“Yea, though I walk through the valley… and parts of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, I will fear no casting director, for my work as Albert Wesker precedes me, and thy fans and conventions comfort me.”
And when, exactly, did I sell my soul to this religion? In the year of our Wesker 2006. I was asked to audition for a video game called “Umbrella Chronicles” over at Cup Of Tea Productions in Burbank, run by two great ladies – Danni Hunt and Lainie Bushey. I hadn’t heard of the game… Actually, to be honest, I’m a workaholic and haven’t heard of many video games at all. Only the ones I audition for or get hired to work on. (I didn’t take my first vacation until 10 years after I moved to Los Angeles!)
A Wesker Nativity
Peter Jessop
I auditioned for several characters. One, in particular, required a voice match. They played the voice of Peter Jessop doing Albert Wesker. They said Peter was unavailable as he had several other gigs lined up, which makes sense. In addition to being one of the good guys in this biz, he’s also a very talented and sought-after VO guy.
The voice Peter created is near impossible to recreate as it’s so unique in accent and intonation. I gave it a whirl and then completely forgot about the audition.
Wesker On The Mount
About 3 months later, I got a call to come do the sessions – still having no idea how huge this character was. I went in and worked with the lovely and accomplished Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. I have to give her props for these sessions. Voice directing a video game with producers from another country is a big challenge. Not only is there a language barrier, but there is the abscence of a cultural shorthand. When we thought I had nailed the voice, the direction would be translated and relayed back to us that it needed to be more this or that, etc. The final result is a bit of a mish-mosh. No worries. It was a job. I got paid. They were happy. The world continued to turn (as well as some fans, I heard!)
Wesker Raises The Dead
About a year later, my agent calls to tell me I booked “Resident Evil 5” as Albert Wesker. I thought it was strange the character would appear in a different game. I mentioned this to a friend. He was a fan and, needless to say, he schooled my ass lickety-split (always wanted to put “ass” and “lickety-split” in the same sentence). I went on the internet and realized I had landed into the middle of a huge franchise with hundreds of thousands of zombie-killing fans… Yeah, I felt a little pressure!
Ken Lally
Then the producers cranked it up by asking me to audition for the physical motion capture part of Wesker. You know, where he walks slowly with a gun and looks über-bad-ass? I was excited to experience that aspect of video game production. But I had also thrown my back out four days before while renovating our new house! So my audition consisted of me walking around, not looking that bad-ass, but more broke-ass… Hmm, that phrase seems wrong. In the end, they hired Ken Lally (an actor and stunt man) to be the physical mo-cap guy.
[Side note: In response to the emails, "No," Ken didn't do any of the Albert's voice in the final production. That was all me.]
Wesker’s Last Supper
Richard Waugh
The first recording session of RE5 started off a bit scary. They played what I had recorded previously, but also what popular Canadian VGA, Richard Waugh, had done previously (not Peter Jessop)! I thought, “Uh-oh…, Me no study his voice!” They said they wanted to merge the two, but then to evolve the voice. ”Thank Wesker!” I was all for evolving it. (I prefer to create, not impersonate… Oooo, I’m a poet!)
[Another side note: Albert Wesker has been voiced by four actors over the last 13 years, Peter, Richard, myself, and the original; Sergio Jones.]
D.C. with bad skin.
Of course, what made the process so much more complicated and fun this time was that I was also mo-capping the facial expressions. That was a first for me. Stand perfectly still and emote facially, but larger than life — and keep the subtle voice acting going – “Oh! And don’t gesture!” Oy vey… Telling a voice actor not to gesture while performing is like asking a chef to cook without utensils… Like asking Jude Law to wear a condom before sex… Like asking Sarah Palin to think before she speaks! … Like… Oh, never mind.
Working with Reuben Langdon, Capcom, and director Liam O’Brien was a real pleasure, though. I recorded over an 8 month period, I think, which is unique for most video games. I really enjoyed the humor and talent that everyone brought to the experience.
Wesker’s Crucifixion
This time around, I was excited for the launch. It didn’t hit me until after “Resident Evil 5″ actually came out that Albert – sweet, cold, evil Albert – was dead. No more franchise for me, baby… Of course, had he not died, they might have used a different voice actor in the future. I’ve been at this long enough to know that’s the biz – money, logistics, time, and then talent… But it was still a little bittersweet that he took that lava plunge and ate missiles. (If you haven’t played it, yet, I’m making that up.)
The upside is that it has elevated my voice over profile for other video games. Most notably, I landed a major new character in [redacted] - a completely different genre, but one helluva game (2010 release)! This game also features some great actors from a certain awesome Sci Fi television show… (Oh, how I taunt and tease…)
Another upside; I’ve received requests for personal appearances at conventions around the world. Some of which I might actually go to. More on that at a later date (I’m looking at you, Ohio…). That’s something my film and television career hasn’t done for me… (Though, oddly enough, “The Bold And The Beautiful” called today about a gathering of fans… Something about me and a horse… Yes, more on that later, too!)
The Resurrection Of Wesker?
Lest you gamers think I take it all for granted, let me be clear: I truly know how important Albert Wesker was to my voice over life. In fact, every night, I recite this prayer;
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to Wesker my soul to keep;
When in the morning light I wake,
Please don’t kill me.
It’s worked so far…
Other interviews I gave around RE5 launch:
Eric Frederiksen at Kombo.com
Jim Sterling at Destructoid.com
Un-Wired TV video
Brazil Audio Interview – ResidentEvil.com.br
For personal appearance info:
Click here
My abs are a little better than these, but protected by a layer of state-of-the-art fat.
Related posts:
D.C, you not only make this character awesome and badass (as he always is), but you also make him memorable and you made his phrases completely unforgettable. Your voice fits perfectly for this character and you were able to express his feelings… (I hope you understand what I try to say… I'm thinking in other words but nothing better comes up). I also respect Richard Waugh work but I all my respect goes to you D.C. Awesome work and I'm sure Wesker is not dead and you'll contunue doing the voice of this outstanding villian (an unique character, I most say).
Thanks for becoming Albert Wesker the awesome character he is. I enjoy his performance through all the game. You made him important into the game and I admired now this character thanks to you! (I have to say that I'm always looking for someone who want to play with me in cooperative mode in Mercenaries, just for hearing Wesker saying his excellent quotes! Hahahaha. A bad-ass humour, that's the mark that you put on Albert).
Greetings from a Colombian fan!
Many thanks! I'm quite flattered!
I really like you~ you’re the best wesker!!
Thank you! Very sweet of you to say!
Thank you for creating a unique Wesker,who stimulated not only a personal negative character love whirlwind,but also a wave of score race in RE5 Mercenaries mode(In this mode,you should spear no effort to kill 150 emenries in limited time).
I know you can’t concentrate on video game for a long time,but Mercenaries mode really killed me so much time.I am lost in it due to our sweet-cool-evil- Wesker(You!).I love the voice,so I played so much,I even skip my college course,over two months for you!(You failed me!)
And I replayed the STAFF list in order to find the cast,then i found you.After googling,It is amazing to realize that you took part in so many animation and games we met. And the discovery channel,a programme about weapons,glad to hear your voice in other programme!
You had been almost a core topic in Chinese fangirls’ group.After reading your blog articles for a period of time,I found you’re handsome,cute and considerate.Your blog is so funny…I want more Chinese fans to know you,but because of language problem,It is hard to make you known .(Hey,this is DC Douglas>_<)So I ask your permission…Can I translate your blog articles into Chinese for our Chinese fans?
Forgive my poor English…and wish you have a magnificent career!
Wow. I am very flattered and humbled! Yes, by all means, feel free to translate them into Chinese — but ONLY if it doesn't interfere with your school work! I don't want to be blamed for you flunking out!
I love your voice very much!…..I don't konw how to say> <my poor English…and BTW,I'm one of the Chinese fangirls' group that silverstro said~XD
And,I don't know if it should be asked:your name,D.C,is short for?Forgive me T T
Welcome! And DC is short for Darling Chinese!
well…a Chinese fangirls’group….= =||||||
so we are here with our poor english, to say that “you are the best and you really did a great jod and 大叔，我们都很喜欢你 ，不因为威斯克，不因为你是威斯克的声优，只因为你自己，一个足以成为我们话题中心的D.C.道格拉斯”
PS：我们用你看到中文以后的反应打了赌，集体认为你会"damn u"…^。^…
by the way,if you design this website yourself,my god damn Critical teacher will give you full marks,i bet, really good taste^。^
maybe just like someone said,We are right here to fawn on you= =i’m kidding…
god，What the hell is the crap that I'm talking here？T T….sorry…my poor english must kill me sooner or laterT T
Actually, I love your English. It puts a smile on my face. And thanks for the website compliments! Hopefully I can get into a GameCon there! Would love to see China!
sorry to reply so late，in the past 48 hours we spent 16 hours in laughing as idiots （you know why^。^）
then spent 16 hours talking about your sweet reply…
and…then spent 16 hours translating our new reply into English with friends T 。T god i hate English
DC: liar，u guys never sleep？
nasty queen: OK，i just want to say that you really mean a lot to us^。^
（it says: sorry, your comment is a little too long…so i have to make two parts）
forget it…….i got a bad news just for you,,now all the kids in our biolove club are taken by you, so i guess the Chinese boyfans'group will be here soon.—。—
we wanna keep on afflicting your eyes and your endurance with our elementary English …..until drive you carzy（someone of our club: i bet you guys will go carzy first……maybe she’s right T。 T）whatever, you asked for it… so cute and make us like you! ^。^
很害怕自己的烂英语会让你觉得我们烦…更不想说一句话就从此消失了…所以我们最近都是很多人一起翻译…真的扯到吐血啊大叔T 。T
我认为我的中国人不会查找非常好对您的眼睛。 我非常由您的组和希望满足您全部在常规那里和发现您的国家（地区）恭维。 我会写更多，但是… 7 minutes… 7 minutes is all the time I have to play with you…
it's unfair ! so i spent 1 minutes this time…hahahahahaha^。^
PS: i hate translating webpage now T。T you afflicted our eyes successfully
反调戏！调戏美！大叔是宅男…回复快也美…
Erh, the chinese letters you wrote seemed well…. wierd? O.o I'm from Singapore and am a chinese. I'm gettin frustrated. We take English as a first subject and Chinese as the 2nd one. You really should come and listen to our country's 'magnificent Singlish'
如果你们想翻译成英语的话，我可以帮你们。我是从新加坡来的。英文是第一个科目，所以能帮到
What is DC short for?
*Cough*
"Divine Comedy", umm…isn't it?
Well it's just a joke and I think you're an artist with great sense of humor haha,it's really a lot fun to read your articles here, I really like the "snorkeling in mind" video, may be I should try to snorkel in mine when I feel bad next time -). And thanks for creating such a impressive Wesker with your "lovely" voice, excellent work DC, keep it up, we're with you!
"Dastardly Criminal"… And glad you like the snorkel video! A work of love and silliness!
Have you played all the way through RE5 yet? Are there any things you did that were left on the cutting room floor? Stuff that will be included in the upcoming Gold Edition with the new level in Spencer's Mansion? Fingers crossed…
I haven't played all the way through it…. So maybe???
Thanks for your permission,and I didn’t fail any exam in this semester.RE5 Alternative Edition will come soon in Feb 18th,there will be a stronger wind of Mercenaries mode huh…Wind of madness?