by Ed Fortune
Luis Carazo is an actor best known for his roles in the likes of The Last Ship and NCIS: Los Angeles. He’s best known to gaming fans for his role as Zerxus Ilerez in the D&D live play show Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. We caught up with him to talk about his latest role in a brand new live-play show, the horror-based detective mystery Candela Obscura:The Circle of Needle and Thread.
STARBURST: How would you describe The Circle of Needle and Thread to a fan of Columbo?
Luis Carazo: I believe the format of how a case begins in Candela is similar to Columbo, and part of what is compelling is watching how the investigators piece together clues and what they do to try to solve the case. But in Candela Chapter Two, there’s quite a bit of personal history carried by the characters that give it a certain kind of weight.
Who is your character? And why did you make those choices? Did you draw upon anything specific for that role?
I play Marion, who, to use Auntie B’s [Marisha’s PC] words, is a “sweet boy”. He’s a good kid with a good heart who never lost that as he grew up because he had to hold onto that part of himself due to what was taken from him as a child. In spite of that, he has a very pure and almost simple-minded way of seeing the world. He’s loosely inspired by one of my favourite stories, Pinocchio. I was really curious about exploring something parallel to how Pinocchio is trying to become ‘a real boy’ because he feels he would be discarded if he remains as he is.As things unfolded, I wanted to see what would happen if and when he was well on the other side of that lesson.
How do you prepare for this role, and is it a different routine for Critical Role?
The way I prepare for any role depends on the specific demands of that role and the story we’re in, but I always involve some way to try to get behind how they see the world and how they believe others see them. With Marion, I spent a lot of time thinking about a very specific event from his childhood and also some events in the war he experienced with Sean and Nathaniel, Brennan and Travis’s characters, and how that all shaped his POV and what he fears about and hopes for in the future.
We last saw you in Calamity. That was intense. How does this compare?
I’ll just say… this is intense [laughs].
What draws you most to this particular world? Why this particular genre?
Ooooo, I really like the horror genre. I like dark stories, puzzles and mysteries. There’s so much potential for all of that in Candela. It’s exciting to me.
What other roles in other worlds would you like to play?
I really want to play in a sci-fi futuristic setting, but it looks like I’m about to scratch that itch…
If you were to rescue a piece of media/art and keep it safe until the sun died out, what would it be?
The Man Who Fell In Love with The Moon by Tom Spanbauer and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I know I picked two…
What recent piece of media has delighted you the most and why?
Pan’s Labyrinth. I know it’s not recent, but it will always stay with me.
What is the future of TTRPGs? Is it okay to pronounce TTRPG as ‘Titterpig?’
I’ve never heard titterpig [laughs]. Sounds naughty! More and more people are noticing the power of collaborative storytelling that is TTRPG. I think they’re only going to grow.
Where can we see the show? Should we dress up?
August 31st on the Critical Role Twitch channel, plus at select Cinemark movie theatres! As for dressing up, I’m all for it! And if you want to let me know what you think of Candela, or Calamity, or if you want to keep up with what I have around the corner, find me by just searching my first and last name on any social media, including Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads, and Twitter.
