Neil Newbon On Playing Astarion, Baldur's Gate 3 & A Career In Acting | EGX 2023

my name is Neil newon I'm an actor director producer in uh video games and also as well as film and TV I've been working for about 15 years um been in about 120 plus titles uh and I am the full performance and voice actor for a staran in The Amazing Masterpiece Boulders Gate 3 amazing um he's actually my favorite and yay you so one of the things I wanted to ask you actually is because obviously you've played it do you find yourself playing like as you you Neil making like choices Neil would make or do you find yourself slipping into a stair I I've started playing BS go through which has been awesome I'm loving the game and as a gamer as well as a fan of Boulders gate and d and d it's the closest I I've ever played to a tabletop it's absolutely extraordinary um the game um I've created a character called Bowie who um who after David Bowie a little bit like a little bit although she can't play the loot very well um she's a half elf wood elf pansexual Druid who has aspirations to play music but is really has is completely tone deaf um so I play as her so I've made I make choices in the game based on the character that I created for the gameplay um I also have a staran in the party so I also play a staran with his choices in the game and my friend Tom DeVille is an amazing writer for people like Marvel and Hannibal and incredible and he's a showrunner as well um he plays azra who's non-binary character Paladin and he plays them as their character so both of us have to make our choices not based on what we would like necessarily but what fits our characters that we've created which I think is awesome it's another way of playing does that come easily or do you cuz I always like struggle with any game you know when it's like good or bad choices I'm always like oh I'm going to play bad but then I I always do the good choices I always Romance the same people I think the main thing is not to judge your characters I don't judge characters in good and bad terms then I don't have villains and heroes I play characters that are very complicated and have needs and wants and obstacles so that's how I do professionally that's how how I I play Prof professionally in my work is that you can't judge your characters you have to love them support them on their Journey even if you as a human being would never I just whack this you as a human being would never choose that you have to honor what their stories about what their decisions would be based on the what the amazing writers have done stepen Rooney in my case as well as the other writers that contributed towards staran um you have to you know you can't judge them for what they do you just have to love them and support them and hug them through their Journey without stopping them you know you it one of the great things about asan's um story is that it's about you know tackling issues of of being abused and taking the power back from them like how has that resonated with like you and and and what do you think of how it's resonated with fans as well like um the the story of aarian trauma is um incredibly affecting uh not just for people like myself but I've had a lot of people from the communities reach out and uh say how it they felt seen and they felt touched I think it's a testament to Lan's incredible skill the writer team um the creative decisions made behind all of this stuff and the character as well especially Steven Rooney and the other writers that contributed towards aaran how uh mature and adult the decisions were to make it um believable real and not to just dismiss it as a thing but actually to honor the fact that trauma victims exist survivors exist and to show every possibility of that Journey good and bad with the same kind of care and love that I experienced um working as the actor in it um is is an amazing experience um I get a lot of people asking me um or sorry not asking me telling me they feel seen uh that is a deeply humbling experience as an actor because obviously I'm just trying to present the work with everybody else The Ensemble and also the other 248 actors and all the directors and everybody in the writing team and Li and themselves who are incredible I'm just trying to present the story how people will react is not up to us um so to have that is incredibly touching I feel um some times the praise I get is maybe not deserved in that way because it wasn't just me you know impostor syndrome that is not imposter syndrome no but I just I want people to understand that you know the writing team did such an incredible job the directors that we had to help us through did such an incredible job it's an ensemble effort to create these stories and I think it's important to say that really I feel very humbled to put it that way and Incredibly grateful for people reaching out to me uh and it's an affecting story it really is I loved every second of playing staring every second yeah would you say he's your favorite character today that you've ever portrayed I don't it's a different one of those questions I can't really say I have one single favorite character something he's definitely one of my most favorite characters to play yes um each each character is a different experience like a relationship each relationship you have in life will be different there'll be good stuff and difficult stuff maybe challenging stuff um with a starring like most of my characters I've ever played probably all of the characters I've ever played I had an amazing experience I didn't have a bad day in the volume in four years I had challenging days physically where I burnt out U emotionally and physically just burnt out because I was just working so much but I've never had a bad day um in the volume I would say um and so he he will he has a very very special place in my heart and will always do because a staring is meant more to me in some ways than some of the other characters I may have play that been minor characters in this and that and the other he's been a very special character to player I feel deeply honored um to be asked in the first place by Josh Weeden and you know then Jason Latino from Lan signing me off and also uh swen obviously s his amazing amazing leader um a creative Visionary really uh to be to be given this role you know and then I got to work with GRE linstone and Tom pal pal palali um on the motion capture side as well I mean I got to direct in the game I got to consult with the animators I got to body double Minsk which was amazing that was a gift um I got to kind of work with Matt Mercy was a hero of mine so you know it's just the whole thing has been extraordinary yeah how does it feel to like because you know the community is just kind of it's blown up especially since like obviously the full launch and how does it feel to have like so many fans for a character you portrayed it's wonderful that people have really loved the work and loved the character staran you know it's been amazing and not just a staran but all of the characters have been fully embraced and seeing all the other actors having all this attention for their work is absolutely breathtaking and beautiful I feel deeply honored um by the fact that people liked the work that I offered up with everybody else uh and that they really like the stories and that it meant something to them you know I I want people to have a good like a I really liked the story or I hated the story reaction I I want something of Polar Opposites I don't like the gray dishwater me it was all right that's that's the worst somebody says your character was it was like I obviously he he's not he's not necessarily like a good character I mean he's an anti-hero the best and so I suppose having someone really hate him is also a compliment F I don't care if somebody hates a character I just in a way it means you you in a different way you've still achieved that character cuz arti is there any Artistry is there to move people one way or the other but to have a reaction yeah if they hate it or love it you as an artist you've created that reaction that's what you're there to do to challenge people or to entertain people or whatever but it's to have a reaction if no somebody has a me reaction that feels not great I would say but if somebody hates my character as many people go I hate your character like great you're supposed to great fantastic Gavin Reed is a good example of that in Detroit become human he was only supposed to be a catalyst for um Conor's character played by Brian deckart who's amazing uh and people started really liking him and I was just like why he's supposed he's a you're not supposed to like Gavin Reed you know but people like him and they have a reaction to him which is awesome so with the staran it's been wonderfully overwhelming experience uh and again very humbling that people like my work it's I've had some incredible compliments and um I really want to honor that by you know always bringing my best game rather uh my best um professionalism and also my best work to whether I'm doing an indie game a doublea AAA or whatever or film TV you know etc etc whatever I'm doing if I take that gig I have to honor it by leaving my metaphorically sometimes literally Blood on the floor I think it's important that's how you honor people's positive reactions is to always bring your best work never get complacent about the effort and the work that goes into it do you have any like favorite lines that you'll always remember from I got loads man I don't really have a favorite line there's too many good lines he does say a lot of good stuff just loads of good stuff I've had so much fun on this job it's been incredible got everything you know you were saying recently I read somewhere that um there was like some content players hadn't discovered yet with a that to do with reactive lines oh has it been found now I said I said something about a week after launch which was about reactive lines that you had to do things in a certain way that people haven't found it because only a week out people found it of course they found everything there's no there's nothing hidden it's just like people had to make sometimes years later people people had to make specific choices to find a line that a starring would say and only if you did it in that way you'd find it so I mean it's amazing how how many different things people have found obviously um so yeah that's what that was it was about reactivity in the game that oh if you have this person in your party and you do this thing then you get that special line that nobody else see apart from the handful of people that do it yeah yeah God but there are you know sometimes you get games where it'll be like 3 years later and they'll be like players have just found this thing and it's it's you know you think oh my God people have played this to death and somehow there's still content to find I wonder if you know that will be the same with Boulders Skate 3 there'll be something years do you really know yeah don't know as far as I've seen everybody's found everything oh Fair um so I have like a a silly question to ask out of the other romance options to Companions if you had to uh kiss marry and kill who would you pick for each one kiss Mary and kill for as a staran yeah as a staran kiss Mary kill H kiss carlac marry somebody powerful maybe shadowart rather powerful she is weirdly even Gale and um what was the other one kill I like will but if I had to that's a staran aaran is there anything that's like surprised you or like that you've you know really enjoyed seeing that you didn't expect to see like in terms of like what the community's done I didn't have any expectations um I just wanted for the game when it was released I didn't have any expectations I just I hoped that people would see the passion and the hard work from the developers the animators the directors the writers the actors uh from Lan itself from you know the company that we worked with as well p stop productions for all the effort that we were making I just wanted them to understand that there was so much passion and love for this game which they did which is incredible and also then enjoy it you know I didn't I don't think any of us expected the reaction to be as big as it's been I think that's an incredible wonderful experience and for all of us to have is amazing especially Lian I think that even swen said publicly that he um he hadn't prepared his it team for the number of users on the first day of release he said like 100 200,000 it was like 800,000 700,000 or something which is amazing and a testament to the game yeah but no I didn't have any I don't have expectations really of that kind of stuff it's more like I want to get the work out I want people to enjoy it hopefully fingers crossed but it's up to the audience whether they enjoy it or not you know is it weird to think that like you know 10 years from now you could be a convention and someone will bring up an an aarion picture for you sign still I think it's weird no like I I I like I've done it in the past to actors I did it to Michael iron side to gave him a legendary Michel like went it was years ago now London London ComicCon gave him a Xbox 360 case of Splinter Cell and he was just like you know I've been in other stuff right and I was like yeah I I think I love that I think it's lovely when um uh audience latch onto a character they like and it means something to them so I think it's surprising for actors because you end up doing if you're lucky and you work a lot you know you'll do loads of a great body of work and and it's interesting that people go oh that's the thing that was interesting I don't think it's weird I think it's actually perfectly normal that people may go oh you know that thing you did years ago I loved it it's like great it's stayed with you that long that's amazing it's like a legacy that you it's not just that it's more like oh great that my performance of this character that was well written and blah blah blah moved you and it stayed with you and maybe informed something about life that helped you that's incredible that's a gift you know that's a gift back to the actor I think yeah so I like hearing that cuz it's lovely yeah I still get people talk about Detroit um and Resident Evil you know Village People still talk about that which is amazing um uh and even some of the smaller jobs I've done um we happy for you people come up to me and talk about that which is beautiful to hear that it's real real comedy uh character I played so yeah it's very again very humbling that people really dig it and stay with it yeah how did you get into voice acting to begin with was that I got into acting so Voice work because I don't view myself as a voice actor I view myself as an actor that does full performance TV film theater cuz you used to be in hollyood I used to be H that's right did a whole year and a half on that which was great um I've also done feuture films I did my first film I played alongside Steven fry and Greg wise and Ur in crab and all these kind of amazing huge actors I've worked with Michael Madson and um as all these kind of we work with all kinds of different people in film and TV um I have a very long history of it which is great so I didn't uh I I got into Voice work and motion capture work and performance capture work cuz I was very broke I had no money I was like most Act I was financially struggling to survive as an actor and it's still not always easy for everybody you know no matter even if somebody has a success they may be not financially particularly well off you know it's not an easy ride to be an actor you engage with that very early on that you may never make any real money you may struggle for most of your life financially um and that's not really the drive I think people don't people don't get into acting to be rich you know if you're lucky and you work a lot you might get a good living out of it absolutely 95% or some maybe more of actors do not are not millionaires or have huge houses and lots of money they actually most of them are jobbers and struggle you know from time to time if you get lucky it's feast and famine and sometimes it's very hard um so I was particularly broke I was really in trouble financially and I realized that I have a lot of skill sets and I saw this article in PC Gamer about Voice work and then I saw this tiny little picture about motion capture I can do that I think I can do that so audio motion Brian Mitchell from audio motion was very kind with Stacy boys L and they auditioned me for Ghost Recon Future Soldier with Ubisoft I got it and then I started my journey and they championed me for a long time and I met people at the Imaginarium and I worked um creative assembly as well and then I started mentoring other actors to help them do what I do we I run a nonprofit um workshops uh where we just pay for costs we pay for people's obviously the crew get paid per day and stuff but we don't make any real profit of it we just make overheads for the company U we keep it low as possible to help actors afford to do course and then one day of mocap pays for that course so it's non it's a nonprofit course that's really interesting yeah I've also worked in other Charities before I used to work with inner city Shakespeare in Los Angeles so I'd work in South Central going down like three times a week maybe four times a week depending on schedule uh to South Central 108th Street from La which is a 10 mile straight South Drive and every mile you know you do notice that things get tougher for people I work with all these kids from the age of 16 to 21 and we would help put on a Shakespeare play uh under Dr Melanie Andrews they're now based with vilma's place in Melrose um for a long time now I was heading down to South Central every every few days to work in the evenings after I would finish auditioning or working in Los Angeles and it was a beautiful experience and it's a big motivator for me in a position I am now to be able to help other people I'm a great believer in it yeah that like I can only imagine what it's like to be able to give back to like you know the industry in that way and beautiful very because other people have always champ and help me people took risks on me people have always helped me it's it would be remiss of me not to offer that up to anybody I think is great and positive and happy and talented and needs help you know and they don't have to take it but if they if they want it I'm going to try and help as many people as I can why why wouldn't I yeah all right so for my final question yeah you might not might not be able to pick but everyone's been talking about who they would ship aarion with ship uh like with ro like romantic okay who would you pair him with have I didn't think you I don't have a choice in that because you know what I don't find it that interesting to talk about what I would think of the story beyond what I did my stuff was in the story I think it's brilliant that head Cannon exists I think it's brilliant that the community has their own ideas of who would ship with who and stuff and I like that more than thinking about what would I like cuz actually I've done my stuff I've did it with and also the possibilities are with everybody like my possibility of the starring is with every single character theoretically that can be romanced I've done that so I don't have a preference yeah I suppose you you lived through or when I it I literally lived it in fictitional circumstances but they were truthful fictitional circumstances I've lived it so I don't need to think about it honestly your work is is so amazing oh thank you very much appreciate thank you very much for those kind words I really appreciate thank you for your time like I know you must be like really busy it's been a bit manic yeah but um it's been lovely talking to you Lov to talk to you as well

Channel: TheGamer

Views: 61,017

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Id: NSsavZFUgX0

Length: 17min 58sec (1078 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/n0ttomuch]

ah yes Astarion romancing Astarion xD

[u/wrakshae]

Great interview. He spends so much time giving shoutouts to other people and I love his attitude.