The Voice of Neil Ellice

From Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Neil Ellice joins Christy and Will. They discuss the hugely successful power of video games, the details of motion capture technology he used portraying fan favorite John “Soap” MacTavish and how fans will someday participate in the making of the movies!

All that plus Neil shares a story of the time he once messed up an entire day's shoot.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, Christie, Hey Will, how are you? I'm good? Why
are you back in the room of no color and
no paintings and no pictures. You're back in the room
of someone's holding you captive somewhere. You know, I don't
think it really looks that bad. I think I think
that I think clear when I don't have a bunch
of stuff behind me, much less a green screen. So

(00:22):
keeping it very neutral. Okay, Well, it's certainly okay, but
to be fair, baby steps because I actually should probably
sound proof of this. But it's also kind of a
guest room too, so I don't really have like the
perfect office yet. So it's but it's going well. I mean,
you know, I've I've just hosted my first housewarming party,

(00:42):
lash six year old birthday. It was a nightmare before
Christmas party. There was a scene I thought you, I
thought you're gonna say it was a nightmare, Like, how
did it go? It was a Nightmare's how it went? Yeah?
Oh no, no, it wasn't. I worked really hard at it,
which I should probably try to work more are on
soundproofing my office. But it was it was a really

(01:04):
lovely time for my little girl, and um, she's actually
birthday all So for what people don't know about you
is you for your kid's birthdays, you go all out.
You are like you've told, no, you've told. I mean
we've had this conversation and Brendan and I have had
this conversation where it's like, you don't do anything small
when it comes to your kid's birthday parties. Am I correct? Yeah? No?

(01:25):
I I mean I don't want to. I don't want
to brag. But idea, I why quite a lot of things,
and I have like a big vision. And so with
Nightmare before Christmas, I really needed to make sure before
we like lit the candle. I was like, are you sure, honey,
that this is your new like fixation because my daughter
gets really passionate and she was like she was like, no, no,
night wemb before Christmas. I love the movie and like

(01:46):
I love the movie too. So when you have this
like animated movie that you grew up with and you're
so passionate about, and you know, Wednesday Adams just came
out and Tim Burton is alive and well and the
aesthetic is very like on trend, I was like, let's
go for it, let's have fun, and I did. Ide
I wy a snake if you have you seen the

(02:06):
movie remember of course yeah, sure, of course there was
a snake that eats a tree. And I actually ordered
on Amazon like air conditioning, like circular pipe and like
Fabrick and like I will I will send you pictures.
But I'm went all out and I should probably be
soundproofing my studio, but here we are with no I
mean again, it's it's it's I'm it's not even about

(02:28):
the sound as much as the aesthetic of the look
you sound good. You just you can be in any town, USA,
any room USA right now. That might be a good thing.
I think exactly because if I go somewhere, you know,
I've heard you. I miss you too, But I've heard
your kid's birthday parties are so epic that, like you,
like even adults wanted like I can't why didn't you

(02:49):
invite me? Like why didn't you write me six year
old birthday party? You know? The parents, the parents did
have a good time. I think, like you can tell
one of parties good when how how quickly people text
you after the party? Right that makes sense? Or if
they text you at all? Thank you? And and like
us last night people got home and texted me right away,
so I was like, oh, this is a success for sure.

(03:10):
But it was honestly, like I piggyback off of my
children's birthday parties. So this was not only was it
a housewarming right with all of my Christmas decorations inside,
but then I had a purple Christmas tree outside and
everything else out there. Yeah. I mean, I'm just wondering,
So how much of it do you think is the
parents texting you going like, oh that was amazing, And

(03:32):
how much of it was the car ride home the
parents going like she ever going to like she's ruined
birthday parties for our kids any kind of party? Are
you kidding me? How are we ever supposed to follow them?
That's kind of you know what. I think. I think
that the our our little community of of parents are
a little extra. So I think that like we all

(03:53):
piggyback off each other, just going for it because I
think that once their kids get a little bit older
and they're not why sin so many animated movies and
they're not such like big franchises that have all these
things at your disposal to either create or purchase online.
I just don't think that we'll be doing this like,
I don't know. Once my kids like that, you think,
so yes you will know you Yes you will. I

(04:16):
guarantee you will. She's gonna, you know, like the like
a twelve or thirteenth birthday party. You're gonna go all
out and it won't matter what she's into. It's gonna
be like, oh, I'm really into what to name it?
But you know it doesn't matter what. I mean. I'm
into high school musical. You're gonna be like, well, then
I've got to recreate the entire class. You know, my
friends like from the movie To Come exactly. You're the

(04:36):
person who's like, oh, it's a nightmare for Christmas, I
gotta call Timber. You're like that person, um mamma troized.
I don't know a ton of people, but I know
some very cool animated voices speaking of here on I
hear voices today. There you go, going back to I
hear voice brought it right around. I mean, I don't
know if my daughter is going to be into modern
warfare for today's guests, but you never know, she could

(04:58):
get into the gaming, you know. So one of the
things that is so cool about gaming, I think is
that it's really the the the um Uh. I don't
know what you would say today to not be um
kind of uh dismissive. I don't know if it's the
female side the how how you would say it. But
the women, girls, uh, younger people are are loving video

(05:23):
games and they're really the the the um female side
is really growing because there's a lot of women that
are headlining some of these video games and are you know,
huge important characters and a lot of these video games.
So I think there's a real chance that your your
girls could get into this. The world's are so immersive
and they're kind of taking over for movies in a way.

(05:44):
I mean, that's one of the things I want to
talk to our our guest about today is it's the
the um I P that he's involved in. He's ridiculously successful.
It's like the numbers are are insane when you hear
about them. So for this whole new generation of both
boys and girls, men and women, he they not bind here.

(06:05):
Everybody everybody's loving video games, UM, and I think that
is something that's that's cool and growing. Which is strange
because you and I have talked so much about how
like they added the X button on the controller and
I was out, like too much for me, that's me,
that's me too. I never And that's the other thing
Piano to like, you have to be a very like

(06:25):
your brain has to work in a certain way, or
you just have to train it and try and fail
enough to where you can enjoy playing the game. But
for me, it was I did game Boy and then
my and my brother had Sega and then I tried
the controller. Thing just really really generally messed me up.
So that's how I was when they so I the

(06:47):
last new system I bought because I was like a
video gamer back in the day. Yeah, like we were
on the cutting edge, right, I think, yeah, you went
into I got as far as PlayStation two and again
that's when all of a sudden it was like, no,
you need to do the buttons on the top and
the button behind the control and I was like, mmmmmmmm
too much to really hard, that's really cool, It's difficult.

(07:10):
Brendan actually really is a gamer. So my husband is
a gamer and he doesn't let it rest the mind
for it he has, but he has the mind for it.
I do. I do. Brendan has the mind to like
not only take in the entire story but also to
have that kind of the mathematical side you kind of need,
in my opinion, to have all the buttons going at
the same time. He seems to have, especially because he

(07:32):
was trained in the Marines and they train a lot
of military people. We should speak about this to him
and if he's had any you know, I remember going
overseas and playing you know, well at the time, it
was we, but there was plenty of other guys, um
that we're playing you know, Modern Warfare and like things
like that, and they were and they were all and

(07:53):
they were gaming and it was very cathartic for them
and it kept them sort of like in in reality
but also on step removed from reality. It was very
good for them. So it would be really cool to
hear our guests, Well, you saw all of these call
you heard stories about these call of duty teams that
were actual Navy seals that we're playing this game as
a team where it was it was one of those

(08:14):
things where it's like, wait, you do this for a living,
and what do you do to relax? Or a team
on call of duty? Like so it's insane, but I'm
I'm so I'm very excited because this you know, our
our guest today has obviously done a lot in the
in the voiceover world, but is primarily known for video games.
And I think that, you know, we've talked to Troy Baker,
and we've talked to other people that kind of kind
of run run the gamut of of all of the

(08:36):
voiceover world, but our guest today, But the is Troy
the face, Like, is his body and face also in
Yeah for some for some of them. Yeah, And again,
I I just know he's a huge video gamer. I
know Laura Bailey is a huge, huge game voiceover actor.
So but you know, we're very excited to have today's guests.
Who do we have here today? On I hear voices

(08:59):
it's Neil us is joining us. We cannot wait. Thank
you so much. Hey, how are you? I'm good, Neil,
how you doing good? Thank you? Nice to meet you
both you as well, Thank you so much for joining
us today. We've been really excited. We were talking so
our little pre show chatter here was talking about how
we were all we both considered ourselves gamers until the

(09:21):
introduction of the third and fourth button on the controller. Yeah,
at which point it got very confusing. Um, but this
was also kind of as as big as video games were.
This was before it's kind of become the new movie
for lack of of a better word. I mean, it's

(09:41):
it's taken over, you know, media everywhere. So I'm just curious.
Were you let's start here, Were you a gamer when
when you were growing up? Yeah? Absolutely? Um, I mean
I had everything from uh, I think when I was
a kid, my sister hadn't a I have an older sister,
she had an Amiga remember that nice of first got started, um,

(10:06):
and then everything all the way up to to an
Xbox UM for one Christmas. So um, yeah, I mean, look,
they're immersive. I totally. I can't hear you. I mean,
I mean I was once. I once played Gears of
War for fourteen hours straight. See that's interesting. That's very
very interesting. Like what you were saying about how it's

(10:29):
the new movie Will, but like what when we and
we've also talked to you know, because um, Will is
very big in D and D and the culture. Yeah,
do you have you ever played D and D? I well,
I'm in the middle of writing something right now and
I just learned the term true neutral. Ah there you go. Okay,

(10:49):
are you a true neutral will. No, I'm I'm a
good I'm well, yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm more of
a uh yeah. It's hard to say which character I play. Um,
there's some Sometimes I'm a chaotic evil, but a lot
of times I'm I'm closer to the Yeah, what I
am as a nerd uh Neil and I love? Aren't
you Empire? Aren't you an Empire guy for the Star Wars? Yeah?

(11:12):
I thought you were an Empire. Well no, I just
I've always said that, you know, if you ever got
as an actor. You know, everyone wants to play a Jedi,
and I would love to do that as well. But
when I look down in my hand, I want to
see a red lightsaber. So what about Reven? What's completely
interrupting Christie's flow by then that's fine. This is this
show is called I Hear tangents, So don't even worry
about it. Get on. Maybe you're a darky then that

(11:37):
could possibly. Yes, there's I mean again, a little bit
of good, a little bit of buy you can you
never know when the blade's gonna pop out. Is it
gonna be blue, is gonna be red? You never know?
That's I kind of love that there's also the whole
all right for fully nerding out here, there's also the
whole uh side that really the dark the dark side
isn't necessarily dark. It's just another way of looking at
and utilizing the forest. So there are people that claim

(12:00):
that being a syth doesn't necessarily mean you're bad, especially
back in your Saber Neutral. None of these characters believe
they're bad. I don't think even General Shepherd believes he's bought.
I think that's true. But there, you know, that's a
question is do you know, uh, do you know your
own insanity? Is the is a whole another podcast will

(12:21):
get into at another time. Well no, but I also
think you're talking about nuances in how we approach characters
and and in terms of the character that you're portraying.
I mean, you're literally the face of this franchise. Can
you can you walk us into walk us through that process? Well,
Ghost is kind of the face of the franchise, which

(12:41):
I think it was really smart because Samuel Um just
smashes it. But yeah, I mean soap is uh for
I think the majority of levels in the game, Um,
you see soap both in uh cinematic seems to your
point Christie Rights by cinematic game. Um, you see him
in a cinemas, but you're also playing as soap. So

(13:03):
I the work I did was a cross performance capture
in the cut scenes cinemas as well as still wearing
the suit and still with all the other actors, but
my helmet camera is off and instead they convert my
helmet into a camera. So there's bits in the level that, Um,

(13:26):
they get to a certain point and Graves might say, well,
we're gonna have to bust the store open, Soap, get
on it, and then the player. If the player lingers,
Graves won't nag him, and we shot that. That's me
standing there. They're all in the peacap suits with the
camera is acting, but I'm in the peacap suit but

(13:47):
kind of like the camera, you're the cameraman. Yeah, for
that for those pieces. So it's it's very strange when
someone's nagging you to do something and you just have
to stand there because they have to get their four
nags out and they have to it gradually more angry
and you just have to take it. It's the strangest
thing for our fans who are unfamiliar with how to

(14:19):
how you actually go about creating one of these video
games nowadays. So Peak, you're wearing an entire motion capture suit. Correct,
what does it made up? Just like Spandex? Oh yeah, no,
it's spandex and velcro. It's an evil combination. You are
leaving nothing to the imagination. It's almost impossible accent. We

(14:39):
had an issue because, um, on top of that, you
do actually have a tactical best like soldiers wear, but
it's not a tactical best. It's there to hold all
of the electronic equipment that goes for sound and the
camera that's attached to your head. So once you've got
all that on at the beginning of the day, they
calibrate you right, and then you are in that for

(15:00):
the next eight or nine hours. There's no there's no
because once all that gear comes off, they have to
calibrate it again. So you're wearing it and unfortunately, uh
I just I couldn't get comfortable in it some days.
So I bought this chair, this reclining garden chair. Um
to the ridicule of everybody there, but really they were

(15:23):
jealous chair you have ever? Oh yeah, and it had
a level that it wasn't just a launch chair, like
at a level that we your your feet kicked out.
I got a call the next day saying, don't bring
that chair in again, and I said, wow, why, I
have every right to be to be comfy. Yeah, he

(15:44):
says no, because that chair had reflective stripes on it,
and it was you placed it within the void, within
the the volume. Sorry, and it threw off the data
for an entire's day shoot. That had to be manually
like I had to be manually unwrappled by someone because
every shot there's like a chair floating around. So anyway,

(16:06):
that was the chair. But it's not the most comfortable stuff.
You get on with it. You know, you're shooting comfortable. Yeah,
you're shooting eight hours a day. Yeah, that's the basic
because there's no you know, you're Some stages call it
the volume. That's very similar to what they use it
at Star Wars for you know, the Mandalorian. Really it's

(16:27):
just a giant stage with a ton of sensors. Uh
and um. Yeah, I mean once you're in the suit
by nine am, that's it. You shoot until five or
five or six. Because they don't need to stop for
rain coverage. They don't need to stop for anything, it's
all inside. So and are you shooting it like a film?

(16:48):
I mean, are you getting pages every day and your
memorizing your dialogue and you're shooting everything just like you
would be in a shooting a film. Yeah, the sides.
So the way they make games is that, um, it's
layer upon layer upon layer. So throughout the whole two years,
I may worked like two or three times on the
same scene but bringing in different elements, right, um, But

(17:11):
essentially the way the flow goes like one's called the
alone mission. Ah. The very first day of of of
performance capture UM was straight in at the deep end
because it's a scene at the top of a level
where Soap, my character, Soap mc tavish is injured, he's dying, um,
and he's trying to get his friends on the radio

(17:31):
and no one's no one's responding until one character does
and helps him through the mission. UM. So that on
that first day I got the script, maybe four or
five days before they locked the script. At that point,
they've locked all the digital sets because even though you're
working in a giant space like they've built all the sets.

(17:52):
But the guy, the the Jeff, the director, Jeff Negas
is there with a camera which doesn't look like a camera.
It's called a v cam. It's just a computer. Basically.
They'll point at you and if you look up at
the screens in the wall, you see your character on
the fool set. What it's already built, sanity. Yeah, they've
been working for years building these sets. And then the

(18:12):
actors start to come in and it's very cleverly scheduled.
Right so that I'm so sorry, I'm so confused walking
to walk me through this. Okay, So the Volume, that's
your studio. It's some studios called the volume, you know,
others don't. And then when you walk in, are you
looking at like little taped squares like little exes. And

(18:33):
they've created a makeshift like a cube for you to
sit on if you're sitting or or or if it's
a boat, they've taken some scaffolding, rigging, and they've they've
the wizards there that you know they have like stage hands,
grips have put together kind of a boat. It's on
top of rubber tires and then they're moving it to

(18:54):
make it look like a boat. That's that's the that's
the most set that you will get. Okay. So it's
very very sparse. But then but then your directors shooting
you guys in real time with this like computer camera,
so it's very specialized. UM and so, but then if
you're looking at a different uh TV, you're seeing soap
in the oh you're seeing so, you're seeing so in

(19:18):
a car or on a boat. So part of the
director's job is to make sure that it's with the
motion cap. There's also a motion capture director there. His
name was Matt, very talented guy. He runs the stage
and his primary on our shoot was to make sure
that UM that when we're playing out the scenes, that

(19:38):
it plays out on the digital set. So they're having
to work together to make sure that when we are
getting in and out of a car which is just
some scaffoldings, you know, taped together UM or a boat
that on the monitors it plays it's very precisely matched.
That's crazy look that makes a d R look like,
Oh man, Kyle's way is hard. I have you ever

(20:01):
the drenaline rush when the beeps go. I can never
get it. It's one of my favorite things in the
World's a d R. So you're shooting this thing, how
do you factor in that the player can control the character,
so the player can can the player kind of go
off script. How do you how do you account for
something like that? How do you? How do you shoot

(20:21):
for every eventuality of what the player might do. So
the for the most part, all the levels UM and
and Modern Warfare two, you can play as a gunship,
you can play as a missile and some of the levels,
but for the most part you're either soap gods or
rudolful um. They know that stepping into it. So you'll

(20:43):
shoot the cinematic and then you'll go into parts of
the level where um there is interaction with the other
characters and basically, uh, the player yeah, pretty much can
do whatever whatever the player wants. But the artificial intelligence,
it's the layer, uh, a layer upon under layer within

(21:04):
the game itself, will make the other characters start to
speak up and say, hey, why are you looking at
a window. There's a missile like um, and so they
start to chime into that experience. So it gradually guides
it guides the player through and then uh, you might
get to the end of a level where the first

(21:24):
player soap has to do something, has to punch in
a missile, code has to solve a problem, and yeah,
the player and some players do they just decide just
not to do anything, just to see what happens. Yeah,
we shoot for that, so we'll shoot that version. So
you've got you maybe a ghost or graves um as

(21:48):
as I'm what's called idling um. And then there's an
idol script, so that has each of them saying six times,
hurry up, hurry up. Listen, you're gonna you're gonna We're
gonna lose if you don't do something um. And then
that kicks in, yeah, five or six times, and it's
the AI of the game that kicks in. Like the

(22:09):
players just sitting there. Yeah, they didn't dress pause AI.
That's very interesting. Yeah, it's all. It's all. It's a
lot of it's a lot of it's AI. I think, um.
I think this one is called Next Generation Call of Duty.
So it's very very immersive. Um I think. I don't

(22:30):
know if it made it into the game, but we
did do some work in Amsterdam where there was CrowdWork.
So the first person is moving through a crowd, but
it just depends upon how you move. Literally all of
the models are all controlled by AI, and you can
interact um, you know, they're they're they're they're looking, they're
looking at you in the eye. It's very realistic as No,

(22:53):
there was one of the scenes. One of the levels
takes place in Amsterdam. I ended up only shooting out
a vertical slice. So I worked for a few days
on a level in Amsterdam that just never made it
into the game. It made it in a different way.
So another thing for your listeners, like, when you do
a video game, you're not just doing the cinematics and

(23:15):
the voice over in the first person, you're you may
well be hired very early into the process. So I
was hired in um, which is you know, two years ago. UM.
I didn't start working on the finished game. I started
working on They had me do monologues and um little

(23:36):
slices of levels that they would then take to a
green light committee to continue the production of the game
as kind of a showcase. So they get it. They
need more and more money basically to keep it. Yeah,
the money is released over time. Yeah, so you're kind
of a utility player. I was gonna say, how much
was the budget on on this? Do you know? Is

(23:56):
that I don't know public knowledge, Like do we ever
find out well they may do they make honestly don't know.
So so if the yeah, if what I the information
I got is right, and I'm sure it is, but
it can be. It's insane that in the first three days,
so first of all, this was considered, um it's like

(24:16):
the second largest rollout in history, and in the first
three days the Blockbuster game generated eight hundred million dollars worldwide.
So that is more than Doctor Strange and Top Gun combined. Yeah,
which is insanity. Well, so it's been three years since uh,

(24:39):
the first Modern Warfare, which was spectacular and I think
was you know, definitely um set up people's interest in
this game, especially because you know you've got soap and
ghosts and some of the other uh, a newer character
um coming into the one for one Um. Yeah, I mean,

(25:01):
you know, they did a really interesting did it really
interest in this time because they decided to release do
a pre release of the game on October twenty one,
then was their normal release the game in the and
then multiplayer war Zone two I think not until November

(25:22):
sixt so, so the game itself had time to breathe. Um,
you know, and they're just i mean, listen, the people,
so Infinity Award makes the game. UM Activision funds that
that was all the publishing, in the marketing, and I
mean they're they're second to none in the world in
terms of the assets that they put together, the height

(25:44):
that they put together. I mean, we even got to
shoot a live action trade teaser trailer UM, which I
wasn't expecting UM. So they had all that stuff planned
out in advance and we did it. And that's where
you end up in congratulations to them, because there's literally
thousands of people across American Europe. There's a huge office
of Infinity Award, Poland and Germany all you know, contributing

(26:07):
towards the game. So it's a lot of people. We
had Troy Baker on and we only we only talked
to him a little bit about this process. So talking
to you about this is really awesome. You you seem
to have such a fresh, obviously very up to date
perspective and so comprehensive, you know. Brent Brennan, Oh my gosh,
will I did it again. I called to my constantly,

(26:28):
constantly calls me your husband's name. Sorry, because I love you.
That's why I don't have no problem not like that.
I think we all get that, but it was it's
like one of those things where we have this very
traditional animation background, and of course I think I would
love to do mo cap. There was a time when
I was like all like hoping that I would get

(26:49):
that opportunity. Will would you like to do mo cap too?
Hell yeah, I mean, just just because it's it's so different,
and it's it seems like this, it's it sounds really,
it sounds crazy, and it might sound like hyperbole, but
I do believe it's the future, meaning it is the
perfect hybrid of player involved, single person which people want

(27:10):
to be involved. Everything you're looking at is social media,
and it's all about me, me me. We come from
a whether you like it or not, we come from
a very kind of egotistical and and selfish kind of society.
So we're we're all about social media, we're all about ourselves,
are all about our own brands. So the idea of
a video game where you're in control, you're in charge,
but it's also the hybrid of shooting where you are

(27:32):
voice over your animation, but you're still shooting like a film. Um,
I do believe it's next. I believe it's absolutely next.
I believe the next thing we're going to see is
Avatar or or you know, any of these kind of
DC movies. But we get to be one of the
characters and the thing, and we get to control what's
going on. So I think that's where we're headed. And

(27:53):
I think that's what video games are showing right now.
Is that. I mean, when you've got video games that
are making this amount of money, this I act are
this intricate when it comes to the process of shooting them.
I mean you were booked, you said two years ago
to start this thing. Um, so yes, I mean, yeah,
a long, long winded answer. Of course, I'd love to
give it a shot. But I also think it's becoming

(28:15):
a very specialized niche in the acting world. And that's
one thing I wanted to ask you about. Is you
started on camera or did you start as a voice
over actor or did you start on state? Well, let's
put it this way. I'll just start. Yeah, I just
acting classes. Honestly, Um, I did a little bit of
of a theater when I was younger, and then just

(28:36):
a few years ago I decided I really wanted to
give this a to give this a whirl, So I
just started shooting, writing and shooting my own little short films.
Um and put a real together and a voice feel
together as well. I'm really passionate about voice I I, um,
I'll go by you Lucky. I've got me a guy
called Mick Winger, who if you've known, had him on
your show, like I would invite him. He's a fun,

(29:00):
plastic actor, voice actor. Um. I believe he's the voice
of iron Man from Marvel as well as well as others. Right, okay,
a good guy. So Mick back in the I mean,
I know if he's still doing it. But he had
a thing where he had a little introduction to voice
over course. UM, so I did that with him. And

(29:21):
he had a weekly group where people got together at
his studio with audition sides or just material to workshop.
And it was such a nice group of people and
everyone will give each other feedback just an hour long,
you know, a couple of hours long. Um. Now I
got to a point where I really wanted a reel.
He helped me record a real UM and then yeah,

(29:42):
just together with that, just like put put that together
with you know, some of the short films and things
that I've done, I'd shot and got out there basically, um,
just little bits and pieces. I mean I've done standing work,
background work, I've done like one liner co stars, Um,

(30:05):
I know, right, the co stars are the hardest one actually, Um,
to book I think they are actually, and then to
do one set because you're kind of like, you know,
you're like, yeah, we're ready to go. You know, do
you want fried with that? Sorry? All right, sorry, it down,

(30:26):
it down? Um. And then I ended up booking I
got lucky because I was I'm I actually got a
guy a small guest star audition for Agents to shield um,
so I got into the mix with the Sarah Fin
company Christa Hussar and then yeah, I just you know,

(30:47):
you just do enough of that people get to know
you a bit and bring you back. You might not
be right for this, but you know, you guys know
the drill. And then I ended up booking Loki Um
Loki so for Marvel. So that was that was the
start of like, oh, feeling like I'm you've made it,
you know, yeah, well I'm not really doing it now,
you know. I was there for an Atlanta for a

(31:08):
number of months and surrounded by just you know, the
best of the best. You have a question. So then
you're so your confidence. It sounds like in in sort
of understanding your casting, because when we think about the
way that you're being casted into the mo cap one one,

(31:28):
you know, I actually look at Impossible, which you know,
I don't know if you know. Me and Will were
on that show. Yeah, so Kim was really big, you know,
in in the two thousands and and so she was
a very iconic looking character. And I remember when we
first started working with them, well that you know, they
were trying different hair colors out on her. Now that

(31:50):
she's too d animation and whatnot, But there is something
to be said about when you see the voice of
Pocahonas and you feel her energy and you're like, oh,
they're kindred to one another. Okay, when you when you
see Mandy Moore, she plays Rapunzel. These a lot of
these actresses that play princesses or play Disney characters. I

(32:12):
have noticed from firsthand experience there's a kindred nous to
the way they look, the way they act. And I
don't know, Will you you know this like if you
start playing a character, most of the time those studios
will send along for the animators a camera, um, and
they'll watch you and then they'll send it to the

(32:33):
animators so that they can see the way that you're
sort of interacting with the microphone. And I feel like
a lot of people marry my actual likeness to Kim Possible,
and it's strange because I don't do that much voice work.
So I just am curious, like in terms of your
casting is sort of this like probably pretty masculine and

(32:54):
like you know, um, from a different country and sort
of like an as kick or so it's like that's
your casting, so as your guy with a soft spot
that's hard to find. Yeah, that's what I was Also,
I think if I've read the bio right, the accents
fake you're from Cleveland, um, so we all know that.

(33:16):
To shuffle off now, No, I know, I see what
you're saying. Is it is it? Is that something that
you were I mean, is it? It's not type casting
so much as just seeing yourself in the character right
well to your but to Christie's point though, and actually
kind of to the point before. So this is the
ear of four key gaming, right, So I don't know

(33:37):
if you've seen the models for modern warfare or the
models for far christ six when I was kind of
figuring out what I'm getting myself into because I knew
this is going to be a two to three year commitment. Right,
there's no there's no boxies, you know what I mean, Like,
once you're in, you have to and I've all Daniel
d Lewis says that he's only does projects every few years,

(33:59):
but cause he feels he really has to be the
director's ally. And it's pouring with rain, you're still there.
So I looked up where gaming was that and I
saw far christ six, and I saw that Gianne Carlo
Esposito was was in that, and I got I got
shown some footage from that, and I was just blown away.
So it's kind of to your point, Christy, rules like

(34:22):
this are going to be your likeness. They're gonna be you.
I mean, maybe you're cast as a monster or an
elve or something like that, but they will still capture
your eyes. That's a hundred percent what they're going for
in terms of how cinematic gaming is now where four

(34:44):
K can capture the NW once of a performance and
that your eyes are you. But for the most part
they're going to be casting you. I mean, they cast
real killst that as as well. Um uh, you know,
and that's her likeness same as Glenn Moore Shower. Um So,
going into that, I knew this wasn't a monster or

(35:06):
an elf or like Benedict Cumbert Batch to Smoke the Dragon, right,
I knew it was going to be me. Yeah, So
lean into that, absolutely, lean into being yourself and and
that's hopefully, hopefully that's what we'll play, and that's what
that's what played in the in the auditions. But yeah,
acting wise, I mean, of course, it helps to understand

(35:29):
what you're casting is a little bit. I mean, yet
you have to have an idea of that, I think.
I mean, I don't know if it's the most interesting
software audiences to hear about it, but for actors, yeah,
I mean, well we have a lot of actors. In fact,
we have a contest going on right now that's really
fun and um it's sort of like the Not Star Search.
I don't know if American Idol, so we're such a

(35:52):
we're doing. We're doing it and it's going to be
launching soon. We're doing the American Idol version of finding
the next big voice over actor and you win very
give when that yeah, a year when you win a
year with a voice over agency and you win some
very cool things and you're flowing out to lay and
you win some cool stuff. But we always love to
give as much of you know, as many acting tips
as we can, because at the end of the day,

(36:13):
every every actor we're talking about is not a you know,
I don't, I don't. Yes, I do voices, but I'm
an actor first, so yes, you know, yeah I do.
But yeah, we're what we do as actors, and we
just kind of find our medium. But that's one of
the things that I find interesting and a little scary
about the mo cap world is because one of the
things that I love about animation is that I will

(36:33):
get cast in things that I would never have a
chance of ever being cast as. Uh you know, I
mean there's no way there would have ever cast me
as Batman. Yeah, and it's true. So as a perfect example,
I'm sitting in between Kevin Conroy and bless him and
Mark Hamill as we're doing Batman Beyond, and I just
never would have had that opportunity if it was all
live action. I just I just the kind of the hey,

(36:57):
it's all gonna be mo cap in the future is great,
but it's also like man, it's you know, I got
I used to get to play superheroes all the time,
and now I might not be able to anymore because
now it also has to match how you look. And
that's that's a kind of a difference that that's happening
in the in the world of mo cap Um. I
think they'll always be animation. I think there will always

(37:18):
be an animation. And the fact that you're able to
to work on something like Batman Beyond with those legends
rest in peace, Keim conra i am ah and and
and then you know, bring it maybe more to center
just shows you that you've got range as an actor.
You know, I would I would, you know, But motion
capture listen, I would say the majority of motion capture

(37:45):
work that I've seen out there is in the realm
of uh monsters. Fine to see um creatures, especially creature movement. Right,
So one of the things one of the auditions I
had to do for Call of Duty was movement. Um.
I've forgotten the guy's name, is it Richard Dorton. Anyway,

(38:06):
he's a motion capture actor but also does motion capture classes.
That's interesting. Yeah, and so if you look at his website,
you'll see he talks a lot about at least for
work like that, the craft of the actor is in
the silhouette, right, Yeah, it's it's it's in using your
body to convey as much as you possibly can, because yes,

(38:28):
they'll capture an the motion capture. Yeah, the fidelity is great,
but you've got to give I've heard I heard it
said on a few times on the Call of duty set.
Just make sure that you're giving enough to the animation
direct there's another director by the way, the animation at
least three make sure that the animation you're giving enough
to animation in terms of how you're moving. So one

(38:52):
of the auditions I did for them was with a rifle,
so I had to show them that, Um, you know,
there's a big difference between can hold a gun like this,
right or you know they typically hold them down here.
But then what plays a lot more on camera? Occasionally
you don't want to go to be movie, but it's
it's to bring your it's to bring you see the difference. Yeah,

(39:14):
here can be here. Yeah, of course of course that
you don't can't do that all the time, right, That
plays way more and sells way more of what's going
on than than just you know, having a more neutral,
neutral body. So so yeah, there's also yeah for the animal,

(39:34):
for the stuff you're talking about, kind of the animals
and and the creatures. And it almost seems like, I
don't know, it's a weird correlation, but it almost seems
like interpretive dance where it's kind of you're trying to
convey the spirit of this animal and the movements of
this animal or creature or whatever, and maybe sometimes you
have no dialogue. So there is something along the lines

(39:57):
of mine isn't right, but it's it's again, it's the
technology is creating new types of acting, which I think
is something that's very interesting. Well, it's your voice in
your body, and you know, I it's just very very
interesting all the way around. Now, there is one thing
I would like to talk about, and again I don't
I don't mean to put you on the spot, but

(40:17):
there's been a lot of talk about how video games are.
They're getting to be huge business. They're making hundreds of millions,
if not billions of dollars, and the actors are not. Uh, now,
is there is I mean, do you have a feeling
about that where you're you're putting your heart and soul
into something and the company's making a ton of ton
of money, and a lot of times the actors are not.

(40:39):
I wouldn't say they're not fairly compensated, because you know,
you go in, you go into a contract knowing which
you're going to be paid, but but you do. But
there is certainly a the world of it's getting it's
getting to be bigger business. Is there a time where
we need as actors to renegotiate what's going on because

(41:01):
there's so much back end to these video games nowadays. Um, well,
I think that they are. I think that's just a
process of evolution each year. I don't know how often, um,
because it would be this the sag after right, I
don't know how often they have that master contract renegotiation.
But um, I think it's fairly frequent. And they tried.

(41:24):
I'm sure, I'm not I'm not speaking on their behalf.
You'd imagine that you you try to be on top
of trends, um as much as possible. Um. You know,
at the end of the day, the unions there to
provide a basic agreement that is the kind of the floor. Um,
and you're protected in in in that instance instance. Um,

(41:47):
you know, as as as as it relates to like
the box office or the growth of the revenues and
that the game is making versus your pay. It's I mean,
the only advice I've gotten and that I could give
is like you just try to get the best manager
or agent or both and attorney that you can that

(42:10):
understands this realm. You know, that's the key going into it. Um,
especially if it's motion capture. If it's motion capture, it's
a little bit more than voice. Are they capturing your likeness?
Is it you? Is it you that's you know, going
to be on the poster or you that's going to
be the character model for the game. You've got to

(42:32):
do your research. And then I am curious, is there
a bump in pay when they are using your likeness? Ah?
Well that's all negotiated in the in the beginning, right,
So there's no I don't know the sag after a
thing well enough, but like because I know there's like
stunt bumps and over time and you know these types

(42:55):
of things which are which are catered for. Um, yeah,
I don't know about that. UM, I think it just
that's all kind of has to be thought about up front.
Really representation, it's not just good it's not just good representation.
It's representation by people to understand video games. Yes, and
the world and where it's going in the world. And yeah,

(43:18):
and by the way, all the other deals that are
out there, you know, I mean, you know, it's helpful
to but most you know, most voice agencies and most
film and TV agencies will have um share that information internally.
So if someone is lucky privilege enough to book a
video game, they'll get the person from the agency or

(43:39):
the management company who's most familiar with those deals to
chime in as well as as well as with the attorne.
There's somebody who focuses on that, right, Yeah, and you
as an actor, you really have to just you know,
rely rely upon that, yeah, and then make it, make
it make a choice. You're committing. It's going to be
a two to three year commitment. Are you going to

(44:00):
be in a huff in twelve months time from now? Uh?
You know? Or or are you? Are you? You are?
We good to go and you've just got to be
you know, get the best deal. But you can and
I'm in let's do it. This has been so informative.

(44:25):
We are now if you don't mind, if you would
join us in playing our weekly game. Yes, are you ready? Are?
We play a wonderful game called Across the Garden as
our wonderful Listener. We like to keep it singular because
then if we have more than one, we're just it's
a bonus. But our wonderful Listener loves to Here is
our across the Garden where, of course we are playing
once again Ricky and Mocha the wonderful mice, trying to

(44:47):
make it across the garden, uh and encountering other woodland
creatures along the way. And we bring in an amateur
voice over actor every week and give them a shot.
And then we're gonna take all these pieces every week
with the amateur and we're gonna have all animated, so
everybody gets a little chance to be in their own carptoon.
It's a ton of fun we really enjoy. We've got
wonderful actors like you who who will join us on
this journey, and our guest today who we can bring in. Hello,

(45:12):
Hello are you Jacob? I am Hi Jacob. This is
Jacob Stone. Now you're an actor, singer, voice over artist
and teacher. Um and you live in sale A, mass
You live in my old near my old, which is
very cool. I've still always wanted to do Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts.

(45:33):
So cool. It's it's time, I will tell you, Jacob,
are you ready to join us this week to play
Across the Garden? I'm ready to go. Let's do it.
You are going to be playing with the the amazing
Neil Ellis who uh we we think you're amazing. Uh
so yes is from the Call of Duty franchise. And

(45:56):
we are going to once again be playing Across the Guard.
And I will be Ricky as always. Uh, Christie will
be Mocha. And then we we've got some other people
coming down. We've got Sergeant Smythe and we've got Private Johnson.
Everyone has their roles. I will be reading all the
stage direction as well. And let's jump into it. If
everybody remembers last time well as always, Ricky Mocha can't

(46:17):
seem to get to the damn mall, But here we
are finally, so fade in exterior mall, continuous and noticeably shabby.
Mochin Ricky Stairrup at the Giant entrance to the mall. Well,
we did it after the trials and tribulations were finally here,
aren't you grateful? If one more thing gets in our way,
I'm gonna cut a bit. That's fair enough. Just as

(46:39):
they take a step towards the door, a voice, who
goes there? Where's my blade? Ricky Moca look up to
find Sergeant smythe a chipmunk and a British Bobby's uniform
standing on a small makeshift parapet. We we just want
to get to the mall and I just want I
got a whole of day at Broughton. But that don't
schedule ever? Is it? Mit? A beat? Sergeant Smith looks

(47:01):
over his right. Is it another chipmunk with the clipmore
pops up mosa? What is scheduled? Uh? We have teen
crumpets at noon, heard picking at one and a memory
vroge around near Piccadilly at two. Sergeants By turns and
drops the accent. What does that mean? Johnson drops it
as well. I really don't know, sir. A beat? Sir?

(47:23):
Why do we need to put on the accent because
it matches the clothes and these were the only uniforms
they had left, I know, but I don't know what
any of the words mean neither. What's her actual schedule.
We're standing on this balcony saying, hold, who goes there
until one? And then we can have some lunch. That's
what it says. Well, it says bite of spotted dick,

(47:46):
but I think it just means lunch. Dude. God, let's
hope that's all it means. Back on Rickey and Mocha,
Why does everyone start conversations with us and then forget
that we are here? That's a it's a fair question.
They noticed him again, forgot you were here? Why were
you coming here again? We're just going to the mall.

(48:07):
I think that's a loud roy. We've let everyone else in, Sir.
Do you think they just stuck us out here to
get rid of us? I mean, we don't really do anything.
I know what you mean. I mean, I'm not even
technically a police officer. I got laid up my job
as a motivational calendar model and I just kind of

(48:27):
fell into this. You. I'm not really sure. I got
a nasty bump on the head and woke up here yesterday.
I'm pretty sure someone somewhere is looking for me just
throw up their hands. Okay, we're just gonna go in. Okay,
I I am not asking anymore. We are going to go. Yeah,
that's fine. The door's open. Ricky Moka walking in them all.

(48:49):
So no memories at all. I've always been a chipmunk.
That's a fair back. The rest is kind of a blur,
the walk, get into the ball, fade out. That was great.
Oh that was funny so much. I love Jacob, Jacob.

(49:13):
That was amazing. I've got to say for Sergeant Smythe
I never would have played him that intense, and I
loved it. I love just the background. You can tell
there's a background that was nuts. And then Jacob steps up. Jacob,
I have to ask, are you going to be entering
our contest? Absolutely i am. I'm always looking for a
new opportunity. We are talented. Finally tell you the dates.

(49:37):
No purchase necessary. Can submit your entry at i Hear
Voices at i heart radio dot com between January nine
and February nine. Entries will be judged. The contest is
open to legal residents of the United States who are
eighteen and older, and we will post official rules for
complete details as we get closer to the start. We're

(49:57):
very excited. So Jacob, you've got to join because you
are very talented. You gotta put in this submission. Also,
where can people find you? If they're looking for you,
you can find me on social media. I'm on Facebook, uh,
Instagram and TikTok all at the same handle at Jacob
stone Actor. That's j A k O B. That's awesome.
Thank you so much. We are really looking forward to

(50:18):
your submission, Jacob. And you never know if somebody's got
to win. And uh, we're gonna, like Christie likes to say,
we're giving your big break. I like to say we're
cracking the door open. But either way, it's probably gonna
be somewhere in the middle. Um. So thank you so
much for joining us, Jacob. We appreciate it and we
cannot wait for your submission. Thank you so much for
having me. Really bye Jacob, by Jacob, everybody, Neil, thank

(50:43):
you too. That's I mean, isn't it fun to see
new people like getting getting their start? I love it.
It's wonderful and it's um it doesn't take much. You
know you just did you guys write this? I write
I write him every week. Yeah, the writer he's amazing, fantastic,
lucky enough to write. I've written for a lot of
the animated series that I was on. I wrote for

(51:03):
Transformers and for Yeah. I wrote ThunderCats teen Titans Go
and Thunder Your Cats and a whole bunch of different
thread Well, that was well, good luck. I was incredible.
It was a lot of fun. Thank you, Thank you.
We're so happy to have you here. Everybody where? Can
people find you? I'm on Instagram? Uh and TikTok now, yeah,
TikTok Neil, what do you do on TikTok? I put

(51:28):
up a couple of things on there. I am gonna do.
I think I'll do Uh. I'm a little soap video
probably for Christmas. But yeah, Instagram is Neil Underscore ellis
until I get my hands on Neil Ellis. Uh. And
then TikTok is Neil Underscore Underscore Ellis, which is spelled

(51:51):
e L L. I see. And that's just until you
can get your hands on Neil Underscore Ellis. I know what.
Here's the thing is, I did I did? I did?
I had Neil Allen. Nobody took it right, Yeah, I
had it. I don't know what pressed I think I
can called the birthday wrong. But basically it was like,
you can't post anything, and I was like no, I

(52:11):
was like, delete it. I deleted that and then I
told my friend. He was like, why did you do that?
You could have changed that. I was like, let's go back,
going in all register against Neil Ellis. Sorry, it's gonna
take thirty days. Wow, you got played by thee by myself.
Happens all the time. Oh, thank you for joining us,

(52:34):
and of course called thank you so much. Modern Warfare
two was scheduled. It's got PlayStation five, PlayStation four, Xbox,
Xbox one, PC, dot Net, Steam, and it was all
released on October UM. And if you're any type of gamer,
I'm sure you've already gotten it. But if you haven't,
go get it because it is. It is an immersive world.
You're not gonna want to leave. It is a pretty

(52:55):
amazing thing, especially if first person shooters aren't your thing.
You know, if you're like I don't normally do that stuff,
check this one out because there's a lot going on
between the characters. That's a lot of fun as well.
Oh I love that again. It's a movie that you
get to control. Sign me up. Just take away nine
of the buttons and I'm there you and need Well,
we're gonna go and play a point and click rumance

(53:15):
st after this. Right there you go. I would love
to do that. I'm telling you. Thank you so much, Neil.
I really appreciate it. And uh yeah, please everybody go
follow Neil because this is some pretty incredible stuff. Thank
you for joining us. Yeah, man, thanks both Christy, thank
you all for your time. I really appreciate it. Good luck. Now,
like two guys, both of you, yeah, both of you.

(53:37):
Thank you. Wow. What a kind of a uh look
into the I mean a more and more not to
use this word again, but a more immersive look into
an immersive world. It's just it's such every time a
new technology comes out, there's a whole new type of
acting that pops up around it. And so this whole
thing was really amazing. Well it's like what you say

(53:59):
to where this is not going anywhere, and um, you know,
I think it's going to be the norm. And you know,
what we know, uh is already outdated, right, Like everything
that we've done with reporting to the actual studio is
now outdated in that now you just use zoom and
you just home from home, and the market in voice

(54:21):
acting is always changing and if you're genuinely interested in it.
I'm just happy that our podcast has the best guest
because we really do get sort of a behind the
scenes look at exactly how this goes down. I learned
so much today. I'd be happy Betty came on and um,
who knows, smoke Cap maybe should be a part of
the contest challenges. I don't know. I don't know. I

(54:42):
don't even know how we would do that, because it's
so you know, let's get through this first one. Yeah,
maybe we should, and then in the future you never
know what what Contest two or three is going to
be like. But yes we are, as we're saying we can.
We're finally talking about the contest in actuality. I mean
like actual specifics of dates and stuff you can do.
So we will have far more on that in the future.

(55:04):
And we can't just say it's a thing down the line.
It's actually happening, everybody, It's actually happening. We can't wait.
It's going to be everywhere. We are going to find
the next big voice actor in this country, we absolutely are.
We don't know who it's going to be what they're
gonna do. But we're going to find a colleague out
there amongst us. Uh, so we cannot wait. Thank you
all so much for joining us, for joining Christie in

(55:26):
her completely wherever she is in the world room, she
could be anywhere. She might be in Rome right now.
I don't know. She's not letting in Rome right now.
She's Louise, so you don't know. And I also don't
know who this Louise person is. If you do, somebody
new to the contact, that's all right, it is what
it is. Thank you everybody for joining us. We will
see you well here you listen to you whatever, Just
come back next time because it's gonna be a whole

(55:48):
lot of fun. And until then, if you think you
got what it takes to be one of us, put
your voices where your mouth is. Thanks everybody, I hear
voices as hosted by Wilfrid Ill and Christy Carlson Romano.
Executive produced by Wilfred Ill, Brendan Rooney, Amy Sugarman and
Vicky Ernst Chang. Our executive in charge of production is
Danielle Romo. Our producer is Lorraine Vera Weez and our
editor Slash engineer is Brian Burton, and that was my

(56:08):
announcer voice. Some side effects of listening to I Hear
Voices are sore abs from hilarity falling down the Coco
Melon rabbit hole, sneezing due to mass nostalgia, and hugs.
Follow I Hear Voices wherever you listen to podcasts so
you don't miss any of the amazing voices. Be sure
to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at I Hear
Voices podcast. You can also check us out on my Space,
omegl Vine, lime Wire. Hey I'm a napster. Okay, well

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let's teach you about the Internet. The who