So, a few weeks ago before the release of Lost Planet 3 I got the chance to speak to the leading actor, Bill Watterson. Lost Planet is the third installment in the Lost Planet series, and Bill Watterson plays Jim Peyton - the main protagonist. I held an interview with him and it was ton of fun.



D: HI BILL! HOW ARE YOU DOING? I SAW IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY, HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTER YOUR BIRTHDAY ANTICS?




B: Hey! I have a bit of a headache, but I had a really really nice time. I had a small group of friends head out to the shooting range and we celebrated in true american tradition, then we headed out for german sausage and beer. It was really good!



D: OH, SWEET! THAT SOUNDS AMAZING! SO, YOU ARE VOICE ACTING JIM PEYTON IN LOST PLANET 3. BEFORE YOU WORKED ON LOST PLANET, I SAW THAT YOU HAD WORKED ON SHORT FILMS AND EVEN MANAGED TO LAND YOURSELF A SMALL ROLE IN L.A NOIRE - HOW WAS IT WORKING ON THE SET OF L.A NOIRE?



B: It was really exciting! I didn't know the world of gaming well and I knew of motion capture but I didn't know first hand. A friend of mine was working on the L.A Noire set and they needed an extra body as there were so many roles to fill in and they were needing extra bodies to fill the spaces. So they wanted to bring in an actor who could do whatever they needed. It started out doing small background work like someone getting in and out of a truck or wandering on a scene, and I was on set for 6 days a week for 3 months and ended up playing a ton of different characters, I was doing stunt work, I was playing old men and even sexy ladies! When I play the game back, it's like a big high school reunion for me.



D: SO, DID YOU WANT TO HEAD INTO THE GAMING INDUSTRY OR DID IT HAPPEN BY CHANCE?



B: It did happen by chance but there is nothing that I don't want to do. My resume as an actor has a lot of different things I've worked on, I've been in a godzilla suit, I've done stunts, I did a small role as an ogre in a short film so I am a film and TV guy, but the stuff that happens in video games is a blast!



D: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON LOST PLANET 3?



B: I've been working on Lost Planet 3 for years. I first auditioned for Spark who were auditioning for Capcom over 3 years ago, so it's been a long process.



D: IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF HARD WORK! HOW HARD IS IT FOR YOU TO GET INTO CHARACTER? YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE TO DO A BIT OF BONDING WITH THE CHARACTER YOU'RE VOICING, SO HOW HARD WAS IT FOR YOU TO MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY BE JIM PEYTON?



B: The physical challenges of being a character is being in the motion capture suit as it's really uncomfortable and easy to get self consious because you look ridiculous. But once you get over that, it's like any other acting. You engage with the other actors by making eye contact and you figure out how you feel about the other characters pretty quickly. In Lost Planet 3, the writing was so solid. Every character had a really distinct voice and that makes it so much easier to form an opinion on them. But when it comes to the bugs on the spaceships and other monsters you have to use your imagination. The one thing I did struggle with was relating to Jim and his feelings towards his wife and kids. It was hard to put that head on and really feel like you'd stick your neck on the line and do anything and provide for them. As I can't relate to that, it was harder for me to do. But then again I also haven't died, but I've acted that out a lot for the camera.



D: HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO LAND YOUR ROLE IN LOST PLANET 3?



B: Very very luckily. When Spark was first developing the demo, they called out to actors on a website called Actors Access. Usually, small films and student films are put up here for actors to audition for but every once in a while something big comes along and you submit yourself. Lost Planet was just simply labelled 'video game demo', and when I read the character description I loved it. I'd just finished doing L.A Noire too and it was saying it was a specific mo-cap job, so I told them my experience and they were kind enough to let me audition!



D: AWESOME, SO BE HONEST NOW - HOW FUN IS IT TO USE MOTION CAPTURE? PURELY ASKING AS I'M GOING TO UNIVERSITY THIS YEAR TO DO VIDEO GAME TECHNOLOGY AND I'M SUPER STOKED ABOUT DOING MOTION CAPTURE THINGS IN OUR STUDIO.



B: I love it and I actually miss using it everyday. You come into the studio in your regular street clothes, then you get sent into a dressing room where the suit is on a hanger and it kind of feels like Peter Parker getting in the spiderman outfit. Everyone thinks that I'm a dork, but really I'm Spiderman! But yeah you put the suit on, theres velcro and zippers and all other things, and you feel like a super hero because it covers you head to toe. It's just awesome. But to be honest with you I prefer Daredevil, he's got more of a darkness about him. He's cool.



D: I CAN RELATE TO THAT, BUT SPIDERMAN IS TOTALLY AWESOME AS WELL. SO, GOING BACK TO THE VOICE ACTING, DO YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF SPECIAL ROUTINE YOU LIKE TO PLAY OUT BEFORE YOU START ACTING AND VOICING JIM PEYTON?



B: Jim has definitely got a swagger and he's got a maturity that I don't think I have on my own.



D: WELL, YOU COULD HAVE A SWAGGER IF YOU LIKED. JUST PUT ON ONE AND GO!



B: Yeah, but I have to think about it a little more! It all kind of just comes naturally to Jim. But really, I found Jim in the writing. You come across these little phrases and you just feel like a cowboy. You start talking like a cowboy, walking like a cowboy, and it's all because it's in the dialogue. In one part of the game, something big happens to Jim and it's very physical for me. So I took a few minutes out to prepare myself and do the physical transformation rather than cheating it.



D: WHAT INTERESTS YOU MOST ABOUT JIM?



B: It's funny because now I'm able to step back and look at him in perspective and I know what Jim does and what he goes through, it's actually kinda heartbreaking. He's always trying to do the right thing, which I think is so noble and he's incredibly loyal. But sometimes he gets himself into a situation where his loyalties are tested and its not obvious what the right thing to do is. He seems like a simple guy, but he's actually really conflicted. He starts as a guy whos just here to shoot bugs and support his family, but because of all the things he starts to discover about the planet and he learns how he's been mislead, his loyalties are always being questioned and his desire to always do the right thing is no longer as clear cut. You see his life change course from the decisions he has to make, but it doesn't always go well for him and theres always a price to be paid when your loyalties come into play. It's really heartbreaking.



D: IT MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY FUN TO PLAY HIM THOUGH, HE SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY FUN AND COMPLEX CHARACTER.



B: Oh yeah! It's a real blessing. He kinda came from that Harrison Ford and Nathan Fillion mould. He's slightly sarcastic, kind of a lone wolf character with a swagger and good sense of humour. Those kinds of characters are my favourites, so getting to be one was amazing.



D: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE PART ABOUT WORKING ON LOST PLANET? THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE MUST HAVE BEEN AMAZING BUT IS THERE ONE PART THAT STOOD OUT MORE THAT YOU'LL HOLD ONTO FOREVER?



B: Well, there's definately scene work that I'm real proud of. But more than that, you don't always get to make friends in this industry and it can be a very lonely road. I mean, you can show up to an audition or day of filming and kill it, but you wont learn anyones name and no one will talk to you. But because Lost Planet 3 was a long road, and there was a lot at stake for Spark as they'd not had the best reputation, aswell as some of the actors. Some of them were small time actors getting big roles so we had to prove ourselves aswell. So we all worked together really well and had a great trench mentality of being in it together. I've made a few good friends who I still see and go out with outside of the industry and that does not always happen.



D: SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE FUTURE? DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING LINED UP?



B: Ah, I think I'm allowed to say this now but I've actually just found out - on my birthday - that I've landed a role in Clint Eastwood's next movie.



D: OH MY GOSH, WELL DONE!



B: Yeah, so I'm really excited about that. I'm a huge Clint Eastwood fan. I would think that Clint and Jim Peyton would have a lot in common. But yeah, I'm incredibly excited about that. Next month I'm shooting a sci-fi pirate comedy and I get to be a kung fu fighting Ogre in a floor length, sleeveless, shiny black outfit.



D: THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!



B: Yeah I'm pretty fired up about it. Did I mention that the shoulders and neck of the black floor length outfit are fur lined?



D: YOU ARE GOING TO LOOK SO COOL.



B: I'll be sure to get a picture of it. I'm really excited about it.



D: I BET, I WOULD BE TOO. FUR LINED OUTFITS ARE ALWAYS A GOOD CHOICE. SO WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE IN A FEW YEARS TIME?



B: I'm trying to increasingly become a generator of content. I have a pilot that I wrote and produced and performed in aswell for a half hour comedy shot that we're pitching to cable networks and online ventures. So I do want to be a writer and creator. I look at people like Seth Green and Mark Duplass and it's not their kind of stuff that I want to recreate, but I want to have a career like they do where they can write a film, be in a sitcom, direct a film and they can executive produce a show and they get to do all these different things and they are respected as voices in the industry whether they are behind the camera or in front. That's where I'd like to be, I don't want to spend the rest of my life auditioning and hoping to get picked. It's important to have some sense of goal and somewhere you want to be, otherwise you'll look back and realise you've been treading water instead of building towards something and you can't get that back. I'm also getting older, so I'm starting to think about things like having a family, a wife, a house, I do want to have some roots and feel like I've gotten on in life a bit. You have to have a quality of life and being an artist is brutal.



D: DO YOU HAVE ANY LAST WORDS? YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING NOW. ANYTHING YOU LIKE.



B: I really want people to buy the Jim Peyton action figure and send me pictures of it doing really silly things.



D: ARE YOU GOING TO GET ONE YOURSELF?



B: Oh yeah. I played with action figures growing up, so to now actually be onethat's the pinnacle. That's how I define success. By having your own action figure.



D: IT MUST BE SO WEIRD KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE YOUR OWN ACTION FIGURE.



B: It's completely surreal. Everything about this acting job and life is surreal, but that's just way up there. I think the one thing that's going to top the action figure is if I ever see a Jim Peyton cosplay.



D: THAT WOULD BE JUST THE TOP OF MY CAREER IF I EVER WAS TO ACT IN ANYTHING. IF I SAW A COSPLAY OF ME, BECAUSE IT WOULD JUST BE ME BEING PLAYED BY SOMEONE ELSE IN MY CHARACTER. IT'D BE WEIRD.



B: Oh yeah. It'd be really strange.



D: WELL, THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO TALK TO ME!



B: You bet. It was nice to talk to you!



Lost Planet 3 is out now on XBOX 360, PS3 and PC.
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