The face of Max Payne says he became so "self-conscious" after the game's release that he changed his real-life look so he'd get less attention.
In an interview with Edge, Sam Lake, who wrote Max Payne as well as providing its titular character's memorable face explained that his role as face model began in his university days. As part of the Helsinki University Roleplaying Game Association, he says it was kind of a given that he would "end up buying decorative swords and posing with them and taking photos."
Those photos were then augmented by Lake's "very limited PhotoShop skills," before becoming cover art for the TTRPG club's magazine, as well as "some roleplaying games they were publishing."
So when it came to making Max Payne, which Lake had pitched with a comic book art style, he brought in his RPG photos as reference material. "And because I was posing in all of those reference photos, everybody just kind of went, 'Are you going to pose in the comic book as well?' And I was like 'sure'."
Originally, the photos were only intended as reference material, but Lake says that Remedy co-founder Petri Jarvilehto then pitched the idea of using photos for the game's background textures. That then spilled into using photos for character art, and then simply using the photos Remedy already had, and applying Photoshop filters to them. "And so the decision for me to pose as Max happened in very different circumstances, and just evolved naturally."
Fortunately for Lake and his colleagues, they "made a lot of money" with Max Payne. Unfortunately for Lake himself, however, being the literal face of such a popular game came with a degree of attention that he might not have expected. After release, he says, "I started feeling self-conscious, to the point where I changed my hairstyle completely, and didn't want people to make that connection."
In the years since, however, I'd suggest Lake has become a little more comfortable with having his face plastered all over his games. His role in Alan Wake 2 combines a major in-game character with live-action performances that saw him dancing on stage at The Game Awards, suggesting he's no longer too worried about getting recognized.
We're still waiting on the Max Payne 1+2 remakes, so maybe we're in for a new Sam Lake hairstyle.
