Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion Voice Actor talks Mocap & Career! #baldursgate3 #interview

foreign you have such an incredible range I mean I've looked through your portfolio and create you have this like huge range and the Heisenberg came in I didn't know who you were in that was our first like introduction to your to your talent and it's kind of like this Northern East Coast accent and you're from the UK originally like how the hell did you yeah I'm from Birmingham originally which is like the middle of England which has not got the best reputation for accents uh yeah Heisenberg oh yeah he's a little dash of Nicholas Cage a little Jimmy stew out of there oh yeah yeah thank you very much I really appreciate it it's a huge compliment so thank you very much indeed I've been very lucky that um I was a character actor in TV and film that was trapped in not a character actor's face yeah so so I had years and years and years of studying with great teachers really trying to be a character actor when not being allowed to do those kind of roles so the second I got into games and because I have a valuable voice and I have a malleable physical side as well that I'm trained very hard over about 15 years that I'm very I got the opportunity to suddenly go take your face off leave it by the door it doesn't matter what you look like as long as it's within your ethnic background casting type which is appropriate here's everything that you could play and I think I was very lucky that I saw the opportunity for what it was especially back in 2010 when there were only about a dozen of us doing motion capture in the whole of the UK a few more obviously doing voice over in games but not many it wasn't seen as a as a good thing for actors to do you know I mean so I was very lucky that I got the opportunity and with that opportunity people said okay now you're playing this and they're playing these 10 different characters today and through that was also like another source of training of being able to really push and commit and find different types of characters because I had no other choice I had to do it so I've been very lucky as well that a lot of a lot of directors and game studios have seen that quality in me and I'm very very grateful to be given so much amazing work and trusted that regardless of what I looked like is is the craft that I'm showing in the audition that people are watching and looking and they get to to see the possibilities I'm trying to offer up but yeah I'm very lucky man I'm very lucky what was your first like 4A into video game acting whether it be mocap or voice acting what was like your first project and what did that open uh other doors for you did you represent yourself did you have an agency I was with agents that didn't want to do anything to do with mocap so in fact actually One agent who I shot name when I was very early on my career turned down I think it was three weeks Eurovision or something Euro Euro Cup or something like that there's a the company doesn't exist anymore but they did a bomb game and this is back in like 2012 I think or something like that and they turned there's the agent I had at the time turned it down for me and then I met the director years later and he said I was trying to get you for this game and apparently you were busy I went no I was doing catering work I was very broke I was not busy as well I was busy not doing anything yeah so I was positioning that it was horrible so so yeah it was interesting uh with all that stuff but the very first game I ever did was the very first thing I ever auditioned for was uh Ghost Recon Future Soldier the ubisoft's game where I did performance capture for 30k and I got to work with a whole bunch of US Navy Seals and it was awesome we worked in the very small volume back then well wasn't small but it was not what it is now audio Motion in Oxford and this was the old volume they had like years ago uh 2010 so where I was 13 years ago yeah and that was the first game I auditioned for and then got and I was very lucky that Brian Mitchell who was a great champion of mine throughout that period um really just said what do you want to do next what's your skill sets of which I have a huge I'm very lucky I'm a bit of a geek like that I have a lot of different weird skill sets like horse riding or martial arts archery camping like that so that they just said okay you can do all these different types of things so let's bring you in and trying all these different types of things and there were so few of us doing it that um we just did everything we did all the roles which was awesome and a very good training exercise the first voiceover gig I did I think is playing John gallaghad in secret world Secret World Legends I think it's called now it's changed and revamped so that was the very first voiceover I ever did for games and I did a bit and a weird animated movie called which was kind of like a British Team America called um called um was it called uh something boots or Jack Boots on Whitehall or something stupid like that it was about the second world war it was very British not entirely sure if it were to be honest there's a concept might just some stuff in that as well so that's how I got started no like you know as an actor there's always a goal post that's moving but like for you what was like the pivotal gig for you that really opened up a lot of doors was it was it Village or did it come before a village well I have to thank Steve kniebly actually um he's the director of Village amazing director of Village but also director of Planet of the Apes um Last Frontier which which really is an interactive TV series not really a game I think that marketing was slightly wrong on that one I think I think Planet of the Apes was weirdly in a way one of the biggest games to change in terms of Industry stuff it changed a lot for me but Detroit become human I think was the thing that really established my name Beyond I think Final Fantasy um kingsglade I played NYX doing the full performance capture and combat stunts I play one of them I voice one of the minor characters as well as physically playing but I think and that was great that was that was a bit of a game change that changed my my point of view on what is possible in the industry and how father how much further I could go but I think Detroit become human changed a lot that was a big part of of the of my career just going woof um which I'm very grateful to everybody at quantit um that the gaming opportunities to play not just one but two characters uh because I also play like I play Gavin read and kamsky and I think that also threw people for a curveball because people didn't realize that when it came out for a long time and actually our voice and also do performance capture for both so Detroit was a big change um for me I noticed that and then Planet of the Apes was another really amazing experience that also pushed me in ways I hadn't thought of and yeah I just was very lucky man and then Village came I'm in re3 as well you know I did re3 playing Nikolai and Nemesis yeah yeah yeah which he was a great character man I really dug that character a lot he was just the very first line of his is he he goes and shoots somebody in the head and he goes what all stars do soft I've got somebody if you're dead you know the first thing he says is it was infected and just shoot somebody in the head brilliant you know so if you get all these different weird crazy roles as just being the gift man so I've been very lucky yeah I'm a Starion now as well so now how did you get involved with Baldur's Gate 3 did you have to audition like you usually audition for this stuff right you don't just get higher and everything been I've had a couple of direct offers I have had that's an interesting experience um very humbling um I like auditioning though I actually quite enjoy it um I like the possibility because it sets you up with a kind of like a demo run of how you think the character is going to be but it's also part of your job um I see auditions as they think you're good enough to do the job you're just presenting your take on it and let's see if you can all work together and let's see if you use the actor can work with them as well because it's not just a one-way thing it's like can you all work together so I like auditioning actually I used to hate it when I was doing TV and film but I actually lived grown to like I like it as an actor in games um so I I was finishing uh doing a pcap shoot uh for Final Fantasy 16 Hungary we did five months out there which was very cool and for the last month or so I heard I got wind that there's this thing called dragonfalls that people should do and I'm a massive nerd and gamer and I've been playing role play games I won the first edition you know role play games as well as D and D blah blah so I thought that's Warhammer that's a warm robly thing that's why what is okay that sounds cool and then it gets in all the races that you could play that you had to audition for which was like a dozen I think and it was like those are D and D races this is clearly not Warhammer this is clean D which means it's going to be icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate on me it's Bob's games I auditioned for 10 out of the 12. I think it was like 10 uh tapes I sent in uh you asked like to do two or three I just sent them all in yeah I think the only thing that I drew the line at was halfling I thought I'm too tall for halfling I don't think any any right state of mind I should do that so um but I sent them things I was like I just don't play anything I don't care I just want to I'll do a background artist I don't give a crap I just want to be in this project so um from that I was also lucky that Josh Whedon who did actually pass me as a Starion um he and I just finished working on Resident Evil resistance um which was the mini game from Resident Evil 3 just before I was about to start Resident Evil Village so he knew me and I think he kind of knew a little bit of my playfulness and all my character the fact that I'm sort of I've been told I have a was it something burning male sort of an actor with a thousand phases or something like that which is a very nice compliment so he sort of viewed me as like you know somebody just switched faces and change around physically as well as vocally I think is the point I'm trying to say um so he was very generous he cast me essentially in Jason Latinos saw my demo that I did and I believe he was like he's the person that actually signed off on me so I owed them both a huge amount obviously swell as well um but those two were instrumental in giving me the role um Stephen Rooney's an amazing writer as well so I want to give him a massive shout out as well but yeah that's how I got into starring this whole auditioned and that's how I got given the role and thank god it worked thank God I found him yeah how much how much script did you advance do you get to read how do you run lines with your with your co-workers and how like how much Advanced time do you get to develop this character or is it kind of like really quick same day here's five pages do it it's a bit messing up you get the pages as as quickly as they can give them to you but it's not Pages it's thousands of lines uh in a document and there's con there's so much information which is awesome they're really good about that pit stop and Lauren are very very good there's like action um some action notes from directors if it's per and or not which you can sometimes you can ignore sometimes are very useful to do uh specifically um there's context for the scenes who you're speaking to what you've been doing there's overriding like a mini synopsis of where the scene and where it's taking place so there's a lot of information in there when you have all your lines and you have response lines and things like that so it it's it's kind of like an Excel version of a script I would say which looked complicated until you uh just read it and then it makes total sense so for me it was great because I got at least a few days ahead of schedule to go through the scripts and really understand what the possibilities were it also starts my creative juices running and like oh I've got a good idea for that I'm going to do something like this for this and let's see if it works out see if it's appropriate or not and then I start not planning things and I want to I don't want to pin them down too much but I have started having like loose ideas of wouldn't it be fun if I did this on this line um and then you get into the actual work itself and everything's on in front of you on a monitor so you don't have to memorize 350 individual lines um which would be a huge amount right in the four hour session trying to remember that every day you go mad it's like it's like one of those things you like Greek mythology where somebody has to read a script every day and learn it every day then newsgrip comes in the day afterwards so obviously gratefully you know we have the lines there but I'm always familiar with the lines and some of the lines actually will learn uh just because they're so good and then you're just doing four to eight hours depending if you have two doubles which we occasionally did especially towards the end of going through with the amazing directors that we had there and the amazing audio crew and mocap crew and you're working your way through it and you just have as much fun as humanly possible doing it yeah now you've done TV and film it is it more challenging when you're in a mocap Studio surrounded by Green blocks and PVC pipe to like you know and create a creative world for yourself a character no it's just like Facebook um I come from theater originally and I went into TV I went into film and TV afterwards for me um it reminds me of the training I did at National Youth Theater of all my first training I did with my mentors uh Roberto Wallach and Charles Foreman Charles Foreman Center uh reminds me of the theater days when I started my career and having to use that very I was always an over imaginative kid as well I always had a hyper active imagination so creating the world in your mind's eye I have a really nice sort of thing that I do for myself when I look at the artwork and then just sort of transpose it onto the scene because I always look at artwork I always try and look at as much concept art as they can they can possibly give you if they can give you any which they can't always or look at the environments that are not grayed out but you know with the 3D environment so we actually walk through sometimes on scenes but with boulders gate it was very much like you're in a very small volumes there is no real environment around you you're playing in the context of the environment you can't actually physically see anything but for a lot of games a more traditional like film shoots but you have to fill it in like theater because maybe those gray blocks are a spaceship door and maybe the spaceship goes on for another half a kilometer or something and you have to see that and there's no reference there's no background um we don't they're like really cool I can't really call it now that really cool background moving background stuff which is really amazing these are Mandalorian stuff like that there isn't yeah they're unreal like the unreal yeah green screen it's awesome there's nothing that we don't do any of that stuff because you're like let's do more of that yeah and it's pretty cool but you can't because the reflections um you can't have that you can't have anything reflective highly reflective and volume apart from these markers that I've tattooed on my arm um these are like neoprene markers that shoot near infrared like hit it reflect back that's how you get the marker position in the titles together so there you they can't be anything there you have to use your imagination which is just like Theater which is awesome for an actor because then you're engaging with awesome theater techniques coupled with the fact this could be a master shot or a close-up simultaneously see then you just have to revert to Pure acting craft and be in the character and be in the moment it's brilliant I love it actually if anything you can be you can do more acting work in a day or performance capture than you'd ever do on film or TV or even doing two runs of a stage play you're doing eight to ten hours a day so even if you're doing a three hour play with a matinee and you know one of the performance you're still doing more work um in the volume and it is awesome like for that not everybody can do it I think in in terms of being connected to the movement connected to the experience of the methodology of performance capture I think it is one of those things that sometimes it's just a trip too far for people you know um but I think all actors should try it I think it's a very cool experience I mean I remember I remember a decade ago not necessarily controversial but like a lot of the mocap actors and voice actors would be separate like they wouldn't have the same people do the same stuff but now that's changing rapidly they want the same time same voice in the same mocap suit I did a I did Wonder Woman in 1984 I played some of the motion capture background stuff Patty Jenkins came down to our shoe she directed us it was awesome she walked in her and that's Patty why was she it was cool I mean I think there's definitely when I started doing this work like nobody no most actors thought I was mad and told me I'll ruin my career I've had one person say yo we're in your career you shouldn't do this uh like back in 2009 2010 and a lot of us are doing it realized where this was going we were doing the work and we saw the possibilities we spoke to loads of animators and we knew where it was going so so for that you know we we saw where we are today which was this is the new storytelling Medium games that needs storytelling medium and it's just gonna get better and better and there's so many talented people now in games crew developers audio actors writers directors The Gamers uh Studios The Producers themselves there's so much cool stuff happening um it's amazing to think there was a time when people just dismissed all of this you know now it's different kind of fish you're such a talented guy like have you ever like done something like when you've when you've like ordered a pizza or food or you've been on hold with an operator do you do any of your voices just to have fun with yourself no but I'm going to I'm going to there thank you very much for that and we're now going to do that um I once went up to somebody at a convention I have a naughty side note so I want I'm just somebody at a convention who's dressed as Heisenberg oh you're on price well they're around I really like the the color of your outfit is insult you and oh you go get them good you know you know a little stuff and he went oh wow you you do a really good impression of him I went thanks mate hey you know what I appreciate you as well thank you very much I take that compliment thanks and I went away and the guy literally as I was walking away went so yeah things like that I definitely do occasionally because it's naughty and you shouldn't do that should be what's like the misconception from like an outsider looking at your career specifically or just in voice acting or gaming voice acting in in general that were incredibly rich people financially you know we we make we we do okay and I'm grateful for the work that sustains me you know I'm a single co-parenting parent I have a daughter I'm truly grateful for the work and truly grateful for the money that I'm paid but people weirdly think that we're sort of multi-millionaires and stuff which is absolutely not true that's a misconception I know there's a lot of time that goes by when you originally do the mocap to the game being fine in the release but when you get when the game is uh whether it's Bolognese through your village or any other thing else like do you ever look at a cutscene or or a voice clip and be like wow they chose they chose that line but I thought this other one I did was so much better no not at all because ultimately it's not my vision it's the director's Vision um I will definitely always probably go you know if I if I go through stuff obviously I can have that feeling of oh okay but to be honest with you I've learned to let go of that perhaps at the moment of doing it there's only been a couple of times when I've genuinely for a decision as it's happened because I know to pick my battles as well I'm you know I haven't I've been doing this for a while now I tend not to um try and be argumentative for no reason so if I have an issue I think you know what my gut instinct says this is not right for the character and I need to fight my corner on this one in a polite professional way I'll do that with a director and it'll be in a creative way it's not going to be a storm in a teacup it's not going to be throwing my stuff all over the place it's going to be doing it in a very constructive positive way to try and fight my corner and also listen to the a director for when they tell me yes or no or maybe whatever you know um so I don't really look back at work and go oh they picked that one because you know what ultimately it's not my choice um if I am the director of something and I'm also in control of the edit then that's a different kettle of fish if somebody else would that were to then change something without me knowing then I think that would be that moment of like what the hell you know but I haven't had that situation yet and as an actor I'm very respectful of directors because because ultimately that's their Vision you know you're part of it swen's Vision it's the director's Vision it's the Cinematic you know Jason Latino who's an amazing his vision as well as friends as well as the directors in the room um of many whom I've got to work with and then ultimately it's the writer's Vision as well and on as well as all of that it's your living those Visions to then create your own vision of this and hope it all works together you know and sometimes you have a better idea than anybody because you're living the character sometimes you don't so I think for me I don't look back on work and go oh I wish I'd done this because ultimately that's the that's the story that's out there so this there's no point sort of like beating yourself up or feeling bad about it because that's what's out there you know and the last question I have for you because we're at a time is what's next for you that you can talk about like I've seen you in the future star and uh more games just like your final facts of my head and like right my production company's pitching on a few things that we've been asked to which is cool I just did a game which I don't know if I can tell you about I'm involved in another game which I definitely can't tell you about that's been going for a while but no I can't tell you sorry dude lots of stuff going coming soon none of which I can tell you yeah yeah I'm very lucky man I'm very blessed that people keep asking me to work and every job I firmly believe you leave your blood on the floor metaphorically occasionally literally of every job that you do um and I'm very grateful that people still want to work with me and keep wanting to take me on work with me and try new things so for me personally I I'm a workaholic on top of which um I'm just very very grateful to be in a position to be a character actor to be able to advise other people now as well and help other people have other actors and I run a non-profit course which is like a workshop school performance captured Academy we don't run as a profit where everybody gets paid obviously but it's like as cheap as we can make it for the actor to come to our workshops to learn performance capture and it's a very short course it's just technical so you know for me it's like okay we can run these pretty much at Cost value great that means we help actors by not making it too expensive they come along they learn stuff and some of them actually enter into the industry proper as well which has been great to see students I've met on jobs going oh wow you're here and Brett has it been going and see them flourish so yeah I'm very lucky dude I'm living living my best life yeah do any like performance capture like when you do voice over for a game you can do that at home or like at locally at a like a like a studio but like when you do perform scams you have to fly you have to be gone for you said five months on Den like how does that affect uh your your career and your personal life and all that stuff is it stressful is it fun like how does that it's fun I like it and it's also luckily it's not quite like film and TV you tend to do blocks so for instance in Hungary I was going hungry L.A hungry or something like that so I was just like moving belts and forwards I'm a nomad and I've got this little tattoo on me as well I'm a nomad I love I have a very parapathetic existence I have itchy feet you know I want to keep moving all the time um the only thing I need to also I also make time for is my daughter and that's important my home life is important as well so between my work and seeing her and it's it's important for me to to keep moving you know I really enjoy it I get I like flying I like traveling I like meeting new people I'm experiencing new cultures if I haven't been there before or seeing all friends and other ones most of my friends are not like close to me they're physically scattered all over the world so it's a good opportunity for me to see friends as well but I love it I really I've learned so much about my place in the world and who I am as a person and and actually as an actor it's really fed me as well to step into so many different cultures and see so many different types of people and get to know their stories but I I just adore it I think it's wicked it's very cool so manager is chaos in some ways it's structurally chaotic at times things overlap like mad and ultimately sleep is a premium sometimes um but I do feel very very privileged to be in a position to do that and I'm very aware of what it's like to be not doing that as an actor and to be almost bankrupt you know I was broke I was literally on my knees it was bankrupt pretty much and uh games saved me several times in fact actually games have saved me in many ways mentally emotionally and physically financially so yeah I'm very grateful and I love getting on planes so I think so going over here now great going over there now amazing I'm just waiting for somebody to open one in Antarctica that would be great the only thing is going to happen but I'll be there I'll be there in 50 degrees minus 15 micro I'll be there foreign

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Id: L4iK_1i8GjI

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2023