Smith’s career started in stand-up comedy, so we began by asking him about that.
“I’m very thankful for my time pursuing stand-up, as it really helped prepare me for voice acting. Changing things around at the last second, adjusting to different environments, thinking fast and improvising. All these things can help immensely in voice over work and most especially in voice acting for video games. So, having done a bunch of characters and voices in my stand-up act, I think it seemed like voice over would be a good fit for me. I started taking some commercial voice acting classes while still pursuing stand-up and finishing college. Once the phone began to ring more with voice over work than comedy gigs, I decided I’d focus my efforts behind the mic in a studio, rather than on a stage.”
Roger Craig Smith and Ezio. Like two peas in a pod.
As with most voice jobs, Smith had to audition for Ezio. He knew little more than that the part required an Italian accent – something he had little experience of – so started to research.
“I started looking online for dialect-research. I came across a couple of sites that helped, but their English was really broken up and didn’t sound video-game-protagonist-tough. I watched a lot of Moto GP racing at the time and Valentino Rossi was a major champ in that sport, so I would study his post-race interviews. But again, he wasn’t very assassin-ish in his delivery.”
“When I got to the audition they mentioned that they weren’t so concerned with the accent at that point, as much as they were with the performance and the actor’s ability to play a couple of age ranges with the character. Since I felt a little uneasy in my Italian accent and a little more comfortable with Spanish, they said it’d be fine to go with that for the audition. So, we played around a bit with my bad impression of Antonio Banderas for the audition and that was that. Next thing I know, we get a call from the casting director offering me the role. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into at that time, but I’m glad it worked out the way it did. I’m a lucky, lucky man.”
With a surname like Smith, you might have guessed that Roger isn’t in the least bit Italian.
“That was one of the reasons I was so thrilled for the challenge of portraying this role – and one of the reasons I leaned so heavily on Ida Darvish and Peter Arpesella, the dialect and language coaches I worked with during the sessions. I owe so much to the two of them for helping us – the development team and the audio production team – create this vocal character out of thin air. Ezio had a character-type, but we didn’t have a vocal reference so we had to develop this guy as we went. It was by every stretch of the imagination a collaborative effort. I’m thrilled to have been a small part of this character’s success.”
“Since I don’t know how to speak the language, it became necessary for me to basically parrot-back the Italian phrases as Ida or Peter said them. We’d practice pronunciation; finesse the performance, then lay down a take. I had a little grasp of the Spanish language, so the dialect and the rules of how to pronounce certain things in Italian wasn’t too foreign, thankfully.”
Ezio has some great lines across the three games he headlines. Smith’s favourite, and one he often breaks out at conventions, is:
“The Auditore are not dead! I’m still here! Me! Ezio! Ezio Auditore!”
“I just love that he got to declare that to the people as the ultimate message of ‘Get ready, y’all – stuff’s about to get real!’ Great line. Tons of fun to yell stuff like that out, too. Makes a day of sitting in Los Angeles traffic just melt away”
“HE TRANSFORMS FROM PLAYBOY TO GRIZZLED ASSASSIN”
Gamers have been with Ezio since his birth in Assassin’s Creed 2 (who could forget jabbing the face buttons to fire up his extremities and get him breathing), through his troubled teenage years, his middle age in Brotherhood, and now on towards the end of his life in Revelations. Smith has been there all the way too.
“The greatest thing about Ezio is that we see him transform from basically a well-off playboy to the grizzled assassin he becomes. So, in the beginning, we really tried to show the vulnerability and reluctance he had at doing what he was doing. Then it became about how to play his inner turmoil over the things he was doing, and later, the things he had done. We worked on making him a believable, likeable, strong, badass, yet conflicted guy.”
“This, I think, is where one of the greatest strengths of Assassin’s Creed comes into play – the writing. The writing of this game is second to none. This isn’t just a game; it’s an entire universe that’s been created from the ground up, filled with believable characters you grow to know and love. Ezio’s an expertly written character and his story has, I think, stayed true to the character we saw as a young man. He’s still conflicted late in life and he’s still vulnerable. He was never an untouchable superhero – he was real. He’s stayed that way throughout and, even later in life, never lost his ability to be a badass. If he were confined to a walker, his walker would have hidden blades. He’s that badass.”
But it’s not just Ezio who has changed over time – in the three short years since the release of Assassin’s Creed 2, the process of voice recording has evolved considerably.
“I CAN’T REALLY COMPLAIN. THOUGH I DO.”
“We didn’t have any major concerns over facial motion capture during the sessions for Assassin’s Creed 2. Then Brotherhood came along and we started skewing our performances more to a camera next to the mic to capture facial movements. Then Revelations came along and we had the helmets with the cameras right in your face.”
The changes might make for a more rounded performance, but they take some adjusting to. “I’m most comfortable and in my element when it’s just a mic, a script and my voice. So, the mocap process was challenging for me. But at the end of the day, it’s just about the coolest job ever – so I can’t really complain. Though I do. I’m a whiny brat.”
Smith’s Ezio voice recordings for Revelations took around three weeks of solid sessions, spread over several months. “Most audio for games doesn’t take that long, depending on the type of game. Add mocap to the mix and you’re talking about a far longer process than doing voice over alone.”
One of the many strings to Smith’s bow is a degree in script-writing – a skill he’s occasionally been able to use on Assassin’s Creed.
“This is one of those areas where it’s such an honor to have been part of the project. The production staff could not have been more awesome in listening and collaborating when discussing a line change. There were a few instances where I felt that Ezio (as a character) would not have said something the way it was originally written. Just about everybody in the room, myself included, was allowed to suggest a change in phrasing, delivery, dialogue. I’ve been in sessions with companies where there is zero ability to change a line and you begin to feel very stilted and restricted in your performance as a voice actor. It was never that way with Ubisoft. We all had input into things and therefore we all had ownership of the character. It was such an awesome thing to be a part of.”
“There are likely hours of audio of me ‘improvising’ lines for the sake of keeping myself entertained during sessions. It’s all stuff that would just be a window into my sophomoric sense of humour and would likely ruin the character of Ezio for fans of Assassin’s Creed. Best that it stays locked away!”
“I’M SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE PLAYED THIS GUY”
With Smith’s clear love of the Ezio role, it’s been a bitter sweet experience putting him out to pasture.
“I’m so very fortunate to have played this guy, it’s like he’s a relative. I talk about him like I know him. Like a buddy I went to high school with. It’s a strange thing to have been a part of. I ‘voiced’ this guy, but I’m not him. I can absolutely relate to the themes running through his story arc and I can understand him as a character, but I’m not connected to him in a way that has me going, ‘yeah, I’m totally that guy’ I think it’s safe to say when people meet me, I’m about as far from the character of Ezio as a guy could be – 5’5″, pasty white, bad knees, can’t climb things – but, I love this character. I love that I got a chance to be him in the vocal sense.”
“What I take away from this experience are the memories I have of the entire creative process. Working with an awesome group of people on an incredible franchise. Having a blast in the booth. Leaving some sessions exhausted but with an immense sense of gratification from working on what was a challenging role for me.”
“So, while I love the character of Ezio and I’ll miss portraying him, I’m left with such awesome memories that I’m not sad. I’m humbled that I got to be a small part of an unbelievably huge world created by Ubisoft. It’s one of the most iconic and original games I’ve ever had the joy of playing, let alone being part of. I’m anxious to see where it goes from here and honoured that they let me be a part of it.”
Read the original article at UbiBlog.
