Why Transformers' Voice Actor David Kaye Was So Surprised By His Optimus Prime Casting
Voice actor David Kaye still remembers getting the news he'd been cast on "Transformers: Animated." Two weeks after a callback where he read for multiple characters, he got a call from his agent. Kaye, who was driving in downtown LA, answered his phone and heard the news: he'd got the part ... of Optimus Prime. Kaye's response as he swerved his car: "Who?!"
While Kaye had read for Optimus Prime (and noticed voice director Susan Blu liked what he was doing), he walked into the audition expecting to get a different part. The part, in fact, that was furthest from Optimus Prime — Megatron. At the time, Kaye had been voicing Megatron for about a decade, first in "Beast Wars."
During the 1990s and 2000s, Kaye was a staple of Canada's voice-acting pool. Mainframe Entertainment, based in Vancouver, developed "Beast Wars" and recruited local talent, Kaye among them. A few years later, Japanese "Transformers" cartoons were also dubbed into English with Canadian actors, letting Kaye and his counterpart Garry Chalk voice new versions of Megatron and Optimus Prime, respectively.
In 2007, Kaye moved to Los Angeles (where "Transformers: Animated" was recorded) and spent his early days in his new home with a new yet somehow familiar role.
David Kaye's history with Megatron
Kaye voiced Megatron regularly in five different series and his performance changes across each of them.
His first time at the bat, "Beast Wars," is his best remembered — when "Transformers" fans think "David Kaye as Megatron," his "Beast Wars" voice is probably what they'll hear. Frank Welker, the original Megatron, used a screechy voice, a la fellow 80s cartoon villains like Cobra Commander (Christopher Collins) or Skeletor (Alan Oppenheimer).
Kaye, however, used a deep voice and a British accent for his Megatron. The result was suave yet slimy; Kaye himself has described the voice as, "a combination between Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, and a lizard." In "Beast Wars," Megatron was both a theatrical showman (or robot, rather) and a calculating schemer. Kaye called him, in a literal sense, Shakespearean — Megatron soliloquized like he was starring in "Hamlet."
In the sequel series, "Beast Machines," Megatron changed and so did Kaye's performance. Having conquered Cybertron, Megatron's goal was to eliminate individuality and organic life from the planet. Kaye's voice was as deep as ever, but he buried its previous smoothness under the harsh anger of this new, colder Megatron.
For the "Unicron Trilogy," Kaye ditched the British accent and went for a higher timbre. In the process, though, he brought some of the "Beast Wars" charm and humor back to Megatron. Kaye's performance in these shows is more inconsistent than in the "Beast Wars" duology, but that's largely due to external factors. Dub voice acting naturally comes with restraint, especially with the rushed, error-prone dubs that "Armada" and "Energon" had.
A new kind of Optimus Prime
"Noble hero" is a role that comes with different requirements from "big bad villain." As Kaye recounted at TFCon Toronto 2018, heroes have to be the story's straight man, which can be less fun/more challenging to play than villains. Even if Kaye found his casting as Optimus "jarring," Blu and the "Transformers Animated" voice team made the right choice.
"Transformers Animated" Optimus Prime was a reinvention of the character. This Optimus wasn't the leader of the Autobots, but just the main cast, a low-ranking team of has-beens and washouts. To reflect that, "Prime" was reimagined as a mid-tier rank in the Autobot military, not a supreme, near-religious title. So, Kaye played the character as youthful and plucky — he was more of an encouraging big brother to the other Autobots, not a stern but caring father.
Basically, Kaye was the right pick for this version of Optimus Prime. His being green in the role even reflected Optimus' characterization as an untested leader. Peter Cullen may be irreplaceable as Prime, but his grave, weathered voice wouldn't fit this iteration.
Using Kaye elsewhere also let "Transformers Animated" do its own spin on the leader of the Decepticons. Actor Corey Burton channeled his pitch-perfect Christopher Lee impression and delivered the iciest Megatron to date. Meanwhile, Kaye got to indulge himself by also voicing the brutish Decepticon fanatic Lugnut and a different T-Rex Transformer (the Dinobot Grimlock).
A varying legacy
As Kaye's website proudly declares, he's the only lead actor to have voiced both the main villain and the main hero of the "Transformers" franchise (listen to both his performances out of context, though, and you'd never guess it's the same guy). This isn't a wholly unique situation for him. For instance, in "X-Men: Evolution," he voiced both Professor X and Apocalypse.
Since "Transformers Animated," Kaye has remained involved with "Transformers," voicing the Insecticon Hardshell on "Transformers: Prime" and the Decepticons Hammerstrike and Slashmark on "Robots In Disguise." His acting earned him a spot in the "Transformers" Hall of Fame in 2016. Ultimately though, if there's one "Transformers" part Kaye will be remembered for, it's "Beast Wars" Megatron. He's reprised it in everything from "Robot Chicken" sketches to annual Christmas videos for his fans.
Even when an actor has the range that Kaye evidently does, some parts stand head and shoulders above others.