Nolan North Interview

Of course. Nice to meet you!

Bruno is my favourite kind of character, more of an antagonist - he’s the one you want to be. The great thing that Codemasters did, and what I’m really excited about, is that he’s the antagonist - but he’s not the villain. Which is a good thing to do in a world where things just seem to be black & white: you’re the good guy or the bad guy, whatever… This is shades of grey, he’s more reserved. AJ - Troy [Baker]’s character is the one who trains you to try and beat my character, he’s the bright smile, media darling… Whereas Bruno is much more reserved, he’s a recluse some might call him… He’s given his entire life, possibly to a fault, to this sport. He’s the one who drives home and shuts the gate - nobody gets in. So, we don’t really know much about him. Of course, over the course of the game you do find out more about him, and it’s things that people don’t expect. That gives him a lot more depth and makes him more empathetic towards the end. It was a pleasure to play him. As I said, the antagonist is more my favourite. I like to surprise people, and be that kind of character!

The way we’ve told the story, from a podcast improvisation point of view. This isn’t the typical “Hey, here’s the script. You say this line, he says this line…” This had the professional podcast team, I sat here and we’d just do interviews. So after the race “Bruno, tell us about this race” and they had given me, ahead of time, a full (what I call a) dossier on the character, from his birth date, likes/dislikes, where he was raised, a little bit of his history… Everything the writers had come up with. So, I would read all of this and just step into that character with those as my memories and have these interviews. The game is just a series of podcast interviews - the narrative part of the game! I’ve never done anything like that. I’ve worked with improv and things like that, and I love to ad-lib even on a scripted thing… We’ll always get it as-written, but then they’ll give us a pass where we just stay true to the story and theme, but just make it up and see what happens. But to be able to do something that’s entirely improv, and so collaborative with the writers and director, was refreshing! Interesting, like walking a tightrope. But the good thing when you’re improv-ing 100%, you really can’t make any mistakes. Of course, if you do make any mistakes that you don’t know of, they’ll just edit those out. That’s what made it so interesting.

The thing is, when I first heard about it I thought “Wow, they’re going to try to do narrative storytelling of some sort in a racing game.” I know when it was first announced, people wondered why they would do that, it’s just a racing game, they want to race… But the thing about it, is it’s still a great racing game. You’re not losing anything by having an element of storytelling in the game. I think it only enhances it. It’s one of those things that you hear… It’s a podcast - I listen to podcasts almost exclusively in my car, so what better place for this kind of thing? I was saying to someone that because of the improvisational nature, I don’t remember the conversations! I’m as interested as anybody to play this game, and enjoy the racing - because I do like racing games. The customisation that you can do in this game is just ridiculous, the visuals, the programming… It’s just such a fun looking game to participate in. Then to have this element where I don’t remember anything I said… Now, that could be my age, but I just think it’s the fact that we did this, and it was such an interesting way to tell a story. To me it didn’t feel like narrative storytelling, it’s more that you’re a part of a story. These podcast interviews are giving you deeper levels of who the protagonist and the antagonist really are. There’s this interesting thing where they are revealing the character traits of the main people you interact with. I find it very, very interesting. And people will hear, because it’s not scripted it doesn’t sound scripted, just like conversations that are revealing, interesting, funny? They can be like “Oh, I can’t believe he said that!”... There’s almost a voyeuristic way to experience the story… It’s innovative, I think. I’ve done this a long time, and I’ve never been a part of something that’s even attempted something like this. So, fingers crossed, but I think people are really going to like this.

It is! It is, because, and I can tie this into DIRT 5, Deadpool was pretty much ad-libbed, a lot of it. A lot of it was written, but then we’d go off and do stuff, all the zaniness. Deadpool can do and say anything he wants. He’s a wise-ass, and he absolutely is my favourite. I remember when I first did him, it wasn’t in the game, it was actually Hulk Vs Wolverine, an animated film we did. I heard back from the producers that even Ryan Reynolds enjoyed it, he thought we got the character right. So, high praise! But that’s exactly what I was saying about DIRT 5, the improv, ad-libbing nature where you’re free to create… They gave me that creative freedom to make Bruno - according to the “rules” of the background information - they allowed me to create this character through these conversations. Similarly, Deadpool. The developers said “You know Deadpool, we wrote a bunch of funny lines, we’ve got this crazy little story, but make it your own.” It takes a lot of trust, a lot of respect on both ends. That doesn’t go unnoticed by me, you know, the fact that somebody would say “Make it your own, you’ve done this a while and we trust you.” That being said, there’s also writers and directors that sit there and say “Alright, we’re gonna pull you back there, that’s a little off the rails.” It’s good to work with teams like that! But yes, the other superheroes have their rules and I have to stick to them. Deadpool had no rules, just like Bruno. And apparently, I don’t like rules.

Absolutely. You kidding me? That was an honour that they did that. It was just “Well, you’re in all of these other games, you might as well be a choice.” What was it? Male Character One, Male Character Two, Female Character One, Female Character Two or Nolan North. I thought my agent was kidding me, when they said they wanted me to come in and do that, it was a blast.

Yeah, they wanted to make sure I was in everything, so they did. Cheers to them!

Tom Holland.

I got to meet him, I think Tom’s great. Just so you know, I think he’s going to kill it, he’s going to be great at it. He’s got all the characteristics that Nathan Drake needs. I think it’s great that Sony did something where the story is about Nathan Drake in his 20s. They say that comparison is the thief of joy, so if you’re doing a one-to-one adaptation of a videogame that is so immersive and personal to the gamer, no movie can do it justice. Don’t get an actor that resembles the Nathan Drake I played - show me him in his 20s! Not necessarily a prequel or origin story, just the early years. I think it’s a great idea.

I don’t know… I think I’m probably too old to play Desmond myself… That kinda stinks. I’m in talks to do a couple of on-camera things with my agency, with a couple of studios, but I probably can’t pull off Desmond Miles myself, anymore. So, Andrew Garfield who you mistakenly thought was Nathan Drake, we should just give it to him! He’s a fantastic actor, I think he could do it. And he did Spider-Man too, that’s probably where that came from, right?

I don’t know, again we have to figure out something that doesn’t do a one-to-one adaptation of Assassin’s Creed. Maybe make him younger. Or make him older! Let’s go with the old Assassin’s Creed, and I’ll be him.

You know what? I would. It always comes down to - every character is shaped by who their mother and father did to them, nicely or viciously. We’re all shaped by the people who raise us. You know what? That’s not a bad call. Desmond’s dad - that’s me. Call my agents.

I don’t really have a preference, depending on what the project is. I have been very fortunate to have raised my kids and have had a successful career in the last few years. I did one show with Warner Brothers for seven seasons, just recurring, but raising my kids, being in LA when so many of my friends are in Vancouver or Toronto or wherever, away from their families… I’ve had the opportunity to make a living and do what I love to do with voiceover. I’ll never stop doing voiceover, it’s a treat. I was talking with Mark Hamill about it, and… An actor is like an independent contractor - a plumber. You’re never going to meet a plumber going “I prefer to only work on toilets, I will not work on sinks.” My job as an actor is to deliver a performance. Whether it’s on stage in front of a live audience, a camera on television or film, or in a motion capture suit, or in front of a microphone. I’m performing in any of those capacities. I prefer good voiceover, scripts and teams, to bad on-camera TV or film. It’s quality, it’s not one or the other. It may sound greedy, but I want to do it all, and I think I should be able to. You work hard and keep up… I have theatrical agents who are excited about finding me the opportunities I’m looking for with directors and other actors I want to work with, and I will still always do this. Especially through this pandemic, learning that I can do this from home! I built a booth, and I can work from home. Almost exclusively, since February. It’s been brilliant. I love telling stories, I love performing no matter what the medium is. I just want people to keep hiring me. My job isn’t to act! It’s to get hired as an actor - that’s it.

Yes, that’s it, it’s why I keep the phones open! Let everyone know I’m available.

Thank you.