We sit down with actor DANIEL ROEBUCK to talk about his experience working on one of our favourite video games in recent years, the now-classic STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER….
STARBURST: Fallen Order was in development since 2014, what can you remember about first getting involved?
Daniel Roebuck: I went to audition for a video game called Rowboat, which was their fake title. I play a four foot tall, four armed, Lateron, a species that’s never been in Star Wars before. One of the audition scenes was the scene where I apologised for almost getting crew killed. So at that time I didn’t know that I was four foot tall, or that I had four arms. I was just playing the guy like the Ernest Borgnine from all of those great movies from the sixties and seventies. He was always such an enthusiastic guy. Anyway, I was doing my Ernest take, and the performance director Tom Keegan graciously liked what I was doing. He said “Do it again, but instead of saying Templar Knights, say Jedi Knights” and that’s the moment when I knew that I was auditioning for Star Wars.
That must have been an exciting moment! How much of Star Wars fan were you before this point?
I’m 56, so in 1977, when the movie came out, I was thirteen, maybe fourteen. As far as I was concerned it was directed right at me. I know there were younger and older people in the audience, but doesn’t it seem like it’s a movie that’s made for a fourteen-year-old boy! The adventure, the swashbuckling. I grew up with Flash Gordon and all of the tropes that they kind of adapted to make Star Wars. I loved every second of it.
How did you go about getting ready for the role of Greez Dritus? Were there any particular acting influences that you looked at within the process maybe?
We started rehearsing it, and we shot it like a movie. It’s not vocal capture with us alone in a booth, although there were some lines that we recorded separately. So, for a lot of the performances we acted together. I’m a tall guy, and I was incorrectly trying to make Greez small. I was not feeling good about it, and the director and I had a conversation about it on the phone. I said “I’m going to work on it, I’ll figure it out!” Then I had an epiphany, little guys don’t act like little guys, they act like big guys. Let’s use a guy like Joe Pesci as an example, he doesn’t see himself as little. He’s an excellent actor, and you have a sense of him being larger than life. That’s when I realised that it wasn’t about being small, it’s about being the tallest Lateron on the planet. Even though I’m short on the other planet. So yeah, Pesci was one influence.
Were there any other moments during those very early days that really stood out?
We were all at a read through – Debra [Wilson], Cameron [Monaghan], Tina [Ivlev], and Elizabeth [Grullon] – we were all looking around going “What the hell is this?” they started showing us what a certain planet looked like, and what Mantis, the ship, looked like. Then they said “Here’s what Greez Dritus looks like!” and I was like “What?!” [laughs]. That’s the only thing they showed me, that one picture. We were all pinching ourselves. Cameron had a bit more knowledge than the rest of us obviously, as they’d been working to get him in there, and I’m sure they had to pitch to him, to be the main character. It was just extraordinary. We were over at EA’s office in Los Angeles, and I was so taken back by the multi-national and youthful appearance of all of the people who were writing and directing. Some were my age, but most of them were a lot younger. They were so enthusiastic, and they had been working for four years before we sat down with them. So I’m sure that they were excited to have the actors, as they were the last thing that they added. They probably put in visual place-holders until we were there. Then we come in, and filmed it. There’s multiple directors – you’ve got Stig Asmussen as the director of the game and there was Aaron Contreras, the story director, to name a few. I’d worked with Tom Keegan before on Dead Rising 3, and he was the person that we worked with directly, as he was the performance capture director. They were just all such great guys. I give Tom a lot of credit for how great the performances are in Fallen Order. They wrote us great characters, but in the context they gave us leeway to really expand and explore them, and ad-lib a little. You throw stuff in that felt right. Then we’d get done shooting it, and turn and look at the George Lucas representative, who was sitting in the studio with us, 100% of the time. We’d see if they were up for it, or no. If they were smiling, I’d be like “Yes! I got an ad-lib into Star Wars!”
For those readers that haven’t played the game just yet, can you tell them about your character Greez Dritus? Who is he, and how does he fit into the game?
Greez is the star of the game! That’s a lie of course [laughs]. In the stock of Star Wars characters, there’s got to be someone that’s a little grumpy or reticent and that’s the role that Greez plays. However, the genius of the writing in this game, is if that’s all he is, then you’ll really appreciate where he goes in the story. When the player plays as Cal Kestis, they journey from planet to planet to planet, on the Mantis, the ship that I fly. I fly, Greez flies. I had to sit in the plastic ship and press the cardboard buttons, so I flew it too! We’re just part of the journey. The player plays as Cal, and we’re his support team. Cere Junda is expertly played by Debra Wilson, such a great actress. Then he’s got a foe in The Second Sister, Elizabeth Grullon. Also, Tina Ivlev who plays Nightsister Merrin, she’s great.
As part of the three main core trio, what was it like to work alongside Cameron and Debra?
Its strength was that we all had a different speciality. That’s my perception. I would doubt that either of them have done as much theatre as I have, and I haven’t done as much comedy as Debra has. Cameron, is essentially a TV star, but should really be a movie star. What really impressed me about Cameron was that he didn’t just play Cal, he was a very good link for all of us. Cameron had a great knowledge of gameplay, which I have no knowledge of. He always kind of knew where we were going. He was the real connection in regards to where we were in the cannon, where we sit. I believe that Debra Wilson is really the heart of the trio. She’s a generous, giving person, and she was that for all of us while we were filming. I really think that I was the joke guy. Here’s something interesting for you: the main characters are human, but I am, and always would be a cartoon. Even if it was in the Star Wars movies, or The Mandalorian, I would always be a CGI character. While working on make-up and prosthetics over the years I learnt a lesson from Roddy McDowall, He talked about how they had to act through the make-up in the original Planet of the Apes, because when they were doing it initially the masks weren’t moving. Then they realised that they had to really push their facial expressions. I do believe that I did that too, and I think successfully. The character has to respond like we recognise a cartoon responding.
Can you talk more about how the motion capture process works?
Cameron and Debra did such a great job, it sets the game apart, and I think that’s why people responded to it so positively, because of the legitimacy of the performances. When you’re working with Tom Keegan the day always begins with you getting all of the equipment on. Then you go to a room, stand in front of a computer where they alter your form into what you play in the game. So when I’m walking around on the set, I’m four foot tall, and I have four arms. We do that, so it scales us with each other, and then we do a really great 30-40 minute warm-up. It’s one of the highlights of working with Tom because your body is ready to go. Even if you’re a big bulky guy like me. I love the stretching, and the warm-ups, the waking up of every part of your body. Then we would just do the scenes as we would in a movie. Although you’re not cutting around. The whole thing is filmed in one swoop. So if it’s a seven-minute scene, then we do the seven minutes all at one time, with four main cameras, and a hundred others! Grabbing all of the information. If you screw up a line in the third last line of this seven-minute scene, then we’d go back to the beginning. You could maybe patch in the last line, but you couldn’t patch in all of the other stuff. I’m sure it’s down to how the computer is taking in information, and connecting my mathematical equation into its mathematical equation. You can’t intercut between them. We worked a lot until we got it right. We re-shot stuff throughout the process, we redid scenes, because the directors of the game wanted them different, a little more heightened, funny, heartfelt.
Tough question time: what was the most rewarding part about being involved with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order?
Just being present in the game. It’s not lost on me; I’m not an actor because I’m a master of the Royal Shakespeare Academy. I’m an actor because as a child I loved movies and TV shows. I learnt so much from them about how to do what I do. So to be able to go into a Star Wars project, it just gave me great pride to be part of the Skywalker storyline. It’s mind-blowing. To be the guy that people do really respond to; they really got the jokes and the layers. That’ll make any actor proud. I’m lucky to do what I do. Bottom line: to have this on my resume, and on my tombstone – one day [laughs] – is very gratifying.
The game has been highly praised by both Star Wars fans and critics. Why do you think it’s had such a great response, and what do you think makes it stand out from other Star Wars games?
I hadn’t played any of the other Star Wars games, but the feedback from my own children, who are avid gamers, is that this isn’t just chasing people or shooting people, this is a real story, with a real journey for the hero. The player gets to go on the hero’s journey, and get better, smarter as the game goes on. It’s been very satisfying for people. So, it’s a great skill game, and it’s a great story.
What can our readers expect from you next?
I’ve just created this not for profit called www.achannelofpeace.org. Through it we are going to create faith-filled family entertainment. I know that’s a far cry from STARBURST and Star Wars [laughs]. However, one of the reasons why people are still clinging to Star Wars is that it’s something that you could watch with your kids, and be really entertained by. There’s three generations of people watching Star Wars together. I think creating content for that kind of medium is extraordinarily important. I directed a movie called Getting Grace, and the next movie I’m going to direct is called The Hail Mary. I do have to reveal something mysterious for your readers though… there’s a thing that I’m doing before the next movie, that, next to Star Wars, is perhaps the greatest gift that I’ve ever been given as an actor. I’m going to step into a role, created by someone else, and now I get a chance to be that character, in a really cool new thing…
STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER is out now. For more information on Daniel’s projects (including the one he just teased!), follow him on Twitter @MrDanielRoebuck
