Highlights From The ‘Red Dead Redemption’ Panel At C2E2
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I once again had the pleasure of attending C2E2, or its longer name of Chicago Comic Entertainment Expo, this past weekend. It was an absolute whirlwind of a time that included a photo op and an autograph that had me waiting a while, but it was all worth it in the end. I didn’t attend a ton of panels this year, but one of the ones I did attend was the Red Dead Redemption II panel. The panel featured Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan) and Rob Weithoff (John Marston), who talked about their experiences with the game.
They start by saying that everyone in Chicago is awesome (I can confirm, but I’m biased) and that they cannot believe we’re all here, even though the game came out in 2018. They agree that Chicago has better hot dogs than New York, but they won’t comment on the pizza.
Roger Clark was asked if he was familiar with the game before he auditioned. He talked about how he picked it up at a game store and was debating between Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption, and he chose Red Dead Redemption. He played it and loved the game. When he went to audition for Red Dead Redemption II, he didn’t know what he was auditioning for, and all he knew was that he needed a “cowboy accent”. He also talked about how he got a pair of cowboy boots, which he thinks helped him with the audition. It wasn’t until the third or fourth audition that he figured out what the game was.
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Image Source: CultureSlate
Rob Weithoff was then asked what it was like when he got the call to come back. He didn’t really know how, considering John’s fate in the first game, and he thought it was going to be an Undead Nightmare situation. When he found out that it was going to be a full game, he was excited about it. He also revealed how the game was filmed. It was done in sections, and not necessarily in order, so he didn’t know too much about John’s past. Of course, he knew the fate of his character, but the second game had him learn more about his past, and he found out how much of a punk John Marston was.
They both talked about how it was more than voice acting. Roger is extremely proud of being a voice actor, but he also wants to make it known that they also did mocap for the game, especially on the second one. They both go into talking about the mocap situation, especially when it came to horses. They would use fake horses that were a steel drum with a saddle and four posts, and were stationary. Animators then took the footage and made it look seamless. There was some animation done before the mocap that would give them a sense of scale and scenery. They worked with a handful of animators when it came to the mocap process and said it was very educational. They would do a glue shoot, where they would fix things if needed, and do some tiny clips to make it look right.
Roger revealed that he took inspiration for Arthur from Japanese and Akira Kurosawa movies. Toshiro Mifune was also a huge inspiration for Arthur. He said it was a unique way to look at a cowboy, but it clearly worked. Rob jokes that if fans bring jellybeans for him to give to Roger, they do not go to Roger, but he instead keeps them for himself.
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When asked about scenes that they filmed that didn’t make it in, Rob said how he would do a “bored walk” and then eventually turn around and yell, “Come on”. He doesn’t think it made it in. he also revealed the housebuilding scene was longer, and while testers did enjoy it, they cut it because it was a bit boring.
They both agreed that the most emotional scene they had to film was the final scene with John and Arthur. Roger reveals that the first death scene he filmed was high honor Arthur and helping John. Roger also says he thinks this is the canon ending, and as someone who loves high honor Arthur, I agree.
The cast continues to keep in touch, and they have a text thread. It was a project they couldn’t talk to anyone else about, except each other. They all shared in this experience, and it meant a lot to them and still does.
Finally, they were asked if they picked up any slang terms from the game. Rob said the writers were British, and he would sometimes question the words they used, as he didn’t recognize them. Roger says that f-bombs weren’t really used as a curse word back then and were more of a noun. He says that while he didn’t learn anything from the game itself, there is a book called Red Dead History, which he recommends and learned a lot from.
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