a chat with Baldur’s Gate 3’s SHADOWHEART & LAE’ZEL! (Jennifer English & Devora Wilde) | VA 101

thanks to Logitech G for sponsoring today's video this podcast and every other podcast I make is brought to you by our supporters on patreon they got this episode about a week early we're able to submit questions and have a totally adree version of the show so if you want to check it out and support these very independent podcast that I make the link is in the description it's also the only place you can get an audio version of this show for the record now here's the show hello everyone welcome to another episode of voice acting 101 I'm Alana and I here with who are you and what are you doing here told you it' be aggressive I am Jennifer English and I play shadow heart in balers gate three which is apparently quite a big deal at the moment allegedly that's why I'm here I think oh butut um yeah likewise I mean I think I'm here because I play um Deborah wild and I play LEL in Boulders Gate 3 also a pretty big deal int she follows me around wherever I go I can't get rid of pretty much pretty much that's it that's how it goes us and us and our baby imp uh I'm sure you've been asked this question like a million times but it's the most burning question that everyone I know has about this game how did you record that much dialogue and still keep track of character arcs I don't understand it's so many permutations and so many options like literally how do you keep track of a character good question we don't we don't that's the answer are paid for that's what the directors are for that's what the directors for I go in with a blank mind like a little fairy and I just go give me the context give me the words and then I just I say the lines um that's pretty much my process I can confirm that is exactly her process that is my that's my I don't have space in this brain to hold um all of the character charts also because we didn't know um we didn't know the character charts when we began so we were kind of doing it as yeah we didn't really I mean I think they had like rough character Arts didn't they Jen but we didn't have um the full story let's put it that way so we were kind of just doing it as we went along and I think that made life a lot easier because yeah you don't have to worry about everything I think if I'd G been given all that information at the beginning I would have been very overwhelmed yeah completely we would have been yeah it would have been just way too much but yeah like I would just go in and every new scene just asks asks shitloads of questions am I oh yeah go ahead um does that [ __ ] how does that affect your performance it's a very unconventional way of acting I imagine that you like don't really know where your character is in any given time like is that did you just have to adapt you you just you don't have a choice so you just kind of have to do it or was it something that you still tried to Wrangle somehow I think um you know how like taxi drivers if you study a tax not expecting your answer just with this NE wait wait wait you know taxi drivers have all the old school taxi drivers before Uber I remember watching or reading something and they had they like the part of their brain that remembers maps and roots and things is huge sure and like I don't think they they were like that and that's why they became taxi drivers I think you like learn and then your brain gets bigger I don't know I'm not a neuroscientist but my bu you should be I should be God Dr Jen H but I think like the imagination section of our brain is now pretty [ __ ] massive like like at the beginning it was hard and luckily they re-recorded quite a lot of that so good but um yeah the at the beginning like having to go right hang on wait okay where are we who am I talking to where in the story are we because obviously we'd flip-flop about there was no linear narrative going on as far as the recording sessions are concerned and that I like and then towards the end you're like okay I know exact okay underd duck brilliant who am I talking to brilliant and I can just picture it and I can picture who I'm talking to so your brain is just one giant like balls gate through library at this point Absol yeah that's cool at the beginning it was just a jumble of like words and phrases I think and like random things and now at the end I'm like oh that's what's happening and that's how they're all pieced together but the beginning people were just saying like random stuff to me and I was like okay I don't know what this means but I'm gonna go with it what is this yeah I just feel like surely for the both of you that must not that must be very different to every other acting experience you've ever had right like it seems like you just kind of thrown in there and they're like figure it out but there's there's so much to figure out like it just seems so daunting to me that I'm so impressed this game came together in so many ways but the fact that there's so many voice lines and so many characters they have so many different interactions I can't even imagine how messy that was for well especially towards the end because we'd have like from for shadow heart anyway like there were two really distinct parts and sometimes it would go uh One path this like this line other path the other line when of course those were completely D yeah and and you wouldn't do like one scene all as one one scene all as the other we were literally flip-flopping so like to to flip between emotional states is well and not just the imagination bit the emotional state bit and having to go like yeah I don't want to give too many spoilers away but like very very different and so I had to do that in a game one once uh in one game that I I'm not like an actor but occasionally will voice act a little bit in games which is part of what sparked me to do this podcast with people who are actually talented and I had to do that once where I was swapping between dramatic emotions based on dialogue choices and I left that which might have been like a 2-hour session exhausted yeah because I was having to constantly shift between the two of them and then you're having to do that for like a several hundred hour game yeah is there anything that can prepare you for sessions like that like literally having to drag different emotions out of yourself to make sure that you can sell what's going on I would always make sure I had [ __ ] tons asleep what about you death yeah yeah yeah yeah and just I mean I don't know I think we talked about this in in another interview um Jen but like how at the beginning I I was very prepared and like very sort of picity and then as time went on I I'd sort of dropped that preparation a little bit and just go in fresh um because then I'm not so like bogged down with all of it yeah yeah and then I can sort of and then I'm reading the script and it's fresh and I can be like okay then it's then it's easier for me to sort of flip from one to the other rather than oh [ __ ] now I'm now I'm reading the script now I know that tomorrow I've got to do this and now it's like oh so I prefer I much prefer going in almost like a blank slate and just sort of doing it like that so how long did you actually record for four years four years that's so nuts it's been four years four long years pmic like life changes wild crazy yeah you're different people now like four years is enough for dramatic Life Changes yeah yeah yeah a lot yeah so did you if I imagine you started during the pandemic or just before just before knew there would be a pandemic wow life is different now did you ever get to record stuff in the same room entirely no unfortunately not it would have loved that so much we really wanted to we really wanted to and we asked for it but I think it there's just so many actors in this project and uh scheduling would have been a nightmare and also some of the scenes involv like multiple people so it would have just been really hard to to do that but it would have been nice yeah there's one scene in particular between me and and Deb me and shadowart and lelle uh and I wonder if it's the same one you're think that you might guess it is but I like the spoilers oh yeah knife scene I was being really careful about I don't think that's a spoiler I think you're okay that's not a spoiler that's not a spoil game has knives in it everybody it does have knives violence yeah there's a particular thing that might or might not involve a knife that um yeah I would really like to have done with Dev yeah yeah that would have been good in instead we had to use a pillow I to straddle a p pillow you should do like a re recording of all your favorite scenes I'm sure they'd be done to do that do a little Charity Drive for you I really want to I really want to do outakes I really want to find some bloopers but um I guess we've got to ask like if anybody stored those I don't know but that would be hilarious because there's a lot there's a lot like they generally do store them but I think going through them would be a lot of work take really long four years of four years worth of material yeah um so to backtrack a whole bunch uh where did you both start in your careers like what what how did you start out as as actors and what led you to the point where you got to Boulders gate three oh well let's go back way back um well I well this year marks my 10th year of being an actor hooray made it yay um that actually is a good accomplishment it's a it's an industry full of rejection and constantly struggl Ling and it's not easy so 10 years is amazing congratulations it is and and a lot of uh when I was I went to drama school and a lot of my teachers and a lot of people would say like so you've got to be in it for 10 years until you see like some sort of success and I'd be like no way I'm gonna go out and like win an Oscar um obviously that did not happen uh yet yet yet exactly but but it's really true that it's been sort of the culmination of of many years of work and um I did other stuff before I I went to University and I did English literature then I did a masters in fashion journalism and then I was like right I really need to pursue my actual passion which is acting because if I don't I'm going to regret it and fashion journalism really interesting Masters though what does that entail yes well as an aside sorry I don't what is what is what does that mean learning how to write about fashion but honestly I didn't really learn a lot like as a lot like yeah yeah I went to the in College of fashion and did like a MERS in that wow so like a very you know it's like a very famous school where like but but I think most people go there to be like designers and most people go there they're like very Arty and and they can draw and they can do that I can't I can't draw for [ __ ] um but I can write so I was like I should just you know I should do that and I liked fashion and it was the time when um when fashion blogs were explo were exploding you know before social media was a thing you know everyone was doing their blogs and I was really obsessed with them so I was like yeah maybe that's my path in life yeah it was not my path that going for you no it it was not for me um I didn't like it I did a couple of internships and I was there to like learn how to be a fashion journalist journalist and essentially I just ended up folding clothes in a clothed cupboard um for like the duration of those internships and I was not happy about that and I realized I didn't love it enough to to continue yeah um so yeah then acting went to drama school um and then sort of six years into my career I thought about voiceovers because a lot of people had told me that I had a nice voice um even while I was doing fashion journalism which was very strange they were like oh you got a really nice voice blah blah and I was like okay well I've heard voiceovers are like sort of lucrative and that could be like a nice side hustle joke joke I mean look at this like look look at us now hilarious and um and boulders Gate 3 was my first uh thing that I booked uh through my voiceover agent and I hadn't I didn't have a clue what I was auditioning for I really didn't have a clue about it at all and I guess it just turned out really serendipitously because um I think had I known the scope of the game I would have been uh much more intimidated and probably done a really [ __ ] audition but I didn't really know and it happens a lot I feel like it's really common people like don't know especially if like you I don't know how much you know about video games in general but if you aren't like super involved in the games industry and then and then it blows up and you're like what's this huge thing these people care about yeah like I feel like it happens a lot it's fun I had no clue I had no clue and honestly when I when I got my voiceover agent I was like oh voiceovers a commercials yeah and and voice that's what voice I had no uh even I didn't my mind didn't even go to video games at all so now that video game is such a big part of my life it's I find it quite hilarious you've started with a very good one and welcome you're one of us now thank you thank you how about you Jennifer what was your start as an actress started uh so went to drama school as well and and started like almost exclusively with theater and did that for many many years and would still do it but um the money [ __ ] so maybe not I don't know pic probably also made that sort of tough I would think yeah oh yeah it was really like yeah and um you know still doing like all all sorts and still up for doing like that's the thing with and like as you probably know in the UK there's no separation between voice actors and actors like I think nearly everyone in the game does everything it's it's very like every yeah everyone everyone does TV everyone does film everyone does theater it's just and I quite like that there's a real freedom and you don't you don't get as pigeonholed I think as especially in the states and things where it feels like every the people in video games are video game actors like is that what it's like yeah it's really strange um people very rarely cross uh disciplines and if they do people are surprised they're like oh they can act we like well yeah they've been doing that the whole time it's it is very strange I don't really know what's caused that definitely a thing yeah um you both mentioned going to school and I feel like every time that spoken to uh anyone from England or the UK in General on this show they always have been to drama school is that like a like a a big cultural thing in the UK where you feel like there's a big push for it because a lot of the actors here like in the US and even in Australia didn't study drama they just like kind of showed up and started somehow someday yeah yeah no it's very much the kind of I I mean saying that the the like having directed on this game as well um like it it doesn't make a different too much of a difference whether like and some of the best actors that I've worked with haven't gone to drama school it's not a necessity here but it is it is I would say definitely part of the culture and definitely expected is it a pressure thing don't know I mean the training is very good yeah I think it's more the fact that you sort of it's very hard to get your foot in if you don't go because you can't join Spotlight obviously without having um obviously without having credit or going to drama school so if you don't have a credit then and then you can't get an agent without having so it's all like that makes sense you know it's all mixed it's all sort of linked and then I I do feel like some agents most agents actually um won't take you unless you've been to like a drama school not only any drama school but like a certain drama school I do think that um things are changing now and people are getting their opportunities more themselves and people using social media and people aren't going that route which I think is great because honestly um I don't think that I learn a lot at drama school it is time to talk about the absolutely beautiful Astro 830 wireless gaming headset so first things first obviously this is a beautiful headset in my opinion it's super stylish which I feel like a lot of gaming headsets aren't I just feel like it's especially Sleek which is very good considering it's a headset that's more compatible with your lifestyle not just gaming the a30 wireless lets you play anything anywhere it's compatible with PC portable gaming device devices Xbox series s and X PlayStation 5 Nintendo switch so you can just jump between devices with the same one headset and you can do so simultaneously the Logitech G mobile app allows you to mix and balance audio from multiple different sources at once I did not find a single scenario in which I needed audio that it was not the perfect fit for it also has 27 hours of battery life and wonderful audio quality with 40 mm drivers also of course Very importantly it has this beautiful memory foam padding here on the earpads and earband of course you don't have to Go Wireless while there is the light speeed Wireless 2.4 GHz connection as a lovely option it is also Bluetooth compatible and can be connected by a 3.5 mm Ox cable worth mentioning for those of you who don't have Standalone microphones like I do it does also have a built-in microphone and an attachable boom mic which is very cool and it comes with this lovely travel case I don't know what else to tell you what else could you possibly want it is about time I had an upgrade thank you Astro St across the board I do feel like there are certain people who aren't geared to that kind of learning and it sucks that we like gatekeep a lot of careers because there are certain like especially creative ones because people like aren't you know aren't uh compatible with the education system and that's like a huge thing it's it's a big Financial commitment and oh God yeah like like I I would have loved to have gone to University and done drama school but there was there was absolutely no way way on Earth I could have afforded that just there's just like it wouldn't have happened um but I feel like like drama schools now like it is such a big Financial commitment because especially so expensive London and you just can't affordably live as a student in London unless you are of privilege and then you look at why especially in the UK why so many of the successful actors are really Posh and really rich absolutely absolutely it also creates kind of actor because they're all coming from the same background which is very boring unfortunately changing slowly but I think we we've got a long way to go and as I say like I've worked with lots of untrained actors and or like people that have come from a a not drama school background shall we say and I think as Dev says like like I learned loads at drama school but I think nine 90% of it I've learned on the job like you just on the job always 100% yeah 100% so much yeah you learn quicker you're there you're you're doing it practically drama school is very uh Theory bed I mean you know I don't know about you Jen but we spent like a whole term on Shakespeare I've never auditioned for Shakespeare ever and I don't think I ever will I don't think I ever will I think the system here is so God we've got very we've got very political but it's very like it it's the opportunities especially for theater here are very gate kept and certain people audition for things and especially Shakespeare I mean that's like Elite of the elite kind of thing like why am I spending a term doing [ __ ] McBeth and like ringing my hands and I don't know like speaking English I love oh no but it's not that specific that's everyone at drama school like no that's what I mean it's like it's such a specific thing to learn that isn't actually helpful to most other things again I love Shakespeare but it's like like how is that even really transferable it's not and you're not taught how to like well certainly wer at my drama school we weren't taught how to act for TV and T TV and film no way you know how much time we spent on voice over like one session I think one or two sessions on voice and that's now like our biggest you know a big part of our career is is it's good that things are changing yeah I mean the system the education system probably need to catch up there also I want to apologize if you can hear background noise I'm trying to mute it out if I can both to the two of you and everyone listen excellent Zoom killing it um so for for anyone who's looking to get into acting obviously for all the criticisms that iwe have of the education system I do highly encourage people go to school learning is good um but do you have any advice like outside of just that for anyone who would like to become an actor and do what the two of you do um I I would say only do it if you need to do it and and because it is a really really really tough career um I say do it if you literally cannot think to do anything else if you can do that it's like much easier but I'd say practice practice practice practice record yourself listen back to yourself watch other actors watch like you know whe whatever medium it is you want to do and like if it's video games then then watch the best video game performances and and study them and learn from them um watch really brilliant TV and film watch theater if that's what you want to do and just learn and learn and learn and and yeah and practice as much as possible and and do as many courses as you can and workshops you don't need to go to drama school if you can afford it and you do want to do it bloody well go great um but if you can't there are so many other roots and look at look at your favorite actors and how they did it and if they are postion rich maybe ignore that or have a really famous learning maybe ignore those too just be POS and Rich it's that easy all that or just be Posh and Rich figure it out you'll be fine um but yeah like look at The Underdogs and how they did it and and just yeah think outside the box as well as well you know you don't have to go the traditional route I mean this isn't the traditional route as far as the UK acting scene is concerned like video games is still a massively new and exciting thing and I feel like the industry is still the industry but you know the creative industry is still really learning about it and appreciating it in a different way and I feel like we at the moment are going like hi like this is this this acting is as good as TV and film take this ser and the writing is good is as good as TV and film like you don't have to go the boring route whatever that boring route is you can do something exciting that excites you I've kind of lost steam now Dev you take it well no I I second all of that and I I just think that um to to add to what Jen said uh you have to accept that a lot of this industry is luck and you know we can't be around the bush like I I think that the whole cast is incredible in Boulders Gate 3 and we've all done amazing work but but even getting that audition is is luck you know we were at the right place at the right time and yes we nailed the auditions and we got cast but but you know had I been with a different agent maybe or had I been had I something might have happened and I might never have got to that opportunity so the point of the story is and that's it's still hard for me to really accept that a lot of this industry is luck and if you can't accept that then it's not really for you um a l of and the second thing I want to say which a lot of any success a lot of any success is luck and I would never trust anyone who says that their success did not come at the expense of luck it doesn't mean you didn't work C doesn't mean you didn't you didn't work your ass off but luck is still a factor in a million ways and anyone who's like I did it all by myself and no luck is kidding no no no no no no no things have to sort of collide in a certain way and I think they definitely did for this game um for us all and then uh and then yeah just again sort of seconding what Jen said about uh you know I always think voice acting is acting so we we shouldn't really separate them so if you if you want to be a voice actor you should train as an actor and you should do all the things that you would do if you were considering being a normal actor it's the same so whatever you need to do be that drama school not drama school courses workshops whatever but you're not going to get performance unless you really um unless you really know the craft and you know the character it's not just putting on a silly voice and I think for a long time that's what video game acting was but now people are like oh wait these are actually like real characters with real like flaws and problems and you know all of that good stuff that makes a great character um so we have to approach it from that sense not just like oh I'm going to change my voice and Pitch it lower and that's the character it's not that at all um yeah so many people think it's that as fun as I know they do no it's a lot harder than I know they do and that and that's why people with Boulders Gate 3 are like oh my God this is actually like cinema this is like watching a movie um yeah it is yeah we've worked [ __ ] hard for it of course yeah um so Jennifer I realized we didn't really fully get your background uh how did you get involved with balers Gate 3 because I know you mentioned that you directed parts of it too yeah yeah that that came after um I started working on it as Shadow heart um but the yeah I how did I get on it I yes I didn't I've done loads of theater kind of done all sorts and then um TR like I dabbled in doing voice over and was like I was doing audio books and hated it because I have ADHD and it's just too hard they're terrible because they take a really long time in Peri they take a really long time I don't mind the other side of it I've directed them great that's fine and just being paid to read a book all good but the the concentration levels that you need to to read an Audi book no thanks don't like it um so tried that and then but because I had and I think I did did a good job at them but because I had the reals and stuff I got a voice agent and then then auditioned for dos 2 and the rest is history because it was the same Josh the same director um at stop who um Larry and outsourced to for the dialogue recording and so yeah so played a bunch of characters in that and then did loads more video games and then this audition came along and it was one of those auditions where I was like I know Josh I'm I'm not gonna try that hard and I did like honestly I did such minimal effort I mean I've watched it back and is a good audition but like I did not try at all and so many auditions those are the best those are the best like honestly I'll get a self tape for like we've got like a soap here like called doctors which is like where a lot of actors like cut their teeth on and whatever and it's like a day day like a daytime soap thing and no disrespect for doctors but like I will I will agonize over it and I will work so hard and I will like go to the depths of the character and whatever and not get it don't get like I'll just read it oh there we go I did not think about it so I sent it off thinking I'd get a couple of NPCs do you know what I mean I was really like okay like that's it I'll I'll do like a couple of kids probably and maybe like some you know I don't I don't know what but yeah I was not expecting to get the lead one of the lead roles so yeah you both mentioned you know not really knowing what what your role was going to be or how big the game was going to be at what point did you realize that Boulders Gate 3 was was going to be a big deal like was there a moment when you were like oh this is a big thing that people are really going to care about I think I only just realized when the game came out literally a month ago two months ago whenever it came out honestly like because I just had no context of this why are you pissing yourself laughing it's true I was GNA say like maybe a year in a couple of years in did you like now because I knew it was like I I enjoyed it and obviously I loved doing it and everything but I I don't think I ever had a a scope of how many people loved it I just no idea honestly I just didn't know I think I think maybe to be fair I don't think any of us expected this I don't think anyone did like I didn't like no um because we didn't know how well it was going to be reviewed and um and stuff like that like yeah the reviews have been like have you ever seen anything like it I haven't um but I think I think I knew it was going to be a big deal because in in um Early Access like kind of getting I started to get messages from people and I was like oh this means a lot to people this isn't just I am entertained by this it's like I am affected by this and I think that gave me an inkling and especially like I think I was lucky because I did go to ComiCon um you couldn't de I think you were no I was just had given birth that's why yeah excuses you know women lazy honestly honestly get it together yeah like Whopper in you should be fine whopping what a phrase Whopper in Amazing Baby work right yeah I think so yeah yeah whacker on your back off you go so I think I think that like I think Comic Con like and and properly meeting people and going oh oh there's a face here there's a person there's a soul and they love they love this game and they spent hours and hours and hours with it sometimes like like fourth or fifth playthrough and you're like okay yeah it's it's an incredible thing about video games that I feel like is unique to the nature of the medium is that like video games can be 100 hours long balers Gate 3 can be 100 hours long if if you think about 100 hours you have to spend playing that video games can be by people's sides for so many things like I distinctly remember the game I was playing when I went through my first breakup this Grand Theft too 3 and I know that because I was playing that game for however many hours and being like he sucked it was fine I know that now but like there's so many life experiences you can have that those characters often reflect in little ways that they're so therapeutic U to the extent that there is a company that I'm forgetting the name of uh unfortunately um that is currently working to have video games like officially considered uh an accessory to therapy so you could have a rating that would say this video game is great for people with anxiety we know that because it has this features this video game is good for people with depression like they're literally working with the medical board to make sure that video games can have ratings that are also indicative of how they can help with different mental health problems and I just think that's like amazing but also such a big part of the kind of response that you get to a game like baldis Gate 3 where characters are going through ACH of emotional turmoil together and it can reflect so many things that happen in people's real lives like you're helping people it's such a cool thing like I don't know about you de but like it's well actually saying that I was speaking I was speaking to someone um recently who um was and I forgot to tell you about this Dev who I mean mainly because it was yesterday and we haven't spoken today but um who was talking about their autism and about how Lael has really helped with that and it's the same with Shadow so it's so cool like people are help like it's people discover parts of themselves and I think that's because we were given so much time and the writing is so beautiful and deep and because of all these diverging paths like allowing us to explore so many different parts of of a particular human oid in your case but you know what I mean um like it's meant that people can properly see themselves and as you say like spending it's not just a film it's not just an hour and a half passive as well it's like you are doing it and and I know with autism specifically sorry I'm just like derailing because I think this is so cool with autism specifically uh it it really helps people with facial recognition also in part because they can slow down so like you can process emotion you can process facial expression you can process body language and you're allowed to do it slower because the TV show doesn't just keep moving and there isn't a cut away you can actually are T ofes that are known in VR for helping people with Autism social cues better again I just think it's so [ __ ] cool it's such a cool part of the industry Studio G yeah let's go [ __ ] world uh how I had somebody comment on one of my videos I can't remember whether it was on social media or something else but they were like thank you so much for you have such an expressive face and I'm like autistic and it's really helping me to understand like all your emotions this was not necessarily to do with Boulders gate because we didn't do facial capture but it just made me think of your comment so so yeah it it does it does help it's definitely uh such a cool Avenue to help even if it's unintentional which you know is absolutely more of that um so how much attention did you both pay to reviews when they came out like did you know review day was coming was it something you were anticipating like part of the dev team sitting there waiting for the tens to come in I wasn't planning on it but I think I think when they kind of flooded in and they were all really brilliant I couldn't help but go okay tell us nice things about the project we've worked on um yeah and also being on social media kind of like it's unavoidable really isn't it true true yeah I'm sure people on the group chat weren't they as well de yes yeah we have a group we have a borders gate group chat very nice so um people kept posting on there and and that was that was really nice but I don't know I think a few of us were quite nervous about it I I don't think I was like nervous necessarily because honestly I I even though I had no context of how big the game was I knew that it was good yeah I knew that it was good I I didn't have a doubt that it was going to be like scores across the board and and it's just wow I can't believe it honestly it just because it's been so such a big chunk of our lives and now to see it all coming back and in such a positive way is is really massively rewarding actually it's almost definitely going to win some Game of the Year Awards not to jinx it but like I'm pretty much like I would definitely think hope yeah well just like I like if it does like like even if it doesn't I'm like well whatever we've achieved so much but if it does it just reflects the the proper passion of everyone involved like I don't know it's just like there's something just so special about it and like even even reflected in like the actors who just give so much of a [ __ ] about the audience and and and the community and but also about laran like they care so deeply about it so I'm like if they do it would just be the most perfect Karma because know your work is good because you know that you all cared and that all the people you're working with is very talented so the public stuff doesn't invalidate or validate that it's just like a nice cherry on top like if it does happen great if not you still know you made something amazing right like it doesn't take away from that laran have such a a sense of humor and and a and a and a Cool vibe uh around this whole process and I I love that I think they don't take themselves too seriously while at the same time putting everything into this game and uh and they've given us so much freedom to do whatever we want with the characters pretty much um so it's doesn't come across as pretentious like a lot of effort a lot of care but it's not it's not pretentious or the differ being like a company that that takes the work seriously but not themselves seriously yeah and I think that's absolutely it yeah and it's it's the same with us as well like I think yeah like the the actors like like I don't know this why I love Dev so much as well like she's so good at her job but is also a goofy goofball yes we all are we all have to be yeah taking yourself seriously is boring um how many like let's plays or streams have you watched like have you gotten involved in like watching people react to certain moments a bit not too like yeah I a lot of it a lot i' start I've started playing it myself with my and um that's like however much I watch bits it's not the same as as actually playing it and that is like that has made me appreciate it on such a different level can't our house yeah can't wait to have you around to our flat Dev to play I think you would love it oh my God I I can't wait I can't wait I assume you've not played it then Dev I've not played it and I found out the other day or whenever it was that they they've now got a patch where you can play it on a Mac um and I have a Mac but I feel like my Mac will die a very painful death if I try and give it Boulders Gate 3 so I don't know really what to do about that but I'm desperate to play I'm so desperate to play and I'm not like a gamer at all but now seeing everybody and seeing everyone's reactions I'm like I really want to play I want to do some battles and like choices hard is it hard it is hard yeah it's tough yeah yeah really why what's so what's hard about it you can just get you there's lots of buttons there are a lot of buttons in this game but it's more just that like people enemies can kill you fast if you don't think about what you're doing it's tactical you have to think about you can't just sort of like click a button like you can if I didn't play I played it on um CU Al and I have started streaming and if I didn't play it with 2,000 people shouting at me what to do I would have I would like I was like backseat game for me guys please it's such a complex game again it's it's incredible like the the game's so complex that there are things that you can miss without even knowing that you've missed them which I think is part of the appeal is that it's just you never really know what's going to happen I didn't know that there would be an interaction where I would smear [ __ ] on my face in order to make some goblins let me into a camp but here I am that's a thing that I did in this game and it's like you never really yes you never really know what's going to happen yeah yeah it's a lot uh but but very very fun because you you're like I wonder what will happen if I try this and there's always an answer where a lot of be like nothing happens that's it yeah it's super creative and I've I've heard obviously haven't played it but I've heard that literally it's just a game about thinking outside the box and like picking up totally the last one that I wanted to ask is like did you have any like favorite scenes or like standout moments for each of your characters that you just like remember with excess fondness excess fond yes go on okay I'll go first if you like yeah no I will but but I'm not going to spoil it so I'm just goingon to say the sunrise scene because that's my favorite scene um yeah Jen know is the one I mean I yeah think I don't know who directed that scene because I'm confused I thought it was Tilly but maybe it was you I did some of your yeah it's been a long years we did it it's been a long four years and also we reshot quite a few scenes so I think it might have been both of you in different iterations um but that scene is is one of my favorites it's beautiful it's a good scene uh do I have a favorite all of all of the romance scenes I love um no none nonone massive no there like yeah like there's an end scene that I absolutely adore doing um is there a lot of awkwardness in doing Romance when you're just like in a booth yeah can't even imagine no it's not really like you got to create chemistry with yourself right yeah I I was lucky because my girlfriend is my director so so that really really helped genuinely and she would be my barometer like I'd know if something landed because she'd be blushing so you know definitely helped um yeah but no it it could be but you could say the whole thing that's also a valid answer if the whole thing is your favorite thing then that's also totally fine whole thing is my favorite thing totally fine yeah uh it's obviously there also bits of like random little scenes that like come in like a side quest or something like that like I'm thinking specifically of like the circus and things like that which are just um hilarious they're hilarious little asides here and there and yeah um yeah so so those those are also great I think the little moments just just as good as the big moments yeah I think sometimes like the little moments of Comedy which would be in where we could be a bit lighter like over big like you know like emotional Arc or something and then you just like redo a bit from act one where it's like really light and you're like I love that got to have fun todaying yeah for sure no um game's incredible you both did an incredible job the whole cast did like it's I know everyone's saying this to you already I'm sure but it really is just such a feed in video games I've been in this industry for 10 years and there aren't that there aren't a whole lot of games that make me go how did they do this and balers Gates 3 is one of them I'm so fascinated and like so so impressed on behalf of absolutely all of you but we're done talking about balers Gate 3 enough it's over never again I love to ask people this these final questions here of just who are your favorite actors who inspired you to get into acting some of your favorite performances doesn't have to be video game related obviously not to put you on the that's that's a big question got so many I love Violet Davis so much um and I think my first my first like and it funny I talked about this the other day my first um like oh I want to be you when I grow up was Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility and much to do about nothing um probably because she was like you know older and blonder like you know old and blonde older and blonde and I just went like I could be you um yeah she like I love I and then still to this day like I will rewatch like Sense and Sensibility very like English of me like British of me but um uh yeah that was like my first like inspiration I suppose outside of Disney films um yeah what about you d uh yeah I I can't I don't know if I can pinpoint hello I don't know if I can pinpoint uh one particular Act performance I mean I've always loved um Angelina Jolie I've loved like in say like girl interrupt like the early stuff the raw stuff you know not NE the action stuff girl interrupt is such a good film um but you know just just seeing that the even stuff like friends like I'm a massive fan of friends and you know you think like oh it's like hard to sitcom but I know how hard it is to do comedy for example and I think you know it to make it look so easy and effortless is is incredible and like growing up with that and you just think like God yeah I really want to do that I wonder if I could do that um yeah I can't pinpoint it to one specific performance but there was just that sense of fun and play that I really wanted to to tap into and and luckily on lots of these projects like Boulders Gate 3 you get to do that and it doesn't feel like work feels like fun directly off of that do either of you have a dream role like something that you would just absolutely to do or someone you would love to play no I think for me I I don't ever want to do that because I feel like if I it's it's kind of going back to the whole um you invest too much and you care too much about something and then you end up like floundering because that desperation is seeping through I think I try not to idealize like certain roles or like types of roles because they're probably not the ones meant for me do you know what I mean like whereas if I kind of I don't I don't really care where I end up as long as I keep going and like then then stuff is like kind of given to me that I would never expect so like Shadow heart is totally not my casting um like I don't I don't think you would if I like if it wasn't a a voice and mochat role I don't think I would have played her just as probably Debbie wouldn't have played a lizard lady I don't know but um like I like that that was that was chucked my way and and I wasn't aiming for it do you know what I mean whereas I think definitely given me the the like the experienced actor answer there which is like you kind of can't really have those dreams be again so much of your job is rejection it's brutal every time I talk to actus I'm like I can't even imagine I guess if you Aspire for a specific thing you're only setting yourself up to fa you I guess the aspiration is like do my best and enjoy my job rather than like try to do this exact thing it makes sense well yeah and also you don't know what role you're going to get you could get something like above and beyond your expectations like with LEL and shadowart yeah I yeah it was more than I could ever have imagined from an acting point of view and I honestly it blindsided me because I never thought that that kind of role would come from a video game yeah yeah I never imagined that in my wildest dreams I imagined something completely different for myself and now look what's happened how much more amazing has it you know how much better has it turned out yeah but you just didn't see it coming but yeah when you're fixated on like yes I want my like a heavy dramatic role so I can win my oscar like it doesn't necessarily work like that really yourself alive in this industry yeah and I mean the like that's such a great game to start in video games but now again you've like opened a door to video game acting in which there we have so many good meaty performances like across the board like it's I'm a big fan of my industry it's all I'm trying to say um and I feel like you can have a role you didn't even know existed in a game you didn't even know existed from a company you didn't know existed like become the the dream role just like retroactively rather than some absolutely yeah and that's kind of awesome um that is all we have time for today where can people find you what are you up to uh is there anything you'd like to give a shout out to um you can find me on Twitter on Instagram and on Tik Tok just search for my name um otherwise that's that's actually what I have to say about that you'll find plenty of content you'll find plenty of content there I really don't need Tik Tok is one of my favorite things in the world so noted hi I praise indeed and you can find me on in hang on what am I on Instagram Tik Tok and I will start posting more on Tik Tok and uh twitch as well and I think I'm Jennifer J English on all of those so I have to get uh Dev on one of the streams so we can see how she feels about balers Gear 3 playing it for the first time that'd be fun it I promise it's gonna happen we've got it h have any anything else that you'd like to share with anybody before we go we love borders Gate 3 we love B my girlfriend is waving a big arm at me no one online will believe a big arm twet please can you say that was me that sent the last tweet apparently there's I don't know I something about Alana sent the last tweet I don't know I'm so confused I'm sorry about this I could only hear bits of it and now I'm like wait what is the secret message what what is this oh so um so so we we accidentally went viral because um uh we on a on a stream Aliana questioned whether my girlfriend questioned whether um uh Shadow heart was her favorite or whether it was laelle and and I we all know the answer to that appropriately anyway apparently she's just sent a tweet to say uh that shadowart is in fact her favorite like clarifying and now nobody believes her so it's too defensive now sent it and I would like to clarify that I did not send it that shadow heart is her favorite you have an Al by you are doing this podcast time of recording you you definitely didn't hold a gun to her slightly off camera demanding that you tweet that yeah I did not I did not hold any gun definitely didn't do that obviously the answer is definitely didn't do that obviously obviously well I'm glad you uh you could fix that um Good Luck there uh thank you both so much for joining me I'll leave links in the description to where people can find you both and happy Boulders gates for everybody thanks happy bers gate three yay thanks for having us yeah bye by bye [Music] bye that

Channel: Charalanahzard

Views: 65,680

Keywords: Alanah Pearce, Funhaus, IGN, Charalanahzard, god of war

Id: C_u8YkNkmsA

Length: 52min 40sec (3160 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023