🔴Minthara Actor Emma Gregory on BALDUR'S GATE 3, Clowns, DLC & Emotional Scenes

hey guys Dan here I hope you've enjoyed the boulders Gate 3 interviews I've absolutely loved doing them over the last few months I hope you enjoy today's one with Emma um guys if you have enjoyed them over the last few months I would really appreciate it if you could go ahead and donate to link in the description I'm running a campaign over the next couple of months to help the fight against cancer it's affected us all and I'm hoping to raise a bit of money over the next few months for them game on cancer cure for cancer here in Australia they do a tremendous job Shane and the team over there are phenomenal so even a dollar if everyone that watches this donates a dollar I mean we'd raise thousands it would be incredible it would go so far guys so please if you could I would really really appreciate it the link will be in the description and the pin comment if you've enjoyed any of the interviews over the last few months this is would mean a lot to me if you could do that but otherwise guys it's been a pleasure to do these interviews there's more to come Boris the composers coming on a couple of guys from pit stop we're working stuff out so there's more to come but guys it's been a pleasure enjoy my interview with Emma Gregory well look who we have here Emma it is a pleasure how are I am extremely well done thank you and it's so nice to be here finally I made it um you made it happen we made it happen it's a pleasure pleasure to meet you and and to talk today oh me too I um I always ask this I've especially been asking this of all the casts just how are you feeling how's your reaction to all this I mean this is a crazy sort of fandom that's erupted from this game and the game is you know one of the highest rated games of all time at this point so how are you feeling um just gosh overwhelmed I suppose um I don't think any of us ever really expected you know we knew it was uh an incredible thing to be part of obviously um but I don't think any of us expected the kind of reaction that we've had um and for me personally it's just been phenomenal um everyone's so kind and lovely on social media and um the reception for Menara has been phenomenal absolutely wonderful and I'm so pleased for Larry and I'm so pleased for everybody involved in this extraordinary game it's sort of Beyond everyone's dreams I think Dan you've done a lot of work in audio books gaming but but when you're doing this project was there something that sort of felt special about it when you were doing it or was it just another job or how did it feel because something went right obviously no it did definitely didn't feel like just another job because I've been involved in it um for such a long time for a good three or four years and at first I didn't know much about it because when you have a job like this things are pretty sort of top secret you know obviously you know for obvious reasons but um um so and then as I sort of grew to know more about it and and realized that I was going to be with this character for quite a long time um that makes it very special because you get to really delve into her and it was wonderful the kind of um I it feel felt like a kind of dance that I had with Adam my writer where we'd sort of test the waters a bit at the beginning and see what she's like and go down a certain path with her and then for me it was always more interesting to rather than just play a sort of stone cold hard if I can say that word sorry um you know to play her that would be too one-dimensional so for me it was more interesting to know her background and obviously there's there's information about how ban Ray and who she is and um and I I always want to know why someone is like that and her upbringing was so brutal so but happy as well you know she was happy um you know but you know when your mother puts a sword in your hand at five and goes okay Fight for Your Life against me your mother um that's that's uh quite phenomenal so I was really interested in in in how in why she was like she was and then so Adam and I kind of did this dance of sort of experimenting with her a little bit um and finding where she could be vulnerable finding where she could be softer um gentle what is it you know the journey that she goes on in Boulders gate is one of Discovery as all the characters have that journey and it's no less so for Menara um it's quite easy to sort of write her off as this kind of oh the evil rot you know but actually I I think um larryan have been extraordinary in allowing myself and Adam to create someone who much more interesting than that yes she is brutal and awkward and ambitious and cunning and um dangerous yeah definitely but she can also be soft and loving and I'm hesitate of the word kind but if you're in a relationship with her yeah you know you meet different sides and and so I was very it it became wonderful Dan to live with a character for so long cuz that's quite unusual unless you're doing a TV series or you know a series of movies or something with where you meet the same characters um that's that's quite unusual did the word evil ever come up not really no not really I can't remember if it did within lines uh but we've never talked about it like that no no never looked at her like that you know I just looked at her as someone who's in a lot of pain a lot of times um um and someone who is awkward and someone who um hasn't really ventured out from the underd dark that much apart from as she says to sort of raid and pillage it but um to be over what I find fascinating about her story is the fact that she was so kind of enthralled or fascinated or overtaken by The envoys Who go to men's of barand and and and talk about the absolute and how she was taken with that and then leaves her City and L and goes and pursues for whatever reason um you know um the absolute and and then what happens to her at moonrise towers with aurin and I just find that I think that particularly when you if you rescue Manara if you play that route um what you see is a character I think who was utterly gobsmacked that that happened to her and couldn't for the life of her fathom how that had happened and absolutely Wants Revenge on it but at the same time goes through this extraordinary journey in the game like I say as Laren and Adam have allowed me to do which is just amazing to find where she's perhaps learning how to trust companions learning how to build relationships learning how to love and that's uh that's phenomenal did you so did you bring a little bit of playfulness yourself onto the character or was that always there cuz there's there's this incredible dynamic range that you have where you there nuances to this character where there's some playfulness but there's also as you said that there's a bit of coldness and is that something that was always there was that the discovery process I think it's just something that that I couldn't pinpoint it down but I I it's something that Adam and I sort of discovered in each other as we went along so I would play a line in a certain way that would maybe then give him an idea of oh hang on a minute and laran would think oh why don't we take the character this way actually on this particular Journey with this particular companion or something player um and um and uh and and then I would and so he would it would give Adam confidence to write in a certain way and then I would go oh wow that's amazing he's gone down that route so I think it was a bit of I think Adam would agree it was a definite sort of relationship that we had in in inspiring each other I suppose and how did you find the actual the process of motion caption um I found it really difficult at first I'll be honest yeah yeah yeah that was a long time ago um that was fin four or five years ago now yeah yeah it's amazing but it's um you would do um sessions in sort of blocks of sort of four or five hours which is actually it's really exhausting because um but great fun and absolutely fascinating because you sort of see yourself in the suit with all the sensors on and then you see an avatar of you and and so you can see what what movements you're doing and you're having to really learn a technique and you've got a movement director with you um in the studio with the The Voice director um and you know at this point I give a massive shout out to everyone at pit stop because they were just an amazing team to work with I think larion and Pit Stop have a beautiful relationship going and uh and so they made it as you know joyful and fun and very very supportive really educating you on it and supporting you with it and so at first it felt quite odd um because you're we always wanted minara to be quite sort of small in her movements um apart from obviously when she's in battle so but um yeah so I found it you're having to remember things like what's called a bass pose where after you've delivered a line and don't forget you're on your own in the studio you're not with anybody else in the studio well that's what I find the hardest part of this process yeah you're you're on your own with all this stuff so so you're having to act imagine um and also remember with the map to come back to things like bass pose which is after a section that you've recorded you must sort of it's almost like neutralizing your body so that when they're animating it and and cutting between lines and scenes and characters they can cut easily um otherwise if you're in mid gesture it wouldn't kind of work and then you've got other things like doing kind of both hands raised like we might as I'm talking now doesn't quite work so well on map it just doesn't read as well so so while you're in the studio on a long session you're having to think about all of these technical things as well as the character and that's that's really exhausting and really challenging and um but but a wonderful Challenge and I I feel much more fluid with it now obviously because I've had quite a long time doing it but um but I once you sort of let go of that technique and and just trust that you know and you've got the movement there movement director there who's who's helping you and reminding you of certain things now and then you're just free to play really um free to play her physically and I suppose it was easier for me than maybe some of the other characters perhaps because um for me Menara is with the kind of person creature being that she is um is very bound so I wanted to explore physically the difference between her under the influence of the absolute and then the journey that she goes on in the rest of the game and how she's freed from that and explore that physically so at first the movements are quite small but it can you know the map can detect everything it's very uh sensitive and um but for me she's quite a bound character and um that was quite that was exhausting as well holding somebody quite rigid and then that sort of became slightly Freer as the Journey of the character preceded yeah a real challenge moap but great fun and actually makes you quite aware as an actor of what you do physically and how things read so they gave you actual Direction on movements yeah yeah yeah yeah but only in terms of not not sort of why doesn't Menara do this it's not like that it's about them it's about the movement directors make sure that it reads properly in map that it's as interesting as it can be because they know what it's going to look like in the animation so they're looking at it technically whether is you're looking at it from a character point of view yeah yeah yeah and of course I mean it's it's a process where you work together on something or they might say you know actually on that line why don't you try this gesture or something like that because that would read like that you know and um so it's it's a real process and as I say pit stop so wonderful to work with all the directors Josh Beth Adrien Fraser Kirsty they all and the behind the scenes guys a phenomenal team that they have at Pit Stop um because you've got you know somebody doing sound because you're miked up somebody looking after the moap so Ben and Mike and AOS and all the all the all the people there's a lot yeah but you know I don't think they get enough of a shout out you know and so it's nice in interviews like this to sort of give them a mention because um it's not just you know laran and the actors it's and it's um it's everybody it's everybody right down to the person who's putting on your mic pack you know and and looking after the quality of that and so you know laran got a fantastic team together with absolutely everybody involved yeah I'm actually going to be speaking to a couple of the guys from pit stop so that'll be that'll be great yeah yeah um I'm wondering you know as you said you've been with this character for 4 years or so she must be a part of you now I mean you must be able to you must be able to switch her on like that right yeah I think so yeah um I mean in terms of there wasn't anything that I particularly did I don't think to get to to get into her before a session if your train was running late then you could kind of channel that anger into it that would that was pretty easy yeah yeah I think for I I I love her you know I I love her and um because I think she's a really rounded wonderful character who has an awful lot to give actually and so I'm very protective of her and she's she's a she will always be a a very dear to my heart and a great part uh of me yes you get to know something someone so you know the way they think and it was quite easy to kind of switch into her particularly in sort of more recent sessions when before we finished the game this year I I love her love all the sides of who she is and I'm I'm curious if this was the last time you portrayed her would you be okay with that you know if this was it I know all the actors say that to me you know they want to do more you know oh my God I I mean yeah we you know gosh you you you see all these characters Dan are are gifts aren't they you know they they're people that the they creatures where that and it's a world that there are endless possibilities with that's what's wonderful about d and d and all of the great fantasy worlds is there's just endless Realms and possibilities to go into so I mean if there was ever an opportunity to keep being with her for sure oh we'd all jump at it you know be with our characters because they're wonderful inter to see what happens to them where where would you take her story do you have ideas in your own head is that something you Workshop in your own own head at all you go oh she could go here or it could happen well one thing I really do love about the journey that Menara has gone on is exploring her relationship so that's what's great about the romance scenes for example um is watching how Menara builds a relationship with someone like carlac for example and where that takes her you know that's it's heartbreaking for her is one option um or or any of the Romantic scenes that she builds with people where she's really for the first time I think um exploring what that means exploring trust exploring companionship things she's never been through before and and um or or is very you know awkward about normally but actually gives herself to to it so that makes again her much more interesting much more three-dimensional not just an evil character where you know you have to do this and and be bad you know there's there's there's redemption in in in everything I think and um perhaps um but yeah that's debatable um but there is in her and um and so I think it would be really interesting to explore where those relationships all the companions relationships go next next and if they you know explore maybe the underd dark for a bit uh you know that would be really cool all together merry band of Fighters off to explore the underdog I don't know was there going to be something with pregnancy or something I read somewhere correct me if I'm wrong um yeah that that came into it at one point that was pretty weird yeah I can't really expand on it but but we didn't explore it that much but didn't work not sure you'd have to you'd have to ask the writers yeah no that's all right yeah so you've been doing this for over 30 years I mean you you really old Dan and I was gonna say and you're still only in your 30s um so but that's not true the um you always knew you wanted to do this right didn't you yeah I did I've always how did you know um um yes I I I've always known um since I was quite little that I wanted to do and I sort of set myself a plan really to sort of you know do school and college and then go to drama school and then go out and work in it and that's exactly what I did I was incredibly lucky um to do that I had a really um wonderfully supportive family who have always always always championed me all along the way my dad's an actor so you know I would go to I'd go to rehearsals with him after school every day and and watch people working and and get to know a lot of fabulous writers and texts early on like Shakespeare JB Priestley n coward so I had a really good education in theater is my main background um really and radio too and voice over um but a but yeah working with voice and and and Theater is is been the bulk of my my career and I've I've loved every moment of it I've had the most incredible opportunities which I'm really grateful for I know that sounds very actory but it really is true I've I've really really enjoyed my career so far and I'm still enjoying it and this is just just taken it to you know a really different experience again so that's that's I'm very very lucky but I I I I was lucky enough to go to drama school train for three years and then I went straight to the BBC um because I was lucky enough to win the cartton Hobs award which is an award the BBC give to drama school levers um uh every year and I did that for seven months so I I got a really great training if you like thrown in at the deep end working with the most phenomenal people you know that it would take you 10 20 years to work with in theatral film so that kind of propelled you that award it it yeah well it gave me just brilliant opportunities to just work and work work um for the BBC and learn from people you know I I was lucky enough to work with Peggy Ashcroft and Paul scoffield and and Bob Hoskins and amazing people who are sadly no longer with us but when you're learning from people like that you know you're learning from the best and um so I was I've been very lucky to kind of sort of bridge a gap really between that sort of Old World of theater and the modern world and so I think that's why I'm really enjoying my career because I've sort of had the best of all of it really that's how I feel and um I'm really really grateful and I and you know I then went on to the RO Shakespeare company and things like that fantastic time again learning from so many people there and did that for two and a half years and went on tour all over the world with that and you know just had brilliant experiences and then more and more and more theater and radio and voice over as we go along so yeah I've been very lacking bits of Telly here and there and I've had a good time it sounds like it only just beginning Emma it's only just beginning yeah is there anything your your dad taught you that you maybe brought into your role in Boulder's Gate about acting or that you still keep with you um that's a really interesting question um I think I think to always be truthful in the work always be truthful in the work so I always with characters um and that's what I was lucky enough to learn you know that's what we would taught with drama school as well I had some great mentors at drama school along with my dad and my family um I had amazing teachers like Brian asprey who was extraordinary um Andrew Jack uh people who have done great work in theater and film and I think that's the main thing is to be is to be honest in the work to be truthful in it to find the reality of the character doesn't matter if they're evil doesn't matter who they are you find the three dimension of them find find their soul if you can which again sounds very actory but but that's our job that's our job we're meant to hold a mirror up to the to the world as Shakespeare says all the world's a stage all the men and women mely players so art is meant to hold a mirror up to society and it's our job to do that truthfully in whoever you're playing whoever you're playing to bet to the best of ability so I think um for me that's why I say for you know I want to get to the the truth of who minara is it would be very easy to just bark a voice out or you know I think that's what I love about the way the gaming industry is going is that it's so cinematic it's so real it's it's you know and that's the great thing about laran is they use real actors you know it's not just a this stuff is not just a funny voice you know this it doesn't matter that it's it's not voice acting let's just put it it's it's acting it's art yeah it's acting so you're playing whoever it is again the same with Warhammer or age of Sigma you know you or I do Steph Erikson's books as well you you you'll do it you got to be real yeah yeah got to make it live because in voice over there's a great um adage which is if I see it you'll see it and it's very very true I learned it big time in radio because radio to me is probably the most visual medium there is in many respects because all I need is me a microphone and a script and I can take you to any Dimension realm time atmosphere Planet whatever just need the imagination don't you just play on the audience's imagination and that is the best set designer the best costume designer the best lighting the best do you see what I mean and that's not disrespect the other genres but it's um it's really fascinating and so you you always must remember that so in the map Studio pit stop for example and you're on your own with just the director and the mo the movement director and the all the tech guys and girls and a bunch of walls and a bunch of walls and and you've got to really trust that you know who your character is and that you can really see um where you are and who you're speaking to and that again is what so fantastic about larryan and pit stop is that they allow you to really play and you feel really held and supported again that sounds very sort of worthy but it's really true as an actor you need to feel particularly when you're doing this sort of stuff where you're going into you know just other worlds you you need feel that you can play and that you're if you if if it's not quite right you're you're okay and we'll go right no problem we'll do it again you know do the so um and also the freedom that laran and Pit Stop give you to do that you know to to muck around with stuff and and but also they're really great at saying this is the story line so this is what we would like here this is what we're aiming for this is what we need they really help you to create it and I mean pit stop the directors at Pit Stop are phenomenal holding the whole in their head my God you know because don't forget over a long period of time you're not there the whole time as the actor you know you might do like a session in January and then you don't do another one till April I was going to say how is that how do you find that cuz that's that's tricky I would have thought um well it isn't tricky when when you've got great directors like you have a pit stop because they can go remember we did this last time and I and she she is so with me anyway minara that um and I got to you know that's the advantage of doing it over a long period of time as you get to know more and more and more about her and as I say I was having this kind of extraordinary actor writer relationship with Adam where we were going in this amazing Direction um and so the directors were able to say and here we did this and you're speaking to this and this is what's just happened and this is what's about to happen so they put you right in the center of it and you're okay you just snap back into it but you've got to know who she is yeah who you're playing so you feel like the audio book work sort of you know the warhammers and the fantasy worlds you've you've lived and breathed in helped with this world um that's interesting um I wouldn't say necessarily helped but I I really love doing all this stuff I I I've had some of my most favorite times working for Games Workshop um think there are one company and um and um and I'm really grateful to laran for bringing me into the games uh side of things because I I started with them with divinity Original Sin that was your first game yeah yeah I really love I I suppose I love the epicness of so do I don't you worry and yes actually you're right um all the experience that I've had for years working for Games Workshop in Warhammer and sigma playing things like Celestine the living Saint you know you where you're playing a a saint you know I love I love a grand character yeah yeah ah it's incredible so yes that did prepare me it did It prepares you it kind of oils the wheels of your imagination where you go you know you have to as an actor if you're going to do this stuff you got to be bold it's much better to go further and be bold and be pulled back by the director than be sort of timid and and sort of naturalistic mumbling about it which I can't stand you know um get out do it you know live it breathe it because then it's particularly true on a microphone because there's a a sort of again another adage particularly in in mic work where you need to sort of have 10% more so that it really lands through the microphone and I really really think that's true in moap and gamew work and that's not to say that you can't be subtle either because of course you can because everything's so sensitive the mics are fabulous the map's fabulous it picks up the slightest thing so you and but you got to play that range you know you you you can't be frightened of battle scenes you got to find the big voice you got to go for it you know you've got to command you know even if you're playing you know a sort of you know Goblin in a Tavern you know you got to go there have you played a goblin in a Tavern probably I think I played a talking chicken for laran I think can't something like that you know wolves trees or something anyway um but just brilliant allowing to getting to play like that is amazing I know you love podcasts as well what sort of podcasts are you listening to in the know I love podcasts oh I just I know things the um the what what sort of podcast are you listening to Fantasy stuff or more grounded realistic no no you know what I'm really fascinated in actually ironically I'm really fascinated in Cults o so is my girlfriend yeah I think they are fascinating I I I I'm really this is a big shout out to them actually I'm absolutely loving a little bit culty with nippy and um Sarah Edmonson on the whole Nexium thing you know the Nexium cult no I don't what is it oh my gosh it's this extraordinary cult in America um doesn't exist anymore because those two helped blow the whistle on the whole thing along with um someone called Mark vente was that over Co that they blew or was that before before Co but they're still sort of you know they're still in the aftermath of it all and um but the guy who led it he went to jail in 202 I think it was last year for 120 years for oh just the most horrendous going on um but they did a documentary I don't know if you've seen it in Australia then called The Vow it was I've heard of it yeah I've heard of it yeah well fascinating and so I became very fascinated with that I don't know why but I I yeah so I quite like podcasts on Cults and crime all the dark things just likea but I also I know why you play so well I also love um I also love smartless with Jason B oh I was watching that the other day brilliant very funny just delightful they're absolutely wonderful to listen to and there's also a great one at the moment that I love let me just find it called heavy weight okay which is just brilliant with this this incredible journalist is just um finding stories just going around sort of helping people yeah what J Jonathan Goldstein I think it is his name and he's just extraordin takes on people's stories or plights and goes around and sort of helps them like for example if you had a relationship you know um with someone when you were 15 and then it ended awkwardly but you've always felt guilty for the rest of your life about how it ended and you want to sort of make amends for that he'll kind of find the person and set up a kind of you know meeting with them and just just the but the way the podcast is produced is just um really beautiful so yeah I I like podcast you're right I I feel like going back to acting I feel like a lot of the actors I speak to are very sensitive souls and I feel like is that just a coincidence or do you feel like that there's something there with the sensitivity and and acting yeah definitely that's one of the things I could relate to with Menara was I'm very sensitive as I know my friends and family will tell you um and um I don't know why uh I I just am so I think I yeah I think actors um actors feel things yeah quite deeply whether they let you know that or not it's another matter but yeah so how do you deal with criticism or or positive well feedback no um not very well um uh I think I've got a lot better I think age um for me personally speaking I got a lot better uh at dealing with things like that I think I think as a young actor you can get very sensitive about it because you know as a young actor you want to do well you want people to like you you want you want to get more work you want to succeed in what you want to do and um but after you become I wouldn't say jaded at all but after you've had experience um of you know not getting work or periods of unemployment or doing lots of successful work um you kind of you kind of accept that that it's the world's okay you know that's just their opinion who gives a you know get on with your work the work is the most important thing and that you are enjoying what you're doing you're enjoying playing you're giving the art to the people you're serving the writer you're serving the company work working for that's the most important thing what anybody else thinks of it um certainly no disrespect to you Dan but from a journalistic point of view it it you know try not to let that affect you because um it's sort of really a little bit irrelevant to the work really fan reaction is incredibly important and obviously it's wonderful if reviews are lovely and people really are enjoying it like what's happening with Boulders gate yeah but I think it's a bit it it's um because it you're putting your soul on the line you know in this stuff you like I say you're holding a mirror up to humanity but it's you who's going through that you know you're you're it's like you're serving serving the community well that's what I mean how do you not take a personal when a character is so personal to you you know not that you've had to experience any of this I mean it's all glowing reviews for minara and Border's gate I mean no it's and that is absolutely wonderful and I'm I'm really really grateful uh for that but I still get a little bit kind of you know uh how do you not get a big head after all these comments seriously I don't know feel good but you can't you can't you can't and because you otherwise that all that sort of stuff just consumes you and it's there's no that actually really dampens your creativity to walk around thinking like that it's nice to have prayers of course but you've always got to keep humble and open always I agree certainly because otherwise you're not going to focus on all the other bits of work you're doing and and and and things like that nobody wants to hear that kind of stuff no in my opinion any but I think um yeah yeah I was going to say something and I've just forgotten what it was but anyway it doesn't matter that's all right ask me something well here's a funny one if I say clowns what's your response to that word what [Laughter] is [Laughter] okay um yeah why why can you tell me why everybody's so fascinated uh yeah it's just one of those things isn't it that all these different things break out from games sort of in kind of in jokes or so I guess it's just one of those memes or it's all good it's all fun and I've Loved I've Loved everybody's take on things or memes or little videos or and the fan art the fan art has been phenomenal the way people have just taken that um but the the clown thing with our faces painted it's an in-game thing it's you can do it to the characters yeah yeah yeah it's it's it's delightful it's fine and and her her brilliant sense of humor and you know I think my actual question Emma was I didn't give you a question there my actual question is what do you think of clowns are you because I'm kind of scared of them I don't like them okay I find them really I find them clowns work for me when they're in a horror context which is why I I Adore it for example and I was really a bit kind of like not sure about this when when I saw the Remake and then I was absolutely blown away with it cuz I'm big Tim Curry fan so I always love the original it but then the Remake was just fantastic one and two I thought um because that for me is a clown clowns are scary a load of grief off clowns now I never really understand clowns I I think that's what it is as well I don't well they're not funny that's the problem they're creepy I find them creepy not funny so so when they do sort of gag kind of falling over things and I I've never found that particularly no I find it uneasy that's what I mean yeah yeah so um so yeah that clown makeup on us look makes us look a bit kind of spooky yeah I going to it I I didn't like the second one as much I think it went too crazy for me I really like the first one yeah the second one is a bit I don't know I'll have to watch it again it's been a while I guess it is it's nearly Halloween might be a good movie Halloween give I think I really loved the fact that um is it Alexander Scar's God uh he's brother yeah his brother phenomenal AB bill it's Bill he's phenomenal in it I think what I liked about Tim's version of it Tim Curry's version is it's all character real you know and then innocent looking clown thing and then what I loved about what Bill did was he had all of that character but they really went to town on on people's like we're saying people's visions of what clowns are like when they're scary and I think it just worked really really well I thought was great and then I'm a big Stephen King fan so oh Steve we could go on about Stephen King for a while yeah so with with with the audio book work that you've done um can you can you talk me through the Warhammer experience because a lot of people love your work on that in particular that came up a lot and I'm wondering what you remember from that experience and is it a bit of an ego boost to play all these characters cuz I imagine it would be they give you that much Faith you know um yeah that's a really nice Point actually they do give you a lot of faith and that's again I'm really honored um actually yeah um but for me I'm I'm incredibly fond of the whole Warhammer sigar Community I love them I Love Games Workshop all the all the all the people there are very dear to my heart um and I have had the opportunity to play some really big major characters like Celestine B you know sisters of battle that sort of thing um I'm incredibly fond of that world and very excited whenever I get to to do the books and all the writers you know gaav Thorp and Andy Clark and all all of them are in James and everyone they're all they're all Extraordinary writers their imaginations are just something else to be able to just create the level of detail they do right down to the sort of nuts and bolts on a ship you know just the descriptions of stuff um so but again I don't know I seem to get I I I seem to just really take to it like a duct to water when I was first given the opportunity to be part of it because in when I first started they did a lot of audio dramas so I went in as a as an audio actor um you know in a sort of almost like a radio capacity and we did loads of those and and and they always get like laran do a really wonderful bunch of actors together who are all willing to play and really give you know and um and it's really noticeable if somebody comes in and they don't you know oh really kind of want to take them under your wing and go come on come for the ride you know and and and you watch people kind of go oh oh is it okay to step off the cliff and just go W you know be massive and you go yeah it is that's what you need to do when we're fighting and we're told by the audio director there there's thousands of people in this battle they're all in front of you waiting for your command you got to go for it um you got to and so um it's been lovely to watch people uh learn um on those sorts of jobs actually and and and be bold old and brave with it um so I yeah I feel and with Celestine we did that as a big Audio Drama as well um although I've done the audio books of her too and yeah I I love the challenge I seem to just really get into finding lots and lots of different voices and really pushing yourself and how far you can do not that it should ever be a silly funny voice but how far you can be kind of nonhuman did I hear that you that you color code different characters to get give them a certain mood where do you get all your information from um yes I do I like to um color code the characters uh because as soon as I when if you if you've got a a page of dialogue where there's eight different characters talking to each other other um for me I initial them in a in a specific color that I think describes their character if that sense so if somebody is sort of dark of soul and quite brooding I'm depending on what they're like if they're if they're quite uptight and vicious I might use like a dark gray or a black or a a dark brown or you know or if they're kind of um quite brilliant and passionate with that I might use a red you know but but what I'm saying is that as soon as I see that initial and that color I can switch into the voice immediately so that I can record that dialogue in one go otherwise it would be you know you'd be there all day if you sort of recorded one line and then stopped and then recording another being an engineer's nightmare to edit it together so you have to as an audio book reader really prep the material so well that you know the story very well and you know exactly what you're going to do vocally with the characters and so techniques like that like color coding for me really help me to just keep that flow and switch from one to the other this might sounds silly but do you get to actually take in the story of it all yeah yeah yeah so I I mean the way I prep books is I read the story for pleasure first oh wow to when you get sent it I read it to find out what it's about and to enjoy it and to to check out the story to take the story on board into me that's great and um and then as I'm going along I'll note down if there's any accents that need to be worked on if there's any really complicated words I won't Linger on them at the time I'm first reading it through I'll just circle them just to check definitions that kind of thing making sure that pronunciation is right and and and your producer helps with things like that but really I think it's up to the actor to take that responsibility when you're prepping the work you don't have it done for you you do it so because then when you do it you can Digest it you can digest what the writer is is saying and and wanting from you and um and I and I also think it's um the our responsibility to make sure that you give the writer you know you do justice to the writer's work because lots of writers they don't write books to be read out loud they write them for us to read and so narrators have to really get inside the book and and make it live and breathe for people and be imaginative with it but also it's not a radio play you know and it's not theater so there's all sorts of techniques where you don't want to go too far with something and then with some books like with Games Workshop stuff you you've got to be big and bold um so it depends what the writer's writing what about the challenging scenes that do you note them off and in particular with B with Boulders gate I know you probably don't get the script in advance for Boulders gate do so you kind of have to tackle it on the day or you you you do get the script um maybe the day before or a few days before but okay you kind of familiarize yourself with the lines and what they look like but you might not know the context of it and you get a kind of spreadsheet of lines and and also those lines are very different because they're not in strictly you know in dialogue with somebody um you can see the person's q- line but you can't you you know you're not going to be in a studio with them as I've said but for bolders gate I would always make sure that I ask the director exactly exactly where we going on and and they they because you build a relationship over time with people so we all built relationships that were very close with everyone at Pit Stop you know and um and laring and so if you need context they give you context but in audio book work all the context is there for you so it's up to you to get inside it and bring it Al honoring the right yeah last one on audio books is there any that you've done that you would re go recommend like from from the work you've done all of them no um well all of them definitely all of them but if you had to pick a couple this is a selfish one for me because I I'm I'm getting into audio books now as well so I I it depends what you like I mean I do so many different genres so I do a lot of horror I do a lot of crime horror a lot of historical stuff yeah okay so you know I've done everything from devil land which is all about the Stuart Dynasty um 1600s Britain um you know I've I've done lots of crime lots of horror so it yeah and lots of fantasy so it depends what you like if you like fantasy you could try maybe the God is not willing by Steven Erikson for example okay it just depends what you like have a look and choose one Dan let's get to some fan questions um how much did you know about the dro society and law when you first started uh on Boulder's Gate Emma um I had to go and research it and find out and there's so much stuff online about it so that was an amazing read particularly about house Bain Ray and uh particularly about Menara and her family so not a lot you've got to go and research this stuff and find out and also particularly when you're doing an established world like D and D you must find out about things because you need you know you need to bring that into your performance because fans will expect that and that's quite right how do you think you'd go with d and d i i I would love to have a go I was I felt really um bit sad that we didn't get to do the uh the role playing no I wish you were in there I really do time and time and and space and all of that I totally appreciate that but um I would love it if there was another opportunity with all sort of 10 of us or you know um nine 10 of us um well in other words a lot more of us whoever are that would be really cool I I I do like role playing I haven't done very much of it um but I once um used to play Call of cthulu with friends long time call of cthulu is HP Lovecraft oh of course sorry yeah yeah gosh the best horror stories ever HB Lovecraft is awesome must be on Stephen King actually I mean he must be he must have influenced everybody um so cthulu is in the world of Lovecraft and that's awesome but that's that's I'm not I haven't played a lot of games on on PC uh online or whatever um but yeah I just like being in them yeah I was gonna say you're not you're not a gamer are you so you haven't really played Boulders gate but you've probably watched the scenes on YouTube I'm guessing I haven't yet d i no no I haven't played Boulders G oh sorry but I'm going to play Boulders Gates oh you are oh yeah oh yeah yeah because um I'm really fascinated by the games industry and how it's going like I say it's the particularly this game is just like a little movie you know it's this you know the cinematics are astonishing it's astonishing to look at so all the bits that I've looked at online I've been so drawn into it and wonderful to see how everybody else looks characters that you may not not have met or or or seen you know the actors I've not met them in real life Etc it just looks just so delicious so I would actually really love to play it and I think that get really right um I can't speak for other games companies but but definitely for laran um what I love about them is the level of detail they go into so you can have two of the sort of main characters in a scene talking you know on a close-up shot but in the background you'll see you know people walking around or somebody shopping or somebody leading some cattle through or somebody going oh you know and I love all of that I just think their level of detail is extraordinary and it just looks so Sumptuous the game and the music is beautiful but to think of those shots it looks like a movie you're watching a movie yeah I someone told me how many Cuts scenes are in there but it's extraordinary the amount of cut scen lots a lot it's unbelievable really gorgeous so I would very much like to play Boulders gate and um and I I I also really enjoyed the the televised version of um The Last of Us and I've seen some of um some of the game and I'd really like to play that so I'm really getting actually thinking are you getting into it I'm getting into it I would like to play do you know what I mean I'd like to play now as a player so would you would you stream or anything like that or would you do it privately I don't know about that I I think there I'm so in awe of um quite a few of the origin actors how kind of how jened up they are on all of this they're just amazing you know because they are Gamers um some of them and um yeah you know like Neil and and and Sam and Amelia and they they're just phenomenal in their knowledge of they've got to speak you know and uh I kind of feel a little bit out of my depth with stuff like that at the moment but then you're good employed as a gamer I was employed as an actor so that's cool too um as we all were I I would like to be part of the world now so I'm going to have a well good luck if you need any help let me know it is a tough game it's not the easiest game to dive into yeah it looks difficult but there's enough information out there I mean it's just yeah beginner guides and all of that and I'll ask some of the cast as well I suppose but uh yeah I'm looking forward to it actually what was your favorite voice line or scene to record that one always comes up every interview but I guess what there any that stand out let's let's say that that you remember shooting yeah I really um I love all the sort of the the joke stuff like in the clowning scene you know with you know it was a beautiful webbing those kind of jokes I I love all of that and I love you know Goblin trash and I those wonderful sort of incredible lines you know when would you ever get to say things like that um but I often I really love um after she's rescued from moonrise when she's talking to the player about what she experienced with Ain I love I love that scene I love how heartfelt she is and the fact that if she hadn't been rescued and hadn't been sort of Taken on board um that nobody would remember her and that that whole Arc of her story I think is really beautiful and um and I love in fact I I in thought I wrote it down there's a there's a I love it when she's explaining who she is one of her lines was yeah um my house trained me to be a soldier in L's service and my mother showed me how to survive the Perils of society she taught me to be resilient and to go and to guard my heart from those who cannot be trusted literally and figuratively and so so whenever she's talking about her experience I think is really amazing because I don't think she does that very often that's part of her journey isn't it to kind of open up to people and how how her journey in the game makes her do that I think is beautiful and and to the point where and when she also like lines when she says you know um my affection affection for me is very small so when I give it it's it has great depth it has great meaning and actually I think her affection grows particularly with people like carlac characters like carlac [Music] um and when she you know well I don't I don't want to I don't want to give anything away see for people who haven't played it yet but yeah I think I know where you're going yeah I know emotional with that when she's allowed to be emotional and yeah you know really feel that did you feel that when you're doing that cuz that was very they're very emotional scenes yeah it really upset me oh really did it oh yeah yeah yeah yeah that's all I can say yeah yeah yeah how do you come down from that after you know that scene oh you just you you you just have a good old hug with everybody in the studio and a good cup of tea you just yeah you just got let it go you got to move on to the next thing yeah right that's why I love what Adam has given me because um I've been able to go to every every kind of feeling with her you know to it's it's lovely as an actor and I suppose that it's not it's not that it's an ego boost it's just that it's really fulfilling to play um a character where you're trusted by the the writer in the studio that you'll you can go to the big commanding battle but you can also be you know explore the soft and the gentle and the vulnerable I was allowed to be vulnerable with Minar and I think that was what I really um Wanted uh from the get-go I think because I think there's vulnerability in everybody so I was interested in really exploring that with her is hers is there any and there must be some where you know and and and because she says things like um you know you have to harness your fear you know don't let don't let it be the mind killer you know you've got to take it and harness it so if you're fearful that means you're frightened inside so that means you're there's a there's an element of vulnerability in her where she's G like I can't let it eat me I've got to take it and make it myself strong and then the journey that you see her go go through allows her to just Express that vulnerability more and more and you know like when she when she says to the to the player um after she's rescued what I was talking about before when she's talking about Ain and how that she finds that frightening that she looked at Orin you you know orin's like a mirror and she did see herself in that the madness and blood and I think those sorts of lines were just beautifully done by Adam I really enjoyed playing them have you met Adam we've never met Dan and we keep sort of sending each other the odd message over the studio or you know on on on Twitter I refuse to call it X I don't even understand what that means um Twitter um uh whereby we're kind of like yeah we really must meet one day you know we will make it happen but it's uh so we've sort of hopefully one day you can just give each other a hug you know and say thank you to each other you know that was what was so lovely at the party where when you know we did meet quite a few of the writers and some of the characters had their writers there it was absolutely wonderful for them to go hey you know yeah I saw Neil finally I think he finally met that's so special yeah I love that really special yeah really good even after so many years too I mean you just can't help but hug seriously yeah yeah no it's been wonderful really really wonderful uh I think you've touched on this a little bit but is there any ways you personally related with Menara um her vulnerability and her defensiveness um I can get very defensive it's not so much that you're bringing elements of yourself in but you're but I think when you do identify with a character uh her awkwardness sometimes I identified with that maybe a bit of isolation I think we've all had all experienced it in our lives times when we feel sort of on the outside of things I could really relate to that I can relate to her strength her determination I I admire her very much um I admire her that's what I admire the determination yeah I think she's Brave she's a brave character and she's Brave not just in kind of going forth and seeking revenge and of what's been done to her by the absolute or or or l or any of that but but but um I think she's Brave in allowing herself to explore relationships to to go oh companions oh maybe they are quite useful that's uh that's interesting yes okay I'll Trust you you know um I think I think yeah learning to trust people um or companions is a big thing in life for all of us and so I really I I relate to that um that's not to say I don't trust people as Emma I do very much so but I think I I can see you know I have sympathy with people who find that difficult because of things that may have happened to them in life and so I have a lot of sympathy for that and I think um that's one of the reasons why I love Menara because she's she's willing to so yeah yeah and and I like um I love the fact that she's actually very passionate character she's warm and you see and this is another thing you know it's it's been so interesting Dan since the game was released watching people's reactions of like well no I'm not going to bother playing her because basically you just have to be an evil cow and you know I'm just gonna I just I'll just bin her off right from the worko and you go oh that's a sh you go no what are you doing because actually if you you know if you do play her and recruit her um she can be a really good comp companion I think it's an interesting Journey yeah that's the beauty but also the on the other hand with this game where you know some people do get left behind you know you got to kind of play favorites a little bit um but you know I mean people can just play it through so many times can't they they that's thing about the game is the possibilities are just endless endless 100% And and the and also what's great is even reactions like oh I would just kill manthara you know that's a great reaction because that that's what you want to do that's cool you know you do it play play the route that you want to go down because there's something for everybody in other words you know the the sort of inclusivity and diversity of the game I think is is fantastic you're either unique or not unique it's Unique I've also noticed that Boulders gate casts a lot of them have theater experience yeah you know that that can't be a coincidence either because there is something about theater that that lends itself isn't it to this type of work absolutely because it is that ability to inhabit a character so all that training that theater gives you um where you're spending weeks with something really looking into the lines asking yourself the things you're training to do in acting like you know who where what how why when all those sorts of questions help you create a character looking at their background researching where they're from and that's what's great about D and D because there's lots of information out there so you can take that let it inspire you and then you know look at what larryan and Pit Stop is specifically asking from you um and keeping to the Realms of that as well um uh I think it's I think it's inval valuable being a theater actor for the gaming industry and and absolutely I know that that the whole industry is they want actors you know they they yeah that's not me disrespecting voice artists at all just do that but I think what I'm saying is um if you're willing to play that's that's that's what's needed um so it's not surprising to me because games are like Min movies it's not surprising to me that they want that they're using actors oh gosh one of the most thrilling bits actually I've just remembered as well is I love the bit where um minara is in front of Krick um in front of Thor and she's being held be dragged off and she's going no and just the Buzz for me hearing JK simmonsa oh my go that's a pinch me that's a pinch me isn't it I was like oh this is so exciting so exciting I'm excited now and because I adore him oh he's an absolute Legend yeah is you know being alongside and that that reminds me as well um oh gosh what's his surname Doug Doug Bradley yes Doug Bradley did um a horror novels at Games Workshop and he we did it it was myself another actor and him narrating these horror stories and we didn't meet but the just seeing my name alongside Dougs it just things like that are really inspiring you know and like you say I've been doing this a long time but I just get a massive kick out of looking you know when you're working alongside um even if it's independently from them working alongside someone as wonderful as JK Simmons old Doug Bradley is just fantastic and I it gives me a real thrill this T in nicely actually can you give us some of your favorite films and um Inspirations Emma favorite films um my favorite film I have two favorite films of all time oh okay um one of them funnily enough I'm going to see in the cinema next week and I'm so excited because I've never seen it in the cinema and that's um poell and pressberg is a matter of life and death matter of life and death it's absolutely glorious most glorious film and my other alongside that my other favorite film would be It's a Wonderful Life Absolut classic yeah which I I just love but I also love um I'm a I'm a big horror fan as I said and I love the babadook I'm absolutely crazy film yeah oh my gosh I think that director is phenomenal phenomenal D she's brilliant yeah she's extraordinary and um so I really like that um I'm I'm also Jennifer Ken by the way everyone yeah yeah fantastic director that film is extraordinary on so many levels I also love american comedies I'm a real sucker for american comedies um I'm a big will feral fan and um I love things like Anchorman and uh you know the hangover and stuff like that just crazy yeah mad stuff um you know lot of Seth Rogan stuff and Jason bait stuff I just love office Christmas party that kind of thing yeah yeah like I really love film I really really love film and I love I love scor's work obviously uh you good Fellas and stuff I haven't seen his new film yet I want to see it definitely I really enjoy recently I think it's a fantastic film is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood yeah brilliant Quinton yeah Tarantino Brad Pit's best work I think it's a phenomenal film so yeah there are so many wonderful wonderful films I've really love Cinema and I really really love radio so I uh Inspirations oh gosh it could be anyone they don't have to be actors you know so do you mean a person down yeah it could be it could be anything anything that comes to mind well I think I found those films that I've mentioned inspirational certainly when I was little seeing it's wonderful life seeing Fred a stair I used to watch a lot of Fred a stair movies because they used to be shown on BBC 2 every Saturday afternoon and I loved that and I also loved the 70s um dramas that we had when when when drama was King in the 70s you'd have great long series like love for Lydia and um Dennis Potter plays and things like that the telli was always showing those and you don't get so much of that now but um I loved all of those kind of series why didn't they ask Evans gosh I'm really showing my age now but I love they were very inspirational to me um watching watching watching watching and also I I Adore I find I find performers really inspiring I loved it um The Good Life for example I love I love Penelope Keith I'm a huge Penelope Keith fan but I also also find inspiring people like Demi Mo you know I Love Dem Mo I don't know why love yeah I loved GI Jane and I I just think she is so there's it depends doesn't it I mean I'm inspired by things you know that's good that you've got a variety I think that's that's a good thing to have a good variety of you know yeah and um and I love I love I love I'm inspired by all my friends who are in the business be they writers or be they actors or you know or I'm inspired by gardening I'm a big Gardener I absolutely love gardening so if I need to kind of get rid of stuff out of my head if I've been recording all day there's nothing finer than going for a brilliant walk in in mountains or getting into your garden and just nature getting stuck in yeah I love it it's just really calming and grounding and centering getting into what's your garden look like at the moment is it I'm I'm guessing there's packing up for winter yeah yeah um it's looking a bit wind swept I need to get out there been a bit busy yeah been a bit busy I've really got into growing um salads and herbs and and and my own vegetables you you're sort of self- sustaining a little little bit yeah a little bit I I really like self-sufficiency and I think the way the world's going uh we probably need to get into more of it um but I love flowers too and um I love daers and I'm kind of mentioning kind of really irrelevant things but um I find it really I find it really inspiring I really that's amazing all right grew up in the country grew up in the country oh did you so you're not a city you're not a city gu Both Worlds I had the best of both worlds I would I grew up in the country but I also spent um most of my holidays in the city as well in London um so I'm they they both in my heart very firmly so I'm guessing your city now because of work City now yeah but on the outskirts so um okay the way the way the industry is not everything has to be City Centric all the time so that's quite do you have a booth at home yeah oh cool yeah and finally spoilers guys would you yourself save Menara yes how did I know you gonna say that of course yes I would I would save her um but I'll have to see won't I when I start playing yeah um yeah um I love the fact that people are going I've played it i' played the good path through now I'm doing really enjoying the dark path you know all this sort of things so uh that's interesting I guess so I have to don't I [Laughter] really uh well I just want to say um on behalf of everyone you you did an absolutely phenomenal job on this um congratulations you were fantastic and uh I really hope we get to see more of her in some way you know i' I'd really love that I think a lot of people would too yeah me too Dan I'm I'm really grateful thank you so much and and just thank you to everybody you know it's just it's it's a real honor to do this and it's really lovely that everybody's getting so much from the character and the game as a whole and I'm I'm very grateful and um sending lots and lots of love back to everybody because everyone's just being so kind and so supportive and yeah let let's keep keep let's keep the love going guys and you've got a ComiCon this Friday ComiCon coming up on Friday Saturday Sunday uh lot of Boulders gate people there um I'm there on Friday if people want to come say hello and that's in London that's in London we may be doing the Welsh ComicCon not quite sure when that's happening but hopefully we'll be you know or if not all of us but but some of us dotted around at various conventions and stuff so yeah we'll just have to see what the new year brings I hope they get you guys down to [Laughter] Australia because there's a lot of fans down here let let me tell you lot of fans that wouldn't that be amazing Dan you get that organized I will I'll I'll call a few people yeah yeah if not I'll might have to make my own ComiCon um yeah that would what do I need a couple of Mill to get it started just nice Convention Center good hotel yeah so is there anything else you want to say to the fans I mean you've got you've got Cameo Twitter Instagram um doing any signings extremely um that will be happening um just thank you I I I I'm so humbled by all and um really loving the fact that people are taking the character to their hearts and again all these things sound so kind of worthy actory but I'm I really mean it and um you know keep it that's as I say I I love if I can communicate with people on on on Twitter and stuff you know obviously I I will and uh but uh I'm just really really really grateful it's wonderful so let's keep having fun all get a cameo because your cameos are really great I mean I've seen a couple of them they're fantastic I really love doing them I'm I'm really enjoying it I I know sort of taking a couple of little breaks but sometimes when you're really busy um it's quite difficult to keep them going sometimes because people people send in the most amazing kind of requests and I really want to honor that you know and I don't just want to go hi yeah it's me I think that's boring and you know that's not fair for people so I try to you want to put effort in yeah really really think about it yeah and come up with with the things that they want so um sometimes that's not possible uh but most of the time it is and um I'm really enjoying them so thank you yeah keep them going beautiful well thank you so much for today I've kept you longer than I said but I appr I appreciate it very very much um Before I Let You Go can can minara say anything to Dan to wrap this one up [Laughter] damn it is enough I have given you enough of my time what else Adam where are you I know we need you now that was good oh thank you very much uh Emma appreciate it

Channel: Dan Allen Gaming

Views: 40,308

Keywords:

Id: yw588iliNQg

Length: 78min 58sec (4738 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2023