BEST FRIENDS WITH A KILLER: AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID BATESON

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Rfictional characters are universal. Millions every year fall in love with new and interesting people within games while remaining loyal to those they’ve met along the way. I still vividly remember the first time I felt my heartbreak for Ellie in The Last of Us, and to this day would love to bump into Uncharted’s main man Nathan Drake at the pub. However, the prospect of character relations is a two-sided coin. While we fawn over one-liners and awesome gaming moments, there is someone behind that character developing a relationship far stronger than we could ever imagine. David Bateson is one of those people—and for the past 21 years, he has been best friends with a killer. With over 50 hours of first-hand experience in the recent Hitman III, I’ve become quite familiar with just how dangerous Agent 47 can be. The silent assassin has sniped, stabbed, and strangled his way to infamy, and this year he marked the potential end to a legacy that has spanned those two decades. 47 has left cold corpses scattered across the globe and found murderous potential in the most mundane of objects, so I’m not entirely convinced of my safety when the man behind the barcode joined me via Zoom to chat about his relationship with the assassin. Instead of the expected stony expression and untimely demise, I am greeted with a smile. Bateson, who for over 20 years has voiced the titular Hitman, oozes the enthusiasm of someone that loves his character. “I really really know this guy, Agent 47,” David confides from his cosy recording booth in Denmark. “He is as close to me as a real friend, as I will ever get. I really mean that. I just would love to go and have a beer with him.” To the uninitiated, Agent 47 is a hitman, a silent assassin sent around the world to take out highly protected and deliciously evil individuals. The hallmark of the series is player choice, as large levels are left wide open for you to find the stealthiest or most brutal ways for your targets to meet their end—even better is when you can combine both. Two decades, changing publishers, casting controversy, reboots, and s e l f - p u b l i c a t i o n — D a n i s h developer IO Interactive have been through it all. While there have been a few bumps along the road, Bateson has solidified himself across that time, irremovably so, as Agent 47. Yet despite the universal appreciation and acclaim of the 61year-old’s performance as the redtied assassin, his killer quality is modesty. “I am the least important person in that building. I’m so proud of IO Interactive for such an achievement.” That achievement is the recently concluded World of Assassination trilogy, marked by the release of Hitman III. The trilogy capper also marks the potential end of a relationship with someone IO introduced to Bateson almost by chance all those years ago. “They actually interrupted my voice session, and said ‘Hey David, when you’re finished, why don’t you come and have a look at this computer game we’re doing because we need a voice,’ and I went ‘Oh, okay.’” “Of course, I auditioned, and if they hadn’t liked what I was doing, then I wouldn’t have got the part. But it was one of those amazing moments in life where you just happen to be in the right place at the right time […] I wish I’d said, Ah! There was me and 3000 other very talented people up for the role but that’s not how it happened.” Bateson landing the role of 47 blossomed a friendship that would reach farther than the recording studio it was planted in. Since the critical success of the series’ first entry, Hitman: Codename 47, IO has released seven other Hitman games, ranging from appraised sequels to soft reboots. While many are quick to cite Blood Money or Silent Assassin among the best in the franchise, Hitman has never been bigger than with IO’s newest rebooted take on the franchise.

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“That’s the beauty of what has become over the years with Agent 47. He has genuinely become a real person.

While the developer fumbled somewhat with its staggered episodic release of levels back in 2015’s Hitman, the franchise came out the other side on top, with Hitman III gaining back its budget in the first week of release. Yet despite voicing what has become a video game icon, voice acting within games was never in David’s crosshairs. “It’s definitely on my radar now,” he jokes, “it’s hard to imagine, but 21 years ago if you look at the quality of the games, the technology, and the industry as a whole, it was like a cottage industry.” Since then, David has embraced video games as an art form, becoming a member of BAFTA Games—comparing his discovery of new video games to a “religious experience.” “I mean I sit there and go, ‘Oh my goodness. What? What?!? No way! What can we think of next?’ And that is the most fascinating thing about this industry. It’s limitless. It’s just up to the imagination of the computer programmer and level designer.” The eventual advancements of the games industry would result in the level design within the Hitman franchise evolve to the point we see today. Across its three newest entries, fans have been able to explore deceptively picturesque seaside towns, vertigo-inducing towers, and grungy secluded night clubs. Yet, as the levels have upped the ante with each new iteration, the expectation of performance does too. “[…] no matter how much the industry and how fast it’s growing, in terms of sophistication, it’s only just matching the player’s expectations, and the players aren’t going, ‘Wow that was amazing, the graphics were much better.’ They are just going ‘Yeah, when’s the next one?’” “But yeah, it’s a challenge. And coming to voice it; the first game took me about three to four hours, tops, to voice the whole game. In fact, the first few games took around that kind of period. Now, it takes me about six months [...] It’s become infinitely more challenging and demanding.” There is an undeniable nature to the expanse of video game titles. Budgets have ballooned and playtimes multiply. Yet, at its core, Bateson faced a challenge that was present from day one: playing an emotionless character. “I have really kind of tried over the years, especially when it was real one line stuff […] to infuse a kind of life curiosity and very black dark humour into his lines just to give him a bit of an edge.” Bateson’s portrayal of this blank slate of a character allows 47 to find a fine balance between an outsider and a chameleon. And as he chuckles away, Bateson pins that balance down to one thing: “Look, he’s a crap actor. Let’s face it.” “I remember I laughed so loud in Paris, the first level of Hitman 1. And he ends up backstage with all these fashion models, and very camp sort of makeup people […] Agent 47 has no information in this area.” “[…] He's really kind of like, well,” [Bateson shifts in an awkward rendition of 47], “I'm, I'm looking for the bathroom…” “You know, he's been wrongfooted because he just doesn't know quite how to deal with this flamboyant character. He can deal with evilness, no problem, you know. The dry sarcasm stuff. But that's the beauty of what has become over the years with Agent 47. He has genuinely become a real person.” Developing 47 in the latest trilogy, IO were keen to introduce a new chatty streak to lean further into the idea of making the emotionless killer a character that players loved. With new writers on board from the original games, the player’s downtime was spiced up with its infusion of one-liners. Yet despite Bateson’s love for the gradual evolution of 47, this new direction seemed a step too far. “I was really against that. I went, ‘What the hell ever happened to Silent Assassin? Hello?!’ He’s got verbal diarrhea. And [director Jacob Mikkelsen] said, ‘No, trust us. We’re going to give him all these like, dumb ass things to say’ […] and you are going ‘What? What happened to my hero?’” One-liners were sprinkled throughout the new Hitman series and grew exponentially across it. Donning a bartender disguise would result in 47 asking about drink orders or taking on the role of a realtor led to a house showing that was “to die for.” The additional lines infused a situational hilarity into the levels and, while hesitant, Bateson eventually saw the reason for IO’s ways.

“[…] but they were right. When I played Hitman 2, I felt that okay, I’m in this together with Agent 47. It really worked. These sequences where he is in disguise, and he’s working out how to get around, and he has these throwaway dialogues, you just feel more connected to him, and that’s fun for the player.” That connection with the player is something that Bateson has a newfound love for, birthed by the reemerging of the franchise in 2015. While taking a trip to Birmingham to promote the sleek reboot at EGX, Bateson became wholly aware of the love that had lain simmering out of his line of sight. “The full weight of that icon status only first hit me back in 2015 […] I got to meet the fans up close and personal. And that blew me away. It was a very humbling experience, to be honest. Because suddenly you went, ‘Shit man, these people have come all the way from London dressed as Agent 47? On public transport?!’” “And then the other thing at that event was when they had a meet and greet session booked for half an hour, where it went mental. […] that session from four to fourthirty went on till eight in the evening. The security came to us at quarter to six and said ‘Listen, we’re closing, here’s the key. We’ve locked off the rest of the building, don’t let them wander around,’ you know but, ‘good luck.’” “…that was when it became super real. That I felt that kind of responsibility. […] I must be there for these people, for all interviews, and any PR stuff. I don’t need the attention, but this franchise and the fans need this attention. Because they deserve it.” The intensity of gaming fans is no real surprise these days to anyone keeping their ear to the ground on certain fandoms. Yet as Bateson became experienced in the mania of promotional conferences, a certain killable celebrity struggled to comprehend the fervor. “I was with Sean Bean, who was an elusive target in Hitman 2. And he’s been to all these kinds of press junkets, so it’s no big deal. But at the Paris Games, he shat himself.” “I don’t know how many thousands of people are on the other side of this curtain. […] And the French interviewer is doing a big sort of a lead-up. […] And he was at the top of the steps to go in first, and as this guy got to the crescendo of his announcement, the fans went mental.” “Sean Bean, being the sort of laidback Yorkshire man, quietly came down the steps and said, ‘I think you should go first.’ Why? Why? He says, ‘I think they are going to tear us apart.’ Cause it felt like it and he’s not experienced, perhaps that kind of, you know, just gungho gaming enthusiasm. They’re probably just a little bit more civilized on the red carpets of Hollywood.” Rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite isn’t something that has happened overnight for the franchise. To get there, Bateson has remained loyal for many years to a character that has steadily become an irreplaceable part of his life—to the point that 47 has become more than just a character. “It’s matured [his relationship with 47]. And as [with] any friendship, we’ve grown closer together. And a simple example of that is I could not say a sentence which Agent 47 would not say […] There is a synergy in the recording process now, which has taken 20 years to get to. It’s that intense.” While the time which the Hitman series has spanned is an easy way to highlight its staying power, it is also, as David referred, a long time, where a connection with the character is inevitable. Hitman III acts as the end of this most recent trilogy, and with IO moving onto their untitled Bond Project, further sequels seem unlikely—for now. But Bateson isn’t quite ready to let his old pal 47 go. “Oh, I wish I could say yes [to moving on from the character]. Be all mature about it. No! I’m still 24 in my head […] I’ve not grown up enough to just go well, I need to move on now and play, you know… in Lord of the Rings. One ring. Let’s see… What’s the wizard’s name?” After a little back and forth, we discovered David was trying to reference Gandalf. “Gandalf! I’m not ready to play Gandalf. I’m sorry. No.” “[…] every few years I get to hang out with this amazing, iconic […] character for about, as I said, for about six months. And I love every single second of sitting in the studio and discussing our lines. […] And when it gets to the end, I always feel a sadness because, again, damn I’m gonna miss him. And I genuinely feel that. So, as an actor, it is also an incredible privilege to get a chance to play the same character for so long.” As the credits of Hitman III roll, players sit with fingers crossed that it isn’t the last time we get to see 47. But whether it be for his dry delivery, a pang of curiosity, or indelible inflection noting that sinister intent is afoot, IO and David Bateson have cared and nurtured a character into the mainstay of video game pop culture that will not soon be forgotten. And if this is indeed the final goodbye, at least David has made a friend for life.

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