Minthara Actor Emma Gregory Talks About Baldur's Gate 3

when I'm playing her I I don't think oh now I'm being evil you know for me she she she has an incredible Arc I think of which is why I think people should play her because this is not reality [Music] guys hey what's up guys welcome on into behind the voice I'm joined by Emma Gregory who's played Menara in Ballers Gate 3 thank you so much for taking the time and joining oh my absolute pleasure it's a great honor to be here thank you so much for asking me and taking your time to share with me and Menara yeah that it it's such an awesome this game has been phenomenal a lot of people have been for a lot of people it they didn't expect this game to be so great and the popularity of this game has increased so much what has it been like for you like ever since the game released like the fandom is insane and everybody loves everyone what is it like for you it is totally insane AB it's just I don't think any of us we knew it was big you know you're part of the DND D world and you know you know obviously we've had Boulder skate B skate too but you know I don't think any of us realized at all quite what the reaction would be and it it's just been insane and like you say for all of the characters the love and support and just joyful kind of reaction to all the characters and there's a lot characters in this game know but the just the love that we've been shown individually is just been astonishing and um yeah social media's gone crazy yeah and and it's a real honor you know I'm so moved I think we all are actually and some of us talk about it at times as a group you know that that we're really moved by the reaction to it um because we didn't expect it to be so huge and and maybe we maybe there was a sense that we didn't quite know what we were walking into with you know how it would come across but it's been phenomenal and the were views and you know just wonderful so what I like like my fellow cast members who I'm sure you've already spoken to um are very grateful AB very grateful for yeah it's it's been it's been a wonderful right for people who have started this game for many people including me who haven't played games like these the game types like these like d andd style and so it's been new for me to go into a game with the game play and stuff like this but it's been incredible even for someone like me who's completely new it's been incredible to go into this journey I sucked big time in a lot of things and then I realized like it took me a little bit while but I really enjoyed the story the story kept me going the characters kept me going everything is so fleshed out I love it so much and the fact that there's so many possibilities so many CS so routes you can go down so many personalities you can play so much diversity so much inclusivity just phenomenal which I think is um I'm I'm I I don't know masses about the games world I have played games and I used to play Call of cthulu a long time oh wow with friends actually sort of you know literally physically in a room role playing um which was tremendous fun but I think this is quite uh perhaps a bit of a first Boulders Gate 3 with how much um scope there is for different possibilities of things different endings different and just how as I say inclusive it is with with everybody you know yeah um in in the world yeah lots of different options for lots of different things it's wonderful yeah it's been wonderful as you said there's so many options so many ways you can go anything can happen and that's the best part about this game but but the very cool part is that this is your third game working with Lan you have you worked Divinity origins in one and two what has it been like for you to work with this studio for all three games um uh fantastic because laran um along with pit stop who are the people that we actually worked with to to record the map and and the voice um work they have a wonderful partnership it feels like because they're they're quite similar in the way they work in terms of for actors they love actors and um that's joyful because you feel safe to create and do anything that you want really um they really support that creativity so they'll you know you can play you know a talking chicken and then someone like Menara and they'll give you such free reign to do what you want with it you know be it not just accents or not just a funny voice but actually getting inside obviously someone like Menara but getting inside her really playing that Journey with where she's come from who she is and they're so supportive with that that's what they like is actors actors who can play because really at the end of the day everything has to be truthful you know otherwise as with all acting um so so for example the process of finding someone like Lara is the same be it for TV or for for film or for theater I come very much from a theater background so um you know voice voicing games is not just about funny voices it's about finding the truth yeah of someone that doesn't matter what world or realm they come from truth is truth you know so you've got to be real in it otherwise it doesn't come through in the voice and that is what laran likes um in in in all of that stuff um um and that's what stop one wonderfully support um so it's a joy working for for people like laran because they create such great stories as well and such brilliant characters um yeah really lovely people yeah very creative people I mean an extraordinary amount of people worked on this game their creativity their writers their animators is just phenomenal phenomenal and they their Vision with stuff you know yeah and the they make the actors feel very much part of that so you feel very includ included in in in everything I mean obviously they decided the stories but you feel very included in how you might want your character to go with you know how you might play yeah and and and I love that the fact that the team is like so incredibly and they made this game in such an incredible way that uh a lot of there was so many convers ations about how this is like the best thing that has ever came out this year and everybody's just just jumping on in and just trying to experience what this game is the stories the characters people are extremely loving particular character and just like really have a lust for that character lust for this character and just going all over the place and I love this and there so many Amazing Stories and so many amazing things that I get to hear all the time about about the game and it's just it's just so cool but yeah with with marara minara is a character really really liked and I got to say at first when I first got to meet Menara I actually killed her off really quickly I think that's probably what a lot of people do Unfortunately they get to that crossroads where think do I want to be really evil or oh God can I go down that route uh yeah yeah understand thanks Abby well that I was just like I got to follow the objective I guess this is how it it is and I was like the the new guy who had no idea how you can take things anywhere and and then when I realized that I I should really I can do anything and then I I started doing things that I did in a certain way and completely doing it completely opposite and then I figured out like wow this is this is something that I should have done in the first place because Mara's story just goes in such a in such a great Direction so yeah when you first got to know about like how Menara is and her backstory and stuff like that what was what was what are you thinking like what was going in your mind about or what were your reactions about when you got to know about this character um well I didn't judge her I didn't go oh my God yeah she's just awful you know I actually really loved her because um I was finded with characters that have a story uh I want to know why they're like they are so researching her and reading about house B and all her background I thought it was amazing her where she's come from how she was brought up her whole community and then how she left that and how also the story of of how the two envoys from the absolute cult come and kind of infiltrate in men's of barans and she's obviously fascinated by that and decides to go and pursue with that um so it's worked um but for me is so in other words when I'm playing her I I don't think oh now I'm being evil you know for me she she she has an incredible Arc I think of which is why I think people should play her because this is not reality guys allow yourself to go into your imagination um by playing with Lara um uh for me she has an extraordinary journey in in the game um because this is someone who is incredibly ambitious incredibly awkward incredibly determined confident brutal um but also the game allows her to explore relationships with people and understanding perhaps what Trust might be someone who doesn't trust easily so for me I'm looking at the whole person I'm not I'm not sort of um thinking oh that's evil so I'll play it like this for me it's you know nobody is ever one thing everybody has a journey you know to get where they are and her upbringing has certainly been so brutal oh yeah um so it's not surprising that she's like she is you know um you know when you're you know there's an assassination attempt against you while you're you know suckling at your mother's bosom and uh and and then um you know being taught to Fight for Your Life by your very mother at around five you know that's a heck of an upbringing it's surprising that she is who she is and what's wonderful about the game is if you play her and recruit her um the relationship that you can build with her and how actually she is incredibly loyal to people but she is also equally um slightly on the back foot as well and quite defensive so don't annoy her you know but but she wants I think she wants to trust I think she doesn't know how to be friends with people but she wants to perhaps learn how to do that um perhaps understand what it means to have companions um and what you can achieve with that um I think her of course because she is inherently kind of brutal as a character you know there is Revenge wanted there is you know I think she's quite astonished at how much she was manipulated um by the cult um and I think that's quite a shock to her yeah um and she definitely wants to do something about it oh yeah but there's also very loving I this is my opinion there's also very loving sides to her she's also very warm you know she doesn't know how to in fact there's a wonderful line I think something along the lines if I can remember rightly that affection is a very small part of her when she when she gives it to you it shows the depth of that feeling because it's something that she doesn't give very often um if at all um and so I think the game is very interesting for her that you get to explore that that she's not just a kind of haa Cloak and Dagger evil you know and and actually I think that um so villains or evil characters I think are more interesting when you play them with more reason for why they are like they are or with more calm Authority or with um two of my sort of hero villains I suppose who didn't influence me actually on this but but I love them and I think they're fabulous go-tos if anybody ever wants any inspiration and that is um s kingsley's fantastic villain gangster in a film sexy beast if you've ever seen that have you ever seen that Abby I have not seen that but I have I've heard a lot about it watch that film it's a masterful portrayal um and the other one would be Ray fines um again as a brutal villain in in um in Brugge and the reason why I cite them is because for me it was the first time really for me that I'd ever seen a villainous or evil character where actually they were just completely centered and you know the Ben Kingsley character for example is totally into yoga totally into mindfulness totally into um being very calm but he's absolute so in other words that fills him with the most incredible confidence and directness and forthrightness and and Rafe does a similar sort of thing in in rouj where there's no need to sort of Bluster and Shout they have this extraordinary centered calm because they know exactly who they are and they're not frightened of it and I think there's very much that Menara so that was a little bit of inspiration um uh yeah yeah sorry probably G rambling off on the an issue but that that for me is important about her but U what makes her her is interesting otherwise evil characters can become of very onedimensional and I didn't want her to be onedimensional yeah and I was very fortunate to have a writer in Adam Smith who was my writer who was phenomenal um where we did this kind of dance with each other even though we'd never met um because he was off writing where he's writing for laran and I was in Pit Stop Studios and um we you know through the I mean I've been working on this game for a long time for years you know and uh but together we created this kind of development which was you know he'd be inspired by by a way I delivered a certain line and so he would then write something different something else and I'd be totally inspired by what he'd written and want to bring maybe an element of sympathy or vulnerability in rather than it just being you know which would be quite easy to play in kind of brutal and commanding all the time but that's not the case yeah I mean that's right question I think that does but no it was wonderful as you said like you've been working with your writer and and I remember Neil mentioning how he had like a symbiotic relationship with the writer and that's how you guys are able to bring this character together presenting into the game and that's so wonderful but that's another kind of beautiful detail about working with laran is that that attention to detail of the characters having their own writers and and they seem to work at the great Fortune of meeting a few of them a few days ago um their love for the game and their love for each other's characters even characters they haven't written maybe you know it's just beautiful the way they they seem to be a very close-nit Community with it Communications there so um yeah yeah absolutely as Neil said do a Kind of Wonderful dance with the and they understand the way you're going you understand what they want and then they push you as well into another area maybe have the thought of and you push them you inspire them into an area that they thought wow yeah I'll take the character there um so that's beautiful and a real honor to get to do that over such a long period of time quite unusual how long was the was the process for you like I how long did you guys work on it um for me um because there's so many characters in it people were in it for lots of different lengths of time I was in it for a good three years three four years wow that's a that's a long so was it how was the recording process like for you like how many hours did you get did you have to record or be like working for the game in in a day um well you you go down and um to the studio and you would do sort of chunks really because it's quite exhausting because you're doing motion capture as well as voice and um so you you know it's like being in in in in a theater rehearsal room or on TV shoot you you you are um consuming the whole character you're playing physicalizing the whole thing and you have to do that obviously because if you don't um it really helps with with the vocal quality of things and the decisions that you make you're playing the whole thing physically um which you should always do in voice acting anyway um in my opinion um but we would work for sort of maybe chunks of four four hours five hours and then you'd have a break and then maybe do another four hours um or maybe You' just do an afternoon um and it's it's quite it's very it's intense too because with motion capture you don't just I don't know if you know about motion capture but you have this extraordinary sort of skin tight suit on with lots of sensors all over and some people do facial motion capture as well so you might have a head thing on with Seton um I I had a body one and um so but there are sort of there are a few technical things you have to remember about that like for example so you don't just put the suit on and kind of move everywhere you want you have to stay with a certain area because there's all these camera senses and things that are having to pick you up but in a certain way and you have an avatar of of of your body really on on the screen so you can see what's happening you've got to remember that certain gestures like maybe raising your hands together at the same time that doesn't look quite so good of motion captures you've got a movement director helping you to make decisions about the character along with the director directing lines um and that's obviously wonderful so you've got to take on board as the actor everything that you're living and breathing and feeling about the character but also the technical side of things with how motion capture has to be and um you've got to remember to do things like come back to a base pose so that's like a neutral stance so that the animators can cut things together easily and just stuff like that so you so by the end of you know some people might think oh four hours a session that's not very long but actually once you're kind of living and breathing the character and remembering those technical things as well um you're pretty exhausted by the end of it and if you're having to do day after day after day of that which some of us had to do for a while um yeah but but at the same time it's also exhilarating and really really good fun and Pit Stop are such a wonderful company to work for and they they did the motion capture with us yeah tremendous fun lots of fun so yeah that's so sort of sessions of that over the course of the three or four years that's insane as I said like just listening to this I feel like that must be exhausting because you have to remember that and then you also have to do the acting and you have to make sure that everything lines up and if it doesn't then you have to do it again so it's like I can I cannot imagine how stressful and crazy it must be but fun as well oh lots of fun and and the guys at Pit Stop were just phenomenal because they're such a lovely lovely team and you know I give a shout out to a few people like Ben and Mike and AOS and and and all the directors like Adrian and Josh and Beth and Kirsty I mean phenomenal the way they work together and it's always joyful always always joyful it was never you know kind of you didn't ever away from a session going God that was really intense and hard and the work is intense and hard but it's always a lovely experience um being there with them and they make you know because they make it such fun but the technical knowhow of these guys um and Andreas as well is another one and and Fraser and all these amazing people there just brilliant and and apologies to anyone I might have missed out um Rogan there's another one um they the way they know how the mics work because you're fitted out with microphones as well as as your bodysuit with sensors so you've got you know maybe a couple of people working on your bodysuit you've got a couple of people working with your sound quality and all of that um they're just amazing and if any technical glitches did happen they never got phased by it they they're just there you know just just um and I wanted to mention them I think Abby because um it's quite easy um because the actors get the interviews you know and and and um on the whole and um and I think it's quite easy to forget that for people or or for maybe the fans and people not to realize that there's so many people who worked on this and Who Made Who helped you to create your performance and helped you to be as good as you can be with it and so for me it's important that people know who they are as well yeah I mean you're right I mean I I'm I'm glad that a lot of people now are finding things out about oh how the Technic technical things happen how the behind the scenes work about developers and programmers and everybody and then they're finally appreciating those people like okay if these guys didn't do what they did we wouldn't be getting this experience the smooth experience EXA exactly and the same in TV same in theater same in film radio everything is always a team effort definitely and and speaking of Team e effort I I believe that you and you have worked with other members of the team to you know make sure that the voice of Menara is the perfect it can be so how was that process for you like to find out uh maybe a particular Voice or maybe how she should sound like uh with this character laran and and Pitstop were quite clear about um I think they had a kind of idea of how they wanted her to sound and I was always encouraged to be I think they wanted somebody with a naturally quite deep voice resonant um and they wanted that with her and I certainly welcomed that with her from for the points that I've said before which is that um I didn't want her to be loud and rockus and Brash I wanted her to be that sense of calm because um she is quite a high status character she would in in in acting we have this kind of thing where it very often helps um an actor to think of their character and their status as being a number between one and 10 and so minaro 10 being the highest status you can be and one being the lowest you can be and um minara definitely thinks of herself as a 10 um how I am assuming would be definitely an eight nine or 10 um but anyway um so when you so for actors you have to think and get into your character by by finding out answers to questions like that because that determines the voice um because if she is someone who is absolutely sure of her status has no quals about it at all and um therefore has no need to shout why do I need to sh when I Am Number 10 so I say something and you do it you see what I mean so that's more inter to play than get over here do that do that that you lose kind of status if you're just shouting and when you need to shout you do obviously you know Goblin trash and all those marvelous lines you kind of keep them in there you know um uh but um so yeah it's discovering the character that determines the voice and I also gave her particularly as the game progressed um and she discovers more of who she is in a sense uh bringing in a slight sort of grally tone as well yeah and some people have commented uh not very many but some people thought oh you know does she sound a bit old well this is not a human we're not dealing with someone as a human yeah we're dealing with a drown and um they are you know they consider humans incredibly beneath them um um but um we're dealing with someone who is quite old actually you know so um you can experiment with all those kind of that's great yeah I think that's that's something that people really wanted to know about like how did Emma decide on how this voice should be and to be honest as as you mentioned like she does not have to scream and shout at someone she just have that Authority somehow and just when she says it you do it that kind of thing and it when you just literally said some few of the lines I was like okay I'm going to do it uh so that's how we feel that's how you feel you know Alan the wonderful God Rest his soul the wonderful Alan Rickman had that in the Harry Potter films and like I'm saying with sben Kingsley and with the wonderful Rines they do the same thing with their fabulous villains um and it's right it's the right thing to do because that villain always thinks of themselves as a very high status therefore they don't have any need to to shout they can literally say something and it's done um also um but um yeah so for me and also also with the voice um if someone is very uptight even though she's centered in her status so listen to this folks listen to this folks even though she's centered in her status there is something very off center about Menara as as well which means that um when she commands she often barks that voice out you do this now you know um and there's so there's something quite bound and withheld about her um which also restricts the voice in many respects so maybe there isn't a great sort of freedom and joy coming from the center of her call which allows her to be much more open um so for example a wonderful contrast menar will be Shadow heart for example you know I love Jen's portrayal of that or or or fabulous Sam's carlac you know where they're much more sort of Bolder Bolder vocally um in terms of pitch range and stuff Menara keeps it quite closed shop yeah and so there's something very bound about that and then that actually I enjoyed exploring with the help of obviously of Adam's fabulous lines min ARA's Journey Through the game where she does allow herself and I allowed myself to play with different pitch range maybe higher softer quality when she is sharing a moment of intimacy or you know A love scene or the romance scenes um so that was interesting where where is CH fre where is she very bad and I definitely physically explored that which again obviously voice um between when she's under the influence of the absolute and when she isn't yeah it's it's insane I just love listening to that that's such a great uh thing to even learn um and uh it just is this crazy like you just mentioned about the absolute and how she was when she was completely like following absolute to like that's it what absolute says is what I'm going to do to finally you know figuring out like what did she do for in absolute's name what do you think of that Journey from someone like who's completely falling not going to do anything else other than what absolute says to finally learning out what what she has been doing it's one of my favorite bits actually um when she's no longer under the influence and when she talks to the player about what happened to her at moonrise towers and the the I think she's quite astonished by how she's been played yeah sorry if this spoils anything for anybody it's been out for a while now the game so you know hey guys what are you doing um um I I think and she has this wonderful speech Adam was so beautiful writing this but she has this wonderful speech about because she's ultimately you know very ambitious absolutely want would love to be in control of the world yeah um you know let us be Gods you know know um but um yeah the journey to get there is quite something because I think she was quite astonished in how much she saw of herself in Ain and that's there's a I won't spoil it too much for people but um I think she would like to be remembered you know don't think she wants to Die For Nothing um and the fact that the player takes her on her journey I think she's quite grateful for because um she she sort of says you know if you hadn't done that nobody would remember me so if I fight by your side you know I can be remembered for something and now whether that is something good or ultimately bad um is up to up to the person who's playing the game I suppose but but for her yeah that' be interesting that's another question a bit of both I think that's yeah I I love that part of the story that I was like when when she was trying when she finally started to say everything to us to the players I was like wow this is like they finally I felt like oh my God I feel bad for I felt immediately that feeling just went through and there's this moment uh where she's getting tortured and I was like oh gosh like just we gotta stop like no like it felt immediately bad like we gotta do something and so I was like we gota now like we got to save this person she has in a she's going on a Redemption and there's some really crazy lines after that but like I just immediately felt bad and I was like I'd never expected for someone like I agree funny I I watched the other day actually the scene where she's in front of Thor and she you know and they she's grab and she goes no you know and and and actually it I was like come on you be moved by yourself here that was but actually I'd forgotten because um you know the game just looks so amazing what lar and have created it just looks so incredible that I lost myself in the whole Cinematic Universe of it you know it's just so beautiful to look at astonishing actually and um and I was totally invested in the scene and I found myself sort of tearing up you know going no you know wait a minute you know but then I kind of I started laughing as well because I just thought oh my gosh I am in a scene in a sense The Fabulous JK Simmons and I was so kind like to hear JK Simmons say m was like oh my gosh because I just adore him yes such a fan so to hear him say m you know it was just a joy oh yeah yeah yeah yeah it's it's her journey is really moving but I that's what I wanted to show and that's part of that dance between myself and Adam and laran beautifully allowing us to do that you know to to to say look the best villains and that's why I was going on about Ben and raife the best villains have stuff going on yeah underneath there there reasons and when you look at the reasons you know particularly for Nara in her background my God what a what an upbringing you know what a what a family to come from yeah extraordinary um you know is it any Wonder so this it's so so so it's got to be you got to go to those big feelings when somebody moves you to and I think what happens to her at moonrise is so extraordinary to her that she could be played like that uh is yes she will have her revenge sure but um it's yeah that intimacy with the player to be able to talk about it is wonderful yeah I so I want wanted her to feel elements of vulnerability there and um you know I I don't know how this has happened but my God I will have my revenge you know because I never thought it would happen to me and it's quite frightening when somebody holds a mirror up to you and goes if you weren't rescued mate you that would have happened to you you know to go into blood and Madness for her to say that she would recognize I think it's an amazing thing for M and so I'm very grateful to Adam for his wonderful speeches that he gave and allowing her to have that Journey yeah it's such a such a beautiful such a beautiful Arc for her and I love that and I it was wonderful and that's where I'm like is a character that I'm glad that I'm going in this direction now and I'm kind of sad that I did went in the first direction of killing her off you know Abby I'm so pleased that you say that because you know since the game launched I you know you don't want to spoil it for people obviously but whenever anybody goes oh no you just kill her or I've read news where they go oh no people won't really play her they'll just kill her you know you go oh really well that's kind of a bit shortsighted of you because actually there's a lot to this lady you know uh this creature um that's rather wonderful absolutely um so allow yourself to be maybe a bit more imaginative than just going good you know that's what's great about the game isn't it you can be all things yeah and so I encourage people to go down their dark urges and um see what they can find so yeah I'm very pleased that you say that Abby thank you absolutely it did such an incredible job and I think a lot of people because for a lot of people that I know when they started balers Gate 3 they immediately went for the evil route they were like who who becomes a good character I'm going to go in the evil route and they just go into the dark urg I'm like great uh you're going to find out the best things I think in my opinion the best things I I don't know the evil side of things I feel like the most complicated and you know indepth and amazing in terms of story and all that I was like this is great and when I saw what dark things that we can do I was like oh gosh that's insane yeah yeah yeah yeah no good good good good I'm glad you enjoyed it the darkness the darkness yeah um so while recording uh all the these scenes uh and voices do you do you have like a memorable moments um in this whole process for Menara for Menara yeah or maybe just for you as where you were working in the game in general um um well very the ones that we've said already are really memorable for me and like I say some of the delicious words that Adam gave me to say or where I would be there in the studio just laughing with joy going thank you Adam for taking it that way you know um because that's that's certainly what I would have hoped for and um again like I say makes it more rounded and more in-depth and more interesting to play um and um but I think a memorable moment as well would be when I was told that it was that that that she wasn't just going to be a sort of background kind of character you know that she that she you could you could recruit her yeah and that was that was very moving for me I was really delighted um yeah yeah and they're a wonderful wonderful you know I love all her brutal moments as well you know like saying Goblin trash or you know whe at the the circus bit you know with the it was a beautiful webbing all of that you know those sorts of jokes and and the the sort of undercutting humor that's she does have a sense of humor this is again another thing that people won't explore you know um they don't play she's actually rather funny um but um yeah all of it Abby all of it is just fabulously memorable yeah and I'm very I feel and I know it sounds kind of a very actory thing to say but um you know I and I know the all the cast feel like this we really do feel really grateful to be part of this because like I say said at the beginning of the interview today um I don't think any of us really really understood what we were becoming part of yeah I know I didn't I I don't mean in terms of d and d and games world but just in terms of the wonderful hugeness of Boulders Gate 3 and what laran have created absolutely just so I feel really really blessed and I'm also blessed for you know like you coming on and talking to me about it and fans talking to me about it and things like this it's just it's really beautiful it's really lovely absolutely thank you absolutely I think that the fans they're the big fans of of this character mear people just love her when they finally get into that direction people just love this character so much and there's a reason why a lot of people like there's later on I'm going to be telling you what people have been asking there's a lot of people who really want to know about even more of how you did this character how how was the process like and everything and people led this character so much and really enjoyed what what what laran did for her and how the story went so you I would say thank you for doing this wonderful uh job at playing this character in such a way that was believable where we felt like oh okay this is a character when she's there I'm going to back off I'm going to stay I'm gonna do what she says that kind of thing and so you did such a brilliant job there thank you very much that's very kind thank you absolutely I and with that there's so many lines that I really love in in this in this game especially from anara and one of them is her saying I will never tire off by sitting on dead men's thr I was like wow what a line that is I think that's one of my favorite lines in the game yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no and they're wonderful to say because you can have such fun with with with characters like her when you have glorious lines like that or the goblin trash line you know um I mean just that's the wonderful thing about ding fantasy and I've done a lot of work for for another wonderful company Games Workshop um I've done a lot for the war hammer and age of Sigma worlds and um there it's all just So Glorious like like bg3 it's just glorious to allow your imagination to go off into these just extraordinary Realms and worlds and get to say massive lines like that you know um just amazing really really fun lots of fun but you have to really commit to it as well you know you've got to you can't there can't be as an actor in fantasy there can't be an element of Doubt yeah terms the actor you've got to go for it it's got to be big and truthful definitely in other words I don't mean big as in hugely delivered necessarily but it's just got to although there's a lot of that uh it's got to be big in terms of you mentally embracing the world that you're entering into there's a wonderful adage in acting and certainly is so true in voice acting um that if I see it you will see it so if I believe me as the actor sees the world in my head my mind and I believe where I am then you will hear that in my voice and you will see it if it's a visual like film or TV um or or theater um and I think that's a really good thing for actors to remember if I believe it they'll believe it and laran and pit stop certainly our directors at Pitstop like I say Josh and Beth and Kirsty and Fraser and Adrian um who I just adore all of them because they were so good at keeping all of us um absolutely knowing where we are in the game this is an enormous game to rec yeah so and if you're doing it a long period of time you're doing other jobs in between playing lots of different characters in between to keep you know to maybe you'll do a session in other words you know in January and then you might not come to another one till April or something like that because obviously the writers need time to write it um but they did such a wonderful job of going yep so remember we were here and we're now here and this has happened and then you're meeting this person and now but that person's died they've been killed so you've got to do this so they did the most extraordinary job of keeping it all together and really keeping things in line because um maybe people don't know who aren't in the business but um you don't when you record something like Boulders Gate 3 you don't work with somebody else in the studio with you another actor you're on your own in the studio with the directors in another little room that you see you um so you're not interacting with any you've got to really imagine so the director will be giving you maybe the line and then you've got to give your response as truthfully as possible obviously um and that's quite a skill in itself and they do that a lot in animation movies as well um so you've really got to let that imagination go wild yeah so that you really see where you are and act where you are um I can't remember what you asked me now I've gone off again on a tangent Abby that's perfectly fine I think this this what you said I think I know a lot of people who want to get into voice acting themselves want to be an actor in video games and I think this uh is going to help let at least educate or maybe give some information to people who probably didn't know and you know go in that path like maybe I'm going to do this from now on and help them out and you know all these insights are always welcome so thank you so much for sharing all that no pleasure no I mean so while anybody who is interested it is about acting you know it's about it's about it it's about you living and breathing and feeling it so that it can come up and out of your voice because if you if you put it on um I I've done a lot of radio work as well in my in my career um as well as a lot of VoiceOver and you've got to see it in your mind you know and I think I think that's good voice acting like good radio is fabulous because if you got good actors at it you know um it's the most visual of all the mediums in a sense because all I need is me a good script you know a script and a microphone and I can take an audience to any real Dimension time space atmosphere anywhere I don't need anything else and maybe you know if we want to add on a few little sound effects great but the reason I say that Abby is because you know if any of the any people out there have had the experience of sort of sitting in bed reading a book and you're really into this book maybe it's a horror or Thriller and you're really you know and then you think oh Christ it's getting late you know I better better turn the light off and go to sleep got to get up for work the next morning so you turn the light off and you snuggle down in your bed but you can't settle your mind won't let you settle because it's worrying 10 to the Dozen because of what you've just read and the world that you allowed yourself to enter into and so you put the light back on and maybe get up a cup of tea or something and settle yourself down because you've taken yourself in your mind to an extraordinary place that's really affected you affected your soul you know and um that is What actors need to do um because and that's the power of radio and Voice work good Voice work and radio because um there's nothing stronger than this in an audience you know and there's nothing more effective because you're your own costume designer your own lighting designer your own you know set designer you're everything and that's not to the detriment of film TV and theater of course it isn't because they all have their wonderful places but there's something else about radio and Voice work um and so when you put it on top of fantastic visual ual that we've got in bg3 it's it's it makes for some really juicy stuff that's true did you uh ever get to watch all the cut scenes that because I know people are so amazing that they put it out on YouTube about full cut scenes of particular characters did you get to watch all that yeah well not all of them there's a lot of them yes yeah that's a lot of hours isn't it but what extraordinary cinematics EX extraordinary the look of it is just it's just gorgeous isn't it oh so yes some of it I mean um yeah yeah I've really enjoyed it and enjoyed watching everybody else you know and seeing some of the stuff that or or seeing some of the visual stuff or bits of the game that menar isn't part of or you know bits that I've heard about but have never seen the visuals for and things like that yeah yeah yeah amazing yeah they they look so good and as I said like it's not like you all of you like all the voice actors who worked on this game everybody did such a great job everything everyone is so believable I'm like wow like I can I know like I can understand this character I can just go with this character I want to go on this journey in this character I want to know more about this character all that stuff like it's so believable and the world around immediately is also like oh like yes I'm here I can I can see this is real somehow and and and extraordinary detail like if you've got to you know the way they've thought about it like a movie is just amazing like so you'll have you know um right up close to us maybe two you know lead main characters talking but all the world that's going on in the background people walking around or taking a drink or buying something or going o over here or you know it's just amazing that kind of you know and um yeah extraordinary but then but but Divinity was like that too you know Larry and are really great at creating worlds yeah and um they do it with exceptional meticulous attention to detail and that's why they're so good you know and that's why people love the games because they will take that time um to to get all of that right and give the players what they want you know definitely and and I mean yeah with Boulders Gate 3 they've taken it to a whole whole another level um but yes I many a time I've watched some you know clips and and also because as I was saying to you before Abby were on our own in the studios you might sort of see another actor getting ready to go into another studio and do their bits but you don't get to play with them in the same studio so actually it's been wonderful to look at this wonderful cast's work you know where I've never even know what their characters look like you know and um some of them I haven't even met you know so um so that's been wonderful to see and to to to match their voice to how the visuals look and yeah see the scope of the world that's being created it's astonishing so yes I've very much enjoyed yeah and I think one of the things that people love seeing or want to see uh or want to experience even is the the romance scenes and what do you think about all these romance especially from Ina what do you think about the romance scenes and how was it L for you to to you know record all those moments um recording was very simple um and very caring again larryan and pit stop always was taking beautiful care of all the actors making sure you know uh you're happy with things and um and um so that's very loving of them to do that um and uh and write and um but I think it's very clever how how they've used romance and sex in in the whole thing in that um like life it's part of life but it's not it what's clever about Boulders Gate 3 is that it doesn't become the end goal it doesn't become the be all and end all of what you're playing a certain path route for you know it's just something that happens along the way that allows you to explore the character more or your own character more um you know the player explore themselves more um and I think that's really clever so it's used as a a means to an end sometimes like with Menara a lot of the time yes let's have that this evening um or it's used in a romantic way to further develop someone's character again like you know learning about learning about affection learning about it trust um uh and using it to means to what you want as well get what you want so just like life yeah you know so I think that I think they're done brilliantly um and I do believe you can sort of make a choice as to how much of the intimacy scenes you want to to reveal but um yeah um I think it's used very cleverly yeah definitely and uh and it's it's it's awesome that um every every character has it like story arc where okay you want to be in this romantic relationship with this particular character you can choose whatever you want to go and as mentioned before like I just love the fact that you can do whatever you want in this game and uh especially for a character likea who everybody see as a villain immediately and just you know not going to take her not going to see her storyline and then the people who actually eventually do see her story line they're so blown away by it and I the one thing that I even get even more blown away is is when I see you know fan arts done by people and I see it on Twitter such cool amazing art and I'm like where are these people like the artist like insane yeah so beautiful the inspiration people have from it um oh my gosh some of the like you're saying I don't know how they do it and but some of the some of the pictures of Menara there's a beautiful one but it's a beautiful picture but it it it's um in fact laran retweeted it actually because they were so blown away by it as well where it's a shot taken from the game uh the way they've done that it's a closeup of manara's face with slightly bloodshot eyes it's got a kind of bluish yeah I saw that yeah shows so good it shows everything I wanted to get in the character which is strength and determination and brutality and ambition and all of that but also the oh my God the vulnerability in the eyes oh yeah I couldn't take my ey off it and I thought this person's really captured that moment you know taken that isolated it and then done all this beautiful sort of color with it and everything and really brought it out and it it's it's absolutely stunning and then there are other wonderful shots and yes the fan art and the way people have taken that all of the characters and been so inspired to put them in different situations or you know glamour shots or whatever they want to do with it you know lovely sexy beautiful or whatever they want to do it's just wonderful to see I'm I'm really really enjoying it yeah really appreciate it since there's so many fan interactions like so many fans want to know and who love this character is there anything that fans always ask you want to know from you uh about your character or about your journey um not uh not not so much about the journey I think they're just enjoying it when they get there if they play her um people want lots of people wanted to know her color what's her favorite color um and so I'll answer that here by saying well I think it's um a sort of blood red and I say that because that's actually my favorite color but it was a total coincidence that it's also mine and M's wow because it's the blood red of house ban Ray because that's the color that I found on the symbol of house R and I think it's beautiful symbols beautiful yeah um and and coincidentally enough it was the red that I chose for my avatar because when you're in the map Studio you see yourself all in the bodysuit but you also see an avatar um and so I always chose red for my avatar to see what my body was doing while I was doing the moap so you can check check in with yourself as you're recording and um and then I discovered that house ban Ray has that red color now I don't know if somebody else has just made that up or if that was an original you know thing for house Bain Ray but um I love it so I would say that is the color probably like I say blood red and and also people have sort of I've been really moved by how much people have found her as a kind of inspiration or you know the confidence or or to you know they kind of go yep she's she's badass so you know that's really made me kind of go out today and just take the day and just get it going you know that's that's really lovely as well that it that it gives people who may be feeling a bit kind of pressured by life um and they get inspiration from the characters to to maybe gosh this sounds very worthy but you know what I mean Abby they kind of they feel inspired by the characters that they love you know be it Gail or shadowart or menar or whoever it is a staring and on particularly carlac um yeah um to kind of go yes I'm gonna be a badass lightan thar I'm gonna take today by the horns and I'm going to do it and I love that I really love that and and have sent me very kind messages um about how that sort of inspired them or made them turn their not turn their life too much but you know what I mean just well maybe and it gives them hope or gives them some structure with some things you know um helps them find a way through difficulties and I love that because that's what the Arts should do the art is about teaching us about ourselves that's what the Arts is about all the world's EST Shakespeare so you know all the men and women all the men and women prayers um and and uh and I think life art holds a mirror up to life you know it makes us look at ourselves so if people from the wonderful world of games particularly a game is Just extraordinary looking and evolving as Boulders Gate 3 and if if that does help people to kind of as I think it is doing in the fan and if it does help people with their lives great yeah great I'm very pleased there's a few questions that fans wanted me to ask you and uh so uh person by the name Rohan ask is when you started recording for Menara was a personality motives and drive already set in stone or did she evolve over time um I would say um there were sort of core bits of her personality that were very much set in stone given um the sort of backgrounds D and D backgrounds but um and you know her like I was saying before her upbringing the kind of person that that's made her which is brutal which is an ambitious which is determined forthright High status unforgiving in many respects um but but yes her her personality did evolve through the course of the game for her to explore other areas of herself which she maybe doesn't bring to light too much um or hasn't had the chance to in her life so far are which is things like affection which is things like intimacy but intimacy for for the giving and receiving of it not just intimacy for the Fulfillment of pleasure yeah but intimacy where she's really connecting with someone um as well as be it on physical level um and um and learning about trust and learning about having Companions and um um learning about betrayal and learning about um a softer side of of herself or or the the fact that perhaps she can be thwarted and that may not have occurred to her before you know things like that so all the Peaks and troughs and differences that that we have in our real lives you know suddenly come into into who she is so I would say and as I was saying before to you about Adam my wonderful writer you know we had this relationship whereby he could feel that from my performance and I could feel that from his writing so um yes very much evolved yeah which is as I've said before makes her much more rounded and much more interesting Charles boots ask is um what what were you with thoughts about recording the lines from the circus specifically well there you are it's a wonderful example of of Mena's brilliant yeah um very sarcastic humor yeah yeah great fun great fun love those scenes they're hilarious uh Simon rickmon askes uh how did you how do you feel about the overwhelming response of the game and how do you handle the community's positive feedback the response to the game has been wonderful so thank you very very much and um I've really enjoyed and sort of lost a lot of time just reading everyone's comments and just joining in I I I I've really enjoyed that I've really enjoyed reading what everyone's writing you know posting things and funny memes and videos and things like that like we saying people's creativity the fan arts been astonishing little animated figures and figurines and just and and then great sort of portraits and people you know being inspired by larryan game way it looks taking it off into their own heart um so it's been a joy and a pleasure to look at it all um I I guess you just deal with it really just I mean it's very the internet's very easy to get lost in isn't it and then you realize five hours have gone by um um so I try to check in as much as I can each day but also you know we are working actors so we have to get on with with our lives and work as well but um yeah try to check in as much as possible and to respond when I can because I'm I'm so grateful for everybody's love and support with it's just terrific and I really feel that really feel that from it's it's been wonderful um Sean farflung asked um given that you played villains in Divinity origins in one and an evil aligned character in bg3 what is is it about your voice acting style that lends you playing villains in the game what is it about you Emma um um oh gosh I don't know well I love K I mean I I love character maybe it is something about me I no idea um I think my voice lends itself to that that kind of big weighty character um I I I because I either play that sort of character this is in voice voice Fantasy Land um I either play that sort of character or like I was saying in Games Workshop I I'll play Saints or sort of Godlike figures um huge sisters of battle kind of huge characters um which is fabulous fun but yeah I guess people like that kind of deeper larger res um for certain characters it works great fun really really great fun Dusty ask do you find uh person aspects of a personality similar to your own oh well that links on from the last question doesn't it yes yes I do that sounds a bit woring where is I mean I'm not brutal like her but I hope not anyway it's my family um uh yes I think um you know if you're there's a again there's a sort of thing in acting whereby um certainly in theater um we have this sort of saying where by you leave your stuff outside the rehearsal room so whatever's going on for you in life that might be really difficult you leave it outside the rehearsal room because in the rehearsal room you need to be creative or on set could be film set yeah TV set um because otherwise if that stuff's you know in your mind the whole time then you're not free to really be in the character and allow that character to take you over and and and be free to work with other people as well um but interestingly because I was on my own in the studio with just the directors um if I'd had a particularly rubbish train journey down to the studio or something and you know I was late which is I hate being um I could with Sara I could channel that aggression and annoyance into how I deliver her lines that particular day and so that was actually really freeing and releasing God there's nobody in the studio with me because I'm feeling really you know so that was a sort of opposite from how one usually works in in TV and film theater but um yeah I think you do I think sometimes you have to find elements of yourself um because you have to find a journey and an arc with the character as well yeah yes yes is the answer oh man I love the the the storytelling that pretty cool um Alex Alex asks if if you could play any other character um other than Menara in balers Gate 3 who would who would it be oh my God that's a really great question I not even thought of that before um I really love carlac I I I think it would be really cool to play carlac but then I can't really hear anybody else than lovely Sandy so and also I love Shadow heart too yeah because I'd never get to play a part night Shadow wow Orin quite like to have played Orin oh yeah again this sounds really actory but I I think I'll just stick with my th I'm glad I play her because for me um I've really loved how complex she is yeah how complex laran have let Adam and I make her I think that's really wonderful so I'll stick with Min yeah that they're all so so cool and love uh love you know getting to know all of their stories and conversations so fun to listen to conversations the whole cast just been so phenomenal you know just like looking at this the circus scene or whatever you know and just you know the fabulous voices that have come in to play Parts where they might only do that scene or you know you know Missour or you know it it just wonderful characters where I I may never have met the person and I'm really enjoying looking at their work through their character um Alex zeel ask is um does she do you feel like there could be more that could be done uh with this character I wonder if they mean within bg3 or Beyond um I mean you can go either way um well I think there's Endless Possibilities with all of the characters yeah aren't they and also endless possibilities for perhaps exploring the worlds that they come from um which would be pretty cool I think um I think um how she is in Boulders gate is is fine I know there's lots of different fan reaction where menar is concerned um but I'm not going to comment on that that's in that's in the hands of the Gods the gods are Larry so I say no more about that but but but in all seriousness that's what's amazing about these characters and this world and d and d in general is that um and and for for worlds like Warhammer and page of Sigma and wonderful worlds like that or any fantasy any fantasy novels um I do I record step Ericson's work as well and um for audio and um audio book and um it's always endless that's what's fantastic yeah take these characters anyway there's always so much more to be explored if you want to definitely so much to explore especially in this game so much to do you can do anything yeah yeah it's so it's so Wonder um Louis ask this I think it's pretty interesting question he's like are there any positive qualities or wisdom that you gain from playing the character like Menara I admire manara's determination confidence like I was talking about earlier which obviously other people are really tuning into as well um the fact that she is always rooting for survival and to achieve what you need I mean yes her route is quite bloodthirsty to get there so wouldn't support that obviously but um but um I think she's got wonderful drive it's not about the ambition so much for me but just yeah it takes a lot to keep her down you know she'll get back up get back up and get back up and I I I do really admire that about her and and her bravery actually for she's very brave and her bravery for venturing out from the underd dark surface in the first place to go and explore what's this cult all about you know um going away from your home and away from your what you know and exploring something else and yes again what Happ to it moon rise happen to it moonrise the absolute and everything but fact that she went forth in the first place I think I think there's a lot of Brave bravery about her and bravery to be vulnerable bravery to be intimate with the player and and explore that bravery comes in all forms it's not just about being forthright it's about it's about having the courage to go forward um and you know jump into something that that um that is scary yeah and she she does that that's why she's so interesting to that's why you must play her everybody um scholarly Sean ask how did working as like playing minara is different from your previous experiences with Lan I think just playing one character and that Journey all the way through for a long time um was extraordinary because on Divinity I would like go in and do a couple of those characters and then you know the next session I'd do a couple of other characters or something like that so and that's all joyful as well but to stick with one person and get to know them really intimately she's very dear to my heart and always will be not only for playing her and experiencing her but also for what laran have given us all and you know this is this this is going to be with me for the rest of my life you know I'm I'm so grateful for that um so I think yeah living and breathing her in know her many ways for the last yeah the ability to live with a character for a long period of time which I'm sure people who do you know long running film series or or TV series you know have the same experience and um remember reading about some Game of Throne actors when it stopped how kind of desperate they felt that it was suddenly gone you know what it been a huge part of their life for about 10 years or suddenly and that it actually really they were bereft it was like a grieving process what's lovely about all the fan reaction and all the comments and and doing things like um and and interaction and interviews like this today is is getting to still be with her hard to leave a character you love yeah yeah I would say that is being the biggest thing between the between I can I cannot imagine how you must be feeling because you have been recording and being this character first mentioned like for so long and you know it's out there and people are playing it people are really loving it and you get responses back you have comments and you see reactions and people people are tuning in are playing the game right now and just figuring these these things out and it it must playing this big character which is going to go on for years and years uh I I cannot imagine how he must be feeling I know once that everything is done and now you're no longer playing that character uh must be different feeling right now for you like okay no longer I'm going to go to the recording booth and record on sad it it's sad and I've said to various people at pit stop oh we miss you we miss you guys you know um yeah yeah yeah but that's what you have to do as an actor you know you have to you have to say goodbye to that one and leave it where it is and um and go on to the next thing hopefully which is around the corner yeah then go on to the next thing sort of clear your mind of it you know and that was one of the challenges like I was saying before of doing this for such a long period of time um where you'd have great gaps maybe between when you played her and then the next time you get to play her but um yeah now it's all done it's there is an element of sadness but I think more so really it's very very small because it's what's now wonderful is seeing how people react to her and all of the character and the whole game and that's now the next experience with that character you know yeah so so and and like I say um the the the reaction to the game like we've been talking about is so huge that she's always going to be with me and people are always going to go oh wow you know you were in bals Gate or I can say to them oh brilliant you're playing bals gate you know it's it's it's going to be part of my life still it just moves it just shifts a little absolutely yeah it's it's crazy I love that um the last and final question is from aan he says he's curious about um what do you think Menara as a character especially morality wise morality wise oh wow don't be evil I say that but but I think you can't have evil without good really because if you don't have good how do you know that you're evil um in a sense um you know so there's all those sorts of questions well I think it's like I was saying before I think you've got to have courage to do things and I think you should live your life with courage and I think live your life with bravery and not be frightened of doing things and if it's scary then it means you you you should go into it providing it's a good thing and doesn't harm other people does doesn't hurt anybody else you know um I think that's what someone like monara could teach us about courage about loyalty I'm going to be thinking about that question all night what a great one to end on fans have such incredible questions and they are so supportive they love I I got one of those comments that uh they love marara so much they can't stop playing and so what what do you want to say to those fans is there anything that you would like to tell them just thank you it's making me tear up um just thank you thank you thank you for the questions today and and these sorts of questions and the response is has just blown my mind I'm so grateful I just give lots and lots of love back you know yeah and try try to answer people's comments and stuff and I really really appreciate love and support for the [Music] C

Channel: GaminMadness

Views: 7,832

Keywords: minthara voice actor, minthara voice actor baldur's gate 3, baldur's gate 3 minthara, minthara baldur's gate 3, minthara, minthara actor, emma gregory minthara, minthara voice actor emma gregory, baldur's gate 3, baldur's gate 3 emma gregory, minthara voice actor interview, baldur's gate interview, emma gregory interview, minthara interview, behind the voice

Id: Vo-c6pOd71g

Length: 79min 35sec (4775 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2023