The following interview was first published as part of the extensive Gaming Liberty Definitive Mass Effect 2 Interview from Retroplayer.
RETROPLAYER- First off, tell us a little about yourself.
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- I like the colour beige, short walks at sewage plants, getting caught in a hail storm and virgin piña coladas. Sorry. I’m a film and TV actor in Los Angeles who also makes my mortgage doing voice over. Been in LA for 25 years, so it’s easier to check IMDB out for all the credits, or you can go to DC Douglas .net for acting stuff and My Voice Over Guy for my voice over stuff. I’d think your readers are more interested in the VO work, so a few highlights would be Albert Wesker in RE5 and a few other RE games, Raven in Tekken 6, Grimoire Noir in Nier Replicant, AWACS Ghost Eye in Ace Combat 6 — to name a few.
RETROPLAYER- How did you land your role in Mass Effect?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- I slept with several audio engineers until I found the right one at Technicolor in Burbank. The spike in Herpes outbreaks in sound studios across LA would be because of me – my bad. Oh, okay! I auditioned for it. Some copy (script) showed up in my email from my agent, I popped into the booth and recorded it, sent it back. A few weeks later I was booked! Not an exciting story, but VO people love it — a job! Only recently did I actually get booked for a video game without an audition. Twice for two big games coming out in 2011 that an NDA prevents me from naming. But they’re cool!
RETROPLAYER- Did Bioware have an idea on how your character should sound or were you left to your own devices?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Most audition come with a spec (vocal specifications). Here’s what I got for Legion from Bioware:
“Speech Pattern: As part of a collectively intelligent race, it always refers to self as a plural — “we” or “us.”Uses smooth, complete sentences with very subtle emotion, no accent. As an artificial intelligence, it has no emotions per se, but will feign them to ease interaction with its organic ship-mates. In combat situations, dialogue become clipped — almost brusque. Legion is used to communicating in battle at the speed of light, and relying on low-bandwidth human speech wastes valuable time.
Demeanor: Detached, almost philosophical. Seems to hold everyday life at arm’s length, observing thoughtfully while thinking of deeper things. A “missionary among the savages.”
RETROPLAYER- Legion is an artificial intelligence and its voice is rather unique and striking. How did you prepare for the role which is essentially a non-human character and did you approach it differently compared to most other voice over work?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- I hate to say this, but it’s pretty darn close to my natural voice when I’m talking to a crazy ex-girlfriend who is threatening my pet rabbit over a boiling pot of water! I just had to make sure my morning phlegm had cleared out (sorry, you asked) and that my tongue was limber. Some diction exercises while driving to the studio did the trick. The SFX they put my voice through essentially squelched my resonance and bottom end and added a more ethereal quality. The character aspect was fun as he’s a cross between HAL, Spock and a snippy Borg-lite. The director, the awesome Ginny McSwain, and I chose moments where a more human reaction would be good.
RETROPLAYER- Take us through a typical day during the recording process.
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- They send the limo around 8 am. I awake from my dream of said limo. Off to Coffee Bean or Starbucks. Arrive at 9 am, say “hi” to Ginny and the engineer and any producers who happen to be in the control room that day. Spend 5 minutes kibitzing about the world, then I’d pop into the booth and we jammed for 3 or 4 hours, depending on the session. Ginny has an internal clock that is awe-inspiring. She drives the session at the perfect pace to where we can record all the copy needed that day, while still having fun. She’s a joy to work with.
RETROPLAYER- Did Bioware show you any concept art of your character during the recording sessions?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- In addition to the specs, they had a drawing of Legion on a large board. But that was about it. Near the end when I went back for pick-ups, they had some rough animatics they played back.
RETROPLAYER- DC, throughout Legions appearance in the game we get a slight sense that it may have its own agenda of some sort, as if we can’t exactly trust it fully. Was this a conscious choice on your part or a direct influence from Bioware?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Well, it’s built into the character via backstory and script. I think it’s more of the whole being greater than the parts. Of course, that’s a conscious construct by the writers.
RETROPLAYER- D.C, you’ve acted in movies, TV, anime as well as doing voice overs for countless commercials. How did you get into acting in the first place and how did that transition into voice acting?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Well, I was seven when I knew I wanted to be an actor. Everything I did after that was toward that goal, though the teen years and bad grades got in the way a bit. But I moved to LA when I was 19 and auditioned for several acting schools I had found in the yellow pages, of all places! Turned out one was actually a voice over coach. Barbara Gill introduced me to what voice over was and became my first teacher. I wrote a whole blog post about her: http://www.myvoiceoverguy.com/voice-over/barbara-gill-voice-over-mentor. In fact, I studied voice over before I started studying film/TV acting. My primary focus has always been on film and TV, as it requires much more hustling to get work. Voice over work would come and go until I landed with ARL (talent agency) ten or so years ago. Then it kicked into high gear. It’s my bread and butter, but my first love is acting on-camera and on stage.
RETROPLAYER- What can you tell us about your Mass Effect co-stars? Did any friendships spark up during the making of the game?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Well, Martin Sheen and I hung out and got hammered, then went cow tipping in Oxnard… Sorry, I didn’t get to meet any of them, though I am friends or acquaintances with several outside of the ME universe. Martin Sheen and I did meet in the late 80’s as he was on my team for a game show — Win, Lose or draw — we lost. Then we were also in the film “The Commission,” but had no scenes together.
RETROPLAYER- DC, you’re currently working alongside Bioware once again in Star Wars: The Old Republic which will be released sometime next year. What can we expect from your performance?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- First, not sure if I’m allowed to confirm that. Secondly, if I were in it, I wouldn’t be a primary character. Probably many. many smaller characters. The game is HUGE and has hundreds of characters in this universe… So I’ve heard. But I know nothing.
RETROPLAYER- Have you gotten much fan feedback?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Yes I have! I’d have to say that VG fans are the best in that they are very fervent supporters. I’m grateful anyone actually knows my name, let alone finds me on FaceBook!
RETROPLAYER- How do you want Mass Effect to be remembered?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- As a good husband. God fearing. Made a good strudel… That’s not for me to say. More for the creators to answer. And in all honesty, if a gig I worked on is even remembered years later, that rocks! Pretty sure the ME series will be.
RETROPLAYER- What’s next for you?
D.C DOUGLAS (Legion)- Yummy chili. It’s waiting for me downstairs. Dinner time! Like I said, I have several games coming out in 2011 I can’t say a darn thing about yet! I even have a gig tomorrow morning for CBS I can’t talk about yet! I may be doing a play in early 2011 and I have several commercials running right now. I always post updates about gigs on my Facebook page, though, if anyone’s interested. Take care! Eat your vegetables. We can’t all be Geth.
The preceding interview was first published as part of the extensive Gaming Liberty Definitive Mass Effect 2 Interview from Retroplayer.
