During the Brazil Game Show 2024, at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, we had the opportunity to talk to Neil Newbon. Newbon is known for his work across various media, gaining significant recognition for his performances involving motion capture and acting.
Among his notable roles in the world of video games are memorable characters like Heisenberg (Resident Evil Village), Nikolai (Resident Evil Village), and the charismatic vampire Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3. Check out the interview!
[O Megascópio]: In your most recent work you played Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, but your career was built around different types of media like TV, films and theater. Do you have a media that you enjoy more or maybe feel more comfortable with?
[Neil Newbon]: I feel very comfortable with volume (motion capture). I feel it takes the best of theater and film, and pushes it together. You have a very interesting experience where you have a wide shot and a close up simultaneously which means you just get to be very pure in your acting style, it’s really fun, I like it. You can also take your face off, which means you can play a wider range of characters. I enjoy film, I love television, I love theater, I never really had a preference but I think my work in the volume is some of the best I’ve ever done.
[O Megascópio]: Being involved in a lot of beloved franchises like Baldur’s Gate and Resident Evil allows you to play a wide variety of characters. Can you talk more about how your process incorporates these characters?
[Neil Newbon]: I work very hard. I am very well trained, I’ve spent many years studying many different types of methodologies for acting. All of that blends into my work and I just try to find lots of different aspects in voices, things and ideas that suit the character based on the script. It’s kind of the standard one would hope for most actors who have a good level of craft and that’s how I approach everything really. I use real world people to influence me or people I hear in a cafe, I overhear conversations or speech rhythm and I start practicing different laughs and things like that. There’s a bunch of different ways you can approach a character and I think it is about what resonates with you as an artist.
[O Megascópio]: Among all of these characters you have played, is there one that you have more feelings about?
[Neil Newbon]: Astarion has been a particular special role, but I love all my characters. I had a lot of fun with Heisenberg (Resident Evil Village), Nikolai (Resident Evil Village) was great to play with. I also played Gavin and Kamski in Detroit Become Human, they were very interesting characters and completely opposite people, so that was pretty cool. But I think Astarion means a lot to me because I’ve been with him for so long, four and a half years of work. I developed him with the writers and the amazing directors at Larian in a very deep and complicated way, it was very fulfilling as an actor. He’s a character that will stay with me for a long time I think.
[O Megascópio]: Astarion is a beloved character for the fans, everyone likes to have him at their party. Why do you think people like him so much?
[Neil Newbon]: I think it really depends on the person. I like Astarion because he’s fun and complicated, and for an actor that’s great because you get a very wide range of things to play and do. His story line is really well written: Stephen Rooney, the main writer of Astarion, gave me some incredible dialogues, stories and opportunities to play and have fun with them. I don’t know why people like him, but that’s why I like him.
[O Megascópio]: After hours acting as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate, would you like to play him again in a D&D game? Maybe a character that is similar to him in some way.
[Neil Newbon]: I wouldn’t want to play Astarion unless I am playing him specifically. I’ve done D&D one-shots with Wizards (of the Coast), I did one recently in Gen Con (feira de jogos de mesa) and I played Astarion and it was really fun. I love playing him in one-shots.
[O Megascópio]: Getting back to talk about characters, would you say you get habits from your characters after playing them?
[Neil Newbon]: Not usually. Occasionally I get habits like in Planet of the Apes where I played an ape called Bryn and I have a little of his habits for when I get angry for example. For Astarion, I kind of have his giggle apart from my normal laugh. I try to stay away from my characters as much as possible, I try not to put myself too much in them.
