Gary Oldman Talks Video Games, Sci-Fi and… Headgear?

Back in October, we reported to you that Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) lent his voice to a new Lego video game titled Lego Dimensions. He’s a regular to the gaming industry, having previously made voice appearances in other popular titles such as Call of Duty and The Legend of Spyro. Now, he’s once again making another video game feature, this time in the upcoming 2016 PC game Star Citizen: Squadron 42.

Created by Chris Roberts, Oldman will be joining an all-star cast that includes Gillian Anderson, Mark Hamill, and Andy Serkis. In a recent interview with Vulture, Oldman discussed his experience working on Squadron 42 and the future of game/film-making via crowdfunding.

When asked about his experience playing character Admiral Bishop, Oldman replied,

I’ve done a few of games before and did motion-capture performance with Bob Zemeckis on A Christmas Carol. It’s strange because normally you have costumes and physical sets and props, and here, the world is completely imagined and left solely up to the directors and the designers. It’s a great role to play, and the approach to it, in that sense, is just like any other role, but it’s also very odd since there is absolutely nothing there. It’s all left up to the imagination. I worked with Chris Roberts, the director, who showed me visual material and talked through the geography of where I was and how I was interfacing with the things in the Senate and on the ship.

He then goes on to describe his attraction to the gaming-verse, explaining,

These things come across my desk much the same way as any other role. They’re acting roles, at the end of the day, and each game sets up some particular hurdles that you have to go through. One is more of a vocal performance, for example. And each one offers something new. I’m always amazed at how quickly the technology advances. I honestly don’t know how they come up with this stuff. It seems like just a matter of months before something is obsolete.

After mentioning his work on A Christmas Carol, which was released back in 2009, he was then asked how motion-capture has changed between then and now. His reply:

In terms of what they do now, the technology we used on Christmas Carol was prehistoric. With Squadron, the capturing of the performance was a lot simpler than it used to be. They were using fewer cameras. The motion-capture suit that one wears is more actor-friendly. The headgear that one wears is lighter. But it still needs tweaks. In that sense, it’s still a bit in its infancy because the people [who] design the gear are not performers, and there’s a difference between wearing something for ten minutes and wearing something for 12 hours and performing in it.

He goes on to describe the technology used on this particular game as “quite groundbreaking.”

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever been involved with — and I’ve just seen one tiny piece that’s been put together in a rough form. I was completely amazed and blown away by the quality of the image.

Over $90 million was raised for Star Citizen, so when asked about his opinions on crowdfunding for both video games and the world of Hollywood, his response seemed very positive indeed:

It’s an ingenious way of going straight to the fans. This is exciting for these gamers and their involvement, and it’s a project that can raise that kind of money. Maybe this is the future of filmmaking. You do really cut out literally everyone and just go straight to the fans. It’s supply and demand. You go to the people and say, ‘Look, we have this idea. It’s going to cost so much. It’s about this and it’s about that.’ And they say, ‘Yeah, we would like to see that.’

He finally touches on the genre of sci-fi, when asked why it’s a genre he seems particularly attracted to:

I suppose it still comes down to a good story, really. I’ve also dabbled in the world of vampires and the supernatural, but it just comes down to a good story, really, and good writing. I’m not particularly a big sci-fi buff, but I was attracted to it because of Chris’s résumé and the quality of the storytelling and worlds and where this can go. With The Space Between Us, it’s sci-fi that is very much the world we’re living in.

Pictures of Oldman as Admiral Bishop and a behind-the-scenes shot of him in that famous headgear can be viewed below.

An online beta version of Star Citizen can be found here, while the date of Squadron 42 is TBA.

What do you think of the idea of Star Citizen: Squadron 42? Will it be something that you’ll find yourself playing? Let us know with your comments below!