Uncharted's Amy Hennig 'thrilled' by Nolan North's newfound success

by Andrew Yoon on Oct 23rd 2009 11:29AM

Chances are, you recognize Nolan North as Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series. However, ever since the debut of the first game in the franchise, North has gone on to play a number of leading men, including the titular Prince of Persia and Jason from Shadow Complex. Uncharted creative director Amy Hennig admits that she's "thrilled to see people recognizing Nolan's talent and to see him getting all of the work that he can get and all of the recognition he can get." However, she tells Bitmob that she's "a little possessive" of North because "we were the ones with Uncharted who tapped into that talent in a way that I don't think anyone had recognized and done yet."

North will undoubtedly continue to find success as the charming "everyday" man (who happens to be gifted with extraordinary acrobatic prowess). Hennig admits that "Nolan's going to get typecast because that is his persona. He's a funny guy and has that easy-going, roguish charm." Yeah, charming -- until he throws you off a cliff.

Source

Tags: amy-hennig, nolan-north, uncharted, uncharted-2, Uncharted-2-Among-Thieves, voice-acting

Reader Comments (65)

Guess I wasn't the only one who realized that the Prince was basically Nathan Drake with a shawl on his head.

Basically, lol. I like Nolan North as Drake, but the dude should have at least made the effort to change his voice for the Prince. It didn't work out well at all I think. They should have just went with a different voice actor.

Also Amy Hennig's awesome. I like the Uncharted series. But her best writing easily lies in the Legacy of Kain series. I'd like to see her tackle another serious property at Naughty Dog (they won't just be making Uncharted for the rest of their lives).

@FIRST!!!

That was definitely one of the best lines in the game. I hope a lot of people didn't miss it.

Stupid comment system, that was meant for below.

She wants Nolan's North Pole.

There's a guy below you
There's a guy below you!

"Guy below you! Guy below you!"

Ha, perhaps my favorite line of the game.

[minor spoilarz]
Considering that scene, doesn't anyone think it is a bit odd Nate would throw a (civilian) guard into possibly rocky waters from a cliff? Yeah I know it is a minor thing, but I don't think it really suits Drake.
[\minor spoilarz]

Well, the one about the hooker in church was good

Something like this

Sully: I'm sweating like a hooker in church
Nate: You brought a hooker to church?

I gotta admit, Neptune, I kinda jumped when that happened. "WTF? He just threw that guy to his death, like, 8 or 10 stories -- and after all his yakking to Flynn about 'no guns' and using nonlethal takedowns!"

But then I saw the guard land in the water and start swimming away, which deadened the impact a bit (in more ways than one).

And yeah, it's possible I'm overanalyzing this here. -_-

@Oddball

I never noticed him swimming away -- If I had half of the attention to detail that Naughty Dog had for this game, I wouldn't only have 2 treasures per level.

I actually lol'd at that scene. my wife also saw that, and sat down, and for the first time since Bioshock, watched me play a game. She asked if there was a movie, because she wanted to see it if it existed. Thanks, Naughty Dog!

i did not see that guard swim away, but even if he did, there's no way Nate would have known he could have survived that fall. I just figured he didn't give a damn.

I too actually missed that scene of the guard swimming away.

Funny stuff.

i tried explaining that hilarious scene (there's a guy above you! there's a guy below you!) to my friends...it didn't work they called me an idiot with no sense of humor...

@Neptune

i agree. i was a lil WTF at that moment. eps with his attitude towards not killing guards. but whatevs, i was having him cracking necks without a care in the world!

I think the guard swam because I also noticed him for a while moving after the fall, or he could have already been dead uopn impact, just wading in the water

Did any of you jump into the pool once you made it to the top of the hotel?
That was one of the best segments in the game.

Marco!

@FIRST!!!

That was definitely one of the best lines in the game. I hope a lot of people didn't miss it.

Yep, when I saw that swimming pool on top of the hotel, I jumped in. Two trophies later... :D

POLO!

Actually, if you jumped into the pool in the temple. Drake asks Chloe to jump in and she replies "No, you only want to see my top get wet". Funny stuff because it was true.

Yup, I watched him swim away too, and then when I had caught it in the corner of my eye I looked back to make sure. Then a few moments later I looked again and the guy was one. So it seems he lived. Hoorah for the bad guy unions!

Fish out of water!!!

*one = gone

@Andrew

No kidding man, my first run was just to enjoy the game and finish it. I'm now on the second run and I'm putting attention to every little detail which is making this second run just so frigging great! :)

the penny-arcade comic in the link at the end made me sad : (

When me and my friend played the game, we imagined all these guards performing guard duty simply as a job, and not because they were evil. They just wanted to get paid and go back home to their loving families.

It's weird that the main characters in the game sort of look like the voice actors. I hadn't realized they designed them that way. I guess casting the inevitable Uncharted movie will be easy?

Part of this is also due to them actually acting out the cutscenes too. In one of the unlockable movies in the game, they state that they not only mocap, but take the actors facial features and structure into account. So in many ways, the characters are the actors, not the other way around.

Nolan North is probably only the second video game voice actor whose name I actually know, whose talents I can instantly recognize, and all of whose work I love. The guy is great in every role I've heard him voice.

It was weird playing ODST and hearing Nathan Fillion voicing Buck, and thinking, man, I almost feel like Nolan North could do a better Nathan Fillion than Nathan Fillion.

(Who's my first most recognizable VG voice actor? Jon St. John, of course.)

Me too. The only voice actors I know are North and Hayter.

Nolan North = the Bruce Campbell of video games.

All of the voice actors were really great in Uncharted 2 (and 1 as well), but North stands out with Drake. He plays that role literally as perfect as you can and is a big reason why Drake's my new favorite character this gen.

Uncharted is the only game franchise I can honestly say that the voice actors are just as important as any other part of the game's development. They did a great job in U1 and outdid themselves in U2.

@Neptune - I thought that as well - he was all about non-lethal take downs of guards and not using guns, then he pulls an innocent security guard to his death...only a minor inconsitencie though.

I didn't know his first big roll was Uncharted...
Still I'm glad that he is getting all the recognition he deserves I think Nolan North and David Hayter are the best two Voice Actors for games (not gonna say which is which).

Dang, I forgot about David Hayter. You're right about him. Like North voicing Drake, no one but Hayter could ever possibly voice Snake.

North is also the best voice of Deadpool, having played him in Hulk vs Wolverine. I really wish he played him in MUA2 as well, but I guess he was busy with Uncharted.

Agreed. He's definitely the best Deadpool thus far.

he was hilarious as Deadpool! him and Wolvie running for their lives from Hulk, and he's like "I think we lost him!" here, watch! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OrJjPYbUvY

It's not that he was busy with Uncharted, it's that John Kassir played him in the previous two games in the series (X-Men Legends 2 and MUA1) and they weren't gonna recast him if they didn't have to. There were too many recastings as it was (and while I thought David Kaye and Crispin Freeman acquitted themselves quite well as Cap and Iron Man, the new voices for Iceman, Spidey and especially Thor were POOR choices.

I don't care if Nolan North gets every voice acting gig from now till the end of time. He's awesome.

I'm all for Uncharted Persian Complex.

Nolan North is the best. The "shadow puppet" scene in Uncharted 2 was so awesome. also "BAM! Kitty got wet!", which i finally heard him say in co-op the other day.

I'm pretty sure if Nolan North and Nathan Fillion had a baby(...just go with it people) it would create a real life Nathan Drake. Then everyone would get lost in his eyes...

*ahem* I mean I would love to watch some football with that guy!

Although not a funny comment, I laugh every time he says, "I'll try to find another way around." Which is like...every other mission. Door locked? Ground littered with AK-47s and hand grenades? Blow the door? Too easy. I'll climb this pole, leap from the sign, catch myself on those jutting out bricks, scale the wall, climb up, jump the hole in the floor, swing pole to pole, scale another wall, walk out on this narrow beam, jump to the next room, jump to the next landing, climb down that sign, and shoot the lock off of the door on the other side. Simple.

I like how Elena comments "If I have to climb another damn wall..." but Nathan just takes it all in stride.

I laughed when he said "Great. The power's out, and the girl is trapped. If there's a damned zombie around this corner I swear I'll..."

lol...I forgot about the zombie line. That's a good one too. Another one I like is "Ooooh, that was your neck!"

@Giest

I'm pretty sure I heard Drake say "I'm so sick of all the damn climbing!" or something to that effect in one of the levels. The delivery was hilarious of course.

guy is cool but i actually dont think he has much voice acting skill, i say this because he always sounds the same..like Steve Blum they both have the same problem and for that reason i think he will get type casted

Did you even read the article?

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Uncharted's Amy Hennig 'thrilled' by Nolan North's newfound success

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