“Razor didn’t have a lot of lines, so they let me improvise,” Derek Hamilton on bringing NFS Most Wanted villain to life

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Need for Speed: Most Wanted revolutionized street racing with its expansive open world and thrilling police chases. The game introduced a new ‘heat’ system and improved pursuit mechanics, but it’s best remembered for its cinematic cutscenes. These weren’t just in-game graphics; they featured real actors filmed with green screens, creating a stylish, fast-paced look that captured the early 2000s aesthetic – think Fast & Furious meets Sin City, but with a smaller budget. The game’s villain, Razor, perfectly matched this over-the-top style, and surprisingly, much of his dialogue wasn’t written in advance – the actor improvised a lot of it on set.

The making of Razor in NFS: Most Wanted

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Szymon Rusnarczyk from the TVGRY YouTube channel interviewed Derek Hamilton, the actor who famously played Razor Callahan in the game. You can find the interview starting at the 12:32 mark in the video.

Derek shared that his audition relied heavily on improvisation. The character didn’t even have the name Razor yet, and he only received minimal guidance – just a few lines of dialogue and a brief description. The project was being kept under wraps, so he wasn’t sure what it was about. He essentially created his own lines and performance on the spot, and later discovered he’d landed the role.

The character’s personality was inspired by the local wrestlers and people Derek knew growing up. Because of this, much of Razor’s charm came from Derek’s own life and how he reacted in the moment, instead of following a strict script. In fact, many of Razor’s most famous lines were things Derek actually said himself. When asked about his favorite quotes, he explained:

Probably: First I’m gonna take your ride, then I’m gonna take your girl. Get ready for that.

In the game Razon, my character didn’t have much dialogue. Mia, on the other hand, had tons of lines – pages worth, actually – because she guided the player through the story. They really focused on her character. I only had about five or six lines originally, so I was given the freedom to play around with them and improvise. The line “Bust of that way” was just that, but I added things like “champ” and “sugar plum” – little insults designed to really annoy players.

Behind the scenes of NFS: Most Wanted – and who really spilled the oil?

Okay, so get this – when we were filming Need for Speed: Most Wanted, it wasn’t what you’d expect! We weren’t actually in cars for most of the scenes. Seriously! We’d be sitting on apple boxes, pretending to drive, and using hula hoops as steering wheels. And a lot of the ‘cars’ you see were actually tiny Hot Wheels! It was all super planned out, with everything carefully choreographed, but it was still a really fun and relaxed set. Since then, I’ve done some TV, movies, and stunt work here and there, but I don’t really see acting as a full-time thing. I just take whatever cool opportunities come my way, you know?

Naturally, Derek was asked to reveal who he believed was responsible for the sabotage – specifically, who put oil under the player’s car.

I’m not sure if this plan makes sense. I was hoping to get that car as Razor, but would Mia even have been able to get involved if you hadn’t lost? It makes me think Big John Lawman was involved somehow. We need to start looking more closely at the possibility that Mia was responsible.

Around 41 minutes and 11 seconds into the video, Derek discussed whether working on the game had a significant impact on his life. He explained that while it helped him connect with new people, it didn’t fundamentally change things. He recounted a funny story about how, despite his work on the game, EA didn’t invite him to the big NFS: Most Wanted launch party in Los Angeles – even though they had a 20-foot cardboard cutout of him there! He now finds the whole situation amusing.

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2025-11-13 17:03