We talked to the character who played the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the characters that have more depth in the present generation.
In his acting career, Roger Clark had never worked in video games until Red Dead Redemption 2; a task that has changed his life, as he acknowledges himself, at all levels. During his visit to Bilbao on the occasion of the Fun and Serious 2019 festival, the American actor, winner of the Best Performance award by The Game Awards 2018 as Arthur Morgan, tells us the differences between working for the film industry and the videogame sector .
From being a stranger to stardom: the Red Dead Redemption 2 effect
“When I started working with Rockstar Games, I was a very little known actor; Almost all my experience was in the world of cinema and lending my voice in other works. But the difference here is huge: the capture of movements, how everything is explored … The majority of staging in the world of video games are usually in a closed stage, with microphones, a script … Although some of those things are being incorporated into the cinema too, but in different ways, ”he begins by saying.
Roger Clark at Fun and Serious 2019, Bilbao | Meristation
“Motion capture allows us to explore the advances of technology in novel ways; For me it was a privilege to be able to work in Red Dead Redemption 2 and have been able to have so much freedom to work, which helped to make the result so realistic and natural, ”Clark continues. For him, at times the distances disappear due to the large number of cinematic scenes of works such as Rockstar, which sometimes reminded him of film recording studios. "In the videogame sector there are scenes that tend to be increasingly similar to the cinema, with camera positions, for example."
The behaviors of the characters, once upon a time, were more exaggerated. Clark now acts more naturally because it is not necessary to place so much emphasis on physical movement so that the player identifies who speaks on the screen. “I remember games like Final Fantasy VII, with characters that moved their arms a lot when they talked. Now, technology allows physics to be very similar to what it is in the cinema. ”
Another issue is the faces. “Everything except faces. You have a camera that is filming directly to your face, you have to gesture everything much more in those moments where you have the camera right in front of you. ”
For Clark, it is vital that in your interpretation it is easy to empathize because the player is in control, controls you, must feel in a way that he is also playing that protagonist. “If you do a good job, people will identify with your character much more, and better; faster than on television and in the movies, because they, in a way, are you. And that is not the case in the rest of the media ”.
It concludes by ensuring that, both the duration of a videogame and the activity that exists in the action of each medium draw a thick line between interactive leisure and the so-called seventh art. “Cinema is a passive entertainment. In the video game, your interpretation is not only seen, it is also played. The user is not a mere spectator. Don't sit here and see how things are happening. ”
Arthur Morgan, what makes you so special?
Although he believes that he is not the one who should assess the significance of his character, considered one of the most memorable profiles of the current generation of consoles, he is aware that, as time goes by, the grounds he has left Arthur Morgan is very high for what happens in the history of the Rockstar title and how it changes, how it evolves, that outlaw.
“It's something difficult to measure, but I think the script has a lot to do. Dan Houser and the narrative team did a great job on both this and the first Red Dead Redemption. They have done something unforgettable when integrating redemption into a story. Another aspect that influences the impermeability of Arthur Morgan's character is that the medium is increasingly mature. The players are turning years old, they live things that make them more mature and adult, so they can tell more adult and idiosyncratic stories, ”he assumes, because Clark acknowledges being a video game player since he was little. He has lived, as a spectator, the evolution of the sector, and now that he has had the opportunity to be a participant in the activity of playing a leading character, he wanted to express his maturity in a character in which he acknowledges feeling identified in many ways.
A job equivalent to five or six seasons of a television series
“Rockstar has designed it (Red Dead Redemption 2) in a very respectful way with Western cinema, both in the planes and in the rhythms. It is a continuation of that genre but in another medium. They have done it in an incredible way without losing the spirit. ”
The first time he played Red Dead Redemption 2, Roger Clark wanted to focus on the cinematic scenes to be able to enjoy at home all those years of work, a job in which "thousands of people" worked. Now he is playing for the second time, but much more slowly, he wants to get lost and explore as much as possible. As he says: "My first day at Rockstar was in August 2013 … and my last day was in August 2018. Rockstar told me that I was the employee who was most often subjected to motion capture sessions," he said with a laugh. “It was more than 500 days of work in the study. It is a long time. It is equivalent to five or six seasons of work in a television series. I can't imagine how many hours were in total. ”
Roger Clark at Fun and Serious 2019, Bilbao | Meristation
How to define a character's vulnerabilities
Arthur Morgan is not a perfect character; It has its virtues and defects, its philias and phobias. A complex character written in a complex way. For Clark, this was initially a challenge, but it ended up being a pleasure with the passing of the months by getting into the role of someone defined in such a dense way. “One of the things I love Arthur for is his vulnerabilities. He's a complicated guy, he's ambiguous for two reasons: first, because people are really complicated and ambiguous; Second, since I am not in control of how each player will handle Arthur, it makes sense to make an ambiguous character because each one will decide how he wants his Arthur Morgan to be: honest, dishonored … ”, he says. Although, in the early years, I was not sure that it would work properly.
“I repeated to myself: people are complex, how can I deal with this? Well, people sometimes contradict themselves, I wanted to be honest and genuine with Arthur. Excellence in character writing made things much easier for me. ”
Red Dead Redemption 2 managed to satisfy several million players, but also failed to connect with many others, thus generating a debate between those who love it and those who hate it. The character of Arthur, however, did not generate doubts, a characterization recognized throughout the world and that make Clark, if he had to repeat everything from scratch, did not hesitate to accept it despite all the problems and effort made.
Arthur Morgan would not be such without Clark, because Morgan is, in a way, Roger Clark.
