those genres that interest you?

I took martial arts years ago, when I was younger. The way Hollywood wants their martial arts you really have to be an expert in that field; fortunately I’ve been cast in action scenes that weren’t too technical. No wire work or anything like that. I never went into the business planning on being an “action guy” but that’s the way it’s panned out and I embrace it. You know its really fun but also very hard work.

So what films do you have coming out soon?

I have a film, Wasteland , that actually came out in July . It was done on a lower budget, but was a fun film to work on. It’s a post apocalyptic sci-fi action film. Its my first film as a lead so I’m pretty excited about that. I hope people enjoy it. We actually shot it in the Mohave Desert. It was really hot and brutal but it was worth it. I’m really happy with the way it came out.

What’s it about?

It’s a revenge movie. I don’t want to give too much away.

Well now that you’ve been a part of Mortal Kombat with its 10-year plus legacy do you see yourself maybe getting into more voice acting in the future?

Yeah, I actually really enjoyed the voiceover work and I look forward to voicing more game characters. It’s a whole entity to itself in Hollywood. There’s a bunch of niche actors that lend their voices I can see why they choose to.
If they make another Mortal Kombat , and want to use me in the future I’d be happy to participate.

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You can see Garret T Sato , in CBS’s Hawaii 5.0 as Detective Ahuna and in  Wasteland (Which is totally NOT live-action Boarderlands with kung fu, totatlly) . You can find out what he’s up to on his Actor’s Page on facebook. Here is a trailer for Wasteland!