Ted Raimi On His First Motion Capture Experience Ever In New Horror Game ‘The Quarry’
Mary Beth McAndrews
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Video game studio Supermassive Games burst into the horror game scene with their 2015 game Until Dawn. The game, starring people like Remi Malek and Peter Stormare, was essentially an interactive movie, where you watched extensive cut scenes and made quick decisions that affected the game’s trajectory and ending. Until Dawn launched The Dark Houses Anthology franchise. Now, Supermassive Games has released an all-new game, The Quarry.
Starring talent such as David Arquette, Ted Raimi, and Lin Shaye, the game follows nine camp counselors trying to survive Hackett’s Quarry. Between supernatural forces and violent locals, the player has a lot on their hands to ensure survival.
We were lucky to sit down with Ted Raimi about his role in The Quarry, his first time doing motion capture, and a few of his favorite video games.
Dread Central: What drew you to being part of a game like The Quarry?
Ted Raimi: First, I have always been drawn to horror. As a kid growing up in Detroit, I would spend my Saturdays and Sundays watching Hammer and Universal movies on our old Philco TV, kept company by our local horror host Sir Graves Ghastly.
Later, when I got to LA in the late 1980s, horror wasn’t a thing actors wanted to be known for and, least of which, be seen auditioning for. In fact, it wasn’t a thing they even wanted on their resumes. For most, it was an embarrassment. Producers might see you had been in, say, My Bloody Valentine and think: “well, at least they’re not doing porn – and that’s something”.
Me? I loved it. I really embraced it. So, when I read for guys like Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven, I was not only enthused but I knew their movies well so it really was a great conversation starter and it brought me closer to a part. I remember one particular audition for George Romero when I was imitating lines from Creepshow, doing a whacky version of E.G Marshall for him. Romero couldn’t stop laughing. I thought: Oh my god. I just made George Romero laugh!
DC: What was the prep like for this one since you were doing both voice work and motion capture?
TR: To make the CG work for such a technically enormous undertaking, you have to essentially be put into the Matrix. They captured my voice, face, body movement—the works. Weeks later, we were put on a massive soundstage at Digital Domain in Los Angeles where cameras would capture our body movements and minute facial expressions. Finally, the insanely talented wizards at Supermassive Games in London, England would take that information, extrapolate the movements from the body and voice capture and create a living character, complete with costumes, backgrounds, sound effects, the works. Just the tiny movements of the costumes on the characters must have taken three people months to accomplish, I would imagine!
The beauty of this method is that, unlike a traditional video game where the animation is completed before the actor gets there, is that I was interacting in real-time with the other actors. There really is no substitute for that. The audience is immediately aware that the actors are there with one another which creates great tension for the audience.
The two actors who I worked the most with in The Quarry were Skyler Gisondo and Siobhan Williams. I was very, very fortunate in that both were insanely talented performers who each gave a thousand percent energy to every scene. Ms. Williams, who I had the most scenes with was a true powerhouse of creativity and it was quite inspiring to work with her. It’s absolutely essential if you want a great scene to have great talent opposite you in a show.
DC: Would you ever do motion capture again?
TR: In three heartbeats. If Will Byles was directing again, one.
DC: Are you a video game fan? If so, what are some of your favorites?
TR: To be fair, I have a really old console (XBOX 360) which is a creaky relic from the Obama administration years. But on that one, I would play Resident Evil 7 and The Evil Within. I love ‘em both. I just ordered the new PlayStation, so I got a lot of learning to do!
DC: What horror movie(s) do you think have had the most influence on you and your work in the genre space?
TR: Horror movies? I would say the ones that have the most solid and powerful storylines are the ones I tend to go back to and think about the most. For example, John Carpenter’s Christine and Cronenberg’s The Fly come to mind. The lasting beauty and impressive nature of those are that if you were to take the horror elements out of them, you would still have a solid love story in both that could be viewed by the Hallmark Channel crowd!
Also, I use several other acting sources. The main one is everyone I knew and still know from Detroit ( I live in Michigan now). You really don’t have to look too far from your hometown to find acting source material. Studying people, like novelists, is part of your job. There are a lot of whacky, fascinating people there that I draw inspiration from. In fact, the character of Travis is, in part, inspired by a DPD (Detroit Police Department) officer I know in the city who was giving me some tips on restraint techniques. I even used some of them during shooting The Quarry such as when I grab Skyler’s cuffs instead of his shoulders to keep him harmless and detained.
DC: If you could appear in any horror franchise, which one would you pick?
TR: I’m currently in pre-production for a new horror movie called Red Light. I’m really hoping that goes for a sequel!
Categorized:Interviews News
