Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Here’s his interview with PC Zone Magazine dated 6 of April 2006. Pay attention to the last paragraph!

Last month we met Brian Blessed, this month we met someone even better. That’s right: we fired questions at the beautifully peroxided bonce of Simon Pegg: celebrity bastion of scruffy sci-fi fans everywhere, co-creator of Spaced, writer and star of Shaun Of The Dead, bloke out of Big Train and general best person ever. Best.

But why our sudden dabbling in the murky underworld of celebrity? Well, you see Pegg lent his voice (well, we say lent – we assume there was a fee involved) to the neat WWII jaunt that is Commandos: Strike Force. Playing one Lieutenant William Hawkins (known by Commandos hacks throughout the ages as ‘The Sniper’), he was called in to play a man whose origins as a cheeky ragamuffin never diminished while his remarkable skill with a long steel cylinder became apparent – until he finally became a vital part in the Strike Force commando triptych.

Advertisement:As the joker in the pack and a man of maverick tendencies, Eidos decreed that only Pegg, a man who once attacked a zombie with a swingball set, could do justice to such a war hero. Whether or not there’s a few easter eggs in Strike Force in which Lieutenant Hawkins decries Kiora for being too orangey for crows, or indeed asks Commando Francis O’Brien to do his impression of Clyde the Orang-utan from Any Which Way But Loose is as yet unknown. All we can say is that he brings an unsurpassed aura of cheeky-chappiness to his voice-acting. We can also say stuff like “We’re not worthy”,
but that goes without saying.

What do you think it is about WWII that appeals so much to gamers?

Pegg: I think it’s at once contemporary, yet long enough ago to be romantic. Our modern perception of the conflict is now drawn from films and TV, which despite recent more visceral interpretations, still paints it as being a simple war. The enemy was easier to define as aggressive and morally corrupt-we were fighting fascism and fascism is bad. It’s hard to romanticise contemporary warfare without cynically exploiting it. I suppose you could have a game where a technologically-inferior opponent is fending off wave after wave of relentless attacks from a vastly superior power. No wait, that’s Space Invaders.

How long have you been into computer gaming?

Pegg: Probably since the ’70s when I was very young and fresh out of the swimming pool, waiting for my mum in the leisure centre foyer, eating salt-andvinegar crisps, smelling of chlorine and playing Galaxian.

What are you playing now?

Pegg: I’m still enjoying Half-Life 2 – it’s the best game I’ve ever played, so engrossing and wonderfully interactive. It’s absolutely head and shoulders above anything else – I love it. To be honest, I haven’t been gaming that much recently as I’m pretty busy. I played four-player Crash ‘N’ Burn round at my mate’s house on Xbox the other night, which he projected onto an 8ft screen – that was brilliant fun. I’m not a huge fan of driving games, but it was such a laugh. Elsewhere, I tend to enjoy the solitary danger of the first-person shooter. The new Resident Evil game was a really nice evolution in a series which was becoming a little tired. Homicidal villagers? I love that shit!

Have you dabbled with multiplayer?

Pegg: I’ve played a few multiplayer games on the PC: Half-Life and Half-Life 2, also Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. I had a good run on the latter – I just used to jump into the middle of pitch battles and throw my lightsabers around. It was my one perfected special move and it was devastating. That and the old forward roll into a jab. I f***ed up a fair few Rodians, I can tell you.

What do you make of all the haXx0r and their 1337 speak currently favoured by 12-year-olds the world over?

Pegg: I find them really scary. When I play multiplayer, I feel like a dad playing football with youngsters in the park. I shouldn’t mind that they’re better than me, but I do. I get really hacked off when some 13-year-old uses the zeropoint gravity gun to chuck a bench in my face and then types ‘fck u nuB’. Joining a game is sometimes like walking into a room full of hoodies and saying, ‘right guys, let’s steal some mobile telephones.

It’s a hugely underestimated subculture because most social commentators have no idea it exists. There’s an entire synthetic universe of smart-mouthed little thugs out there having the time of their lives. It’s the closest reality has ever come to the condition of super-humanity. By day, mild-mannered Timothy Simpkins from Reading (12); by night, a rocket launcher-wielding psychopath from hell, bent on destroying all who cross his path. They should make a multiplayer version of the Daily Mail. You’d have a huge online community of outraged conservatives, bemoaning the rise in teleportation and stealth beheadings.

A few of the current voice actors must be getting a little long in the tooth. Ever fancied becoming the new voice of Master Chief or Sam Fisher?

Pegg: Quality of voice-acting is vital. Games can be undermined or ruined by cheesy acting – and by the same token, they can also be improved by good characterisation. Sure, if the right character came up, it’d be fun to do more. I met Shelly Blond who did the original voice of Lara Croft a few years back and I was really impressed. We hung off a wall in an Indian restaurant and made grunting ‘effort noises’. That sounds weird; the restaurant was full of people. No, that still sounds weird…

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I then asked Inna to draw me a few sketches and she gladly did so (see above).

Jonathon, who wrote the music for my E3 video, agreed to compose the music for this project. He perfectly captured the Slavic motifs.

And so after a few sleepless nights and many pages of handwritten text I’ve put together this animation in After Effects. 

A few Tomb Raider fansite admins and fans offered their help with translating this video:

• Bulgarian Subtitles by Tomb Raider Passion
• Croatian Subtitles by Ana Schindler 
• German Subtitles by Lara’s Generation
• Russian Subtitles by Laracroft.ru
• French Subtitles by Brice Jeunieaux

Lastly, the video featured on the official Tomb Raider Blog, Twitter and Facebook.

I’m very grateful to everyone who was involved in this! Here’s the result of our work:

The post appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

The post appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

Shelley Blond is the first and original voice of Lara Croft. Tomb of Ash presents an exclusive interview with her!

An exclusive audio message from Shelley Blond!

Hello Shelley,

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! It is a great honour to interview a woman who is behind Lara’s original voice! 

“Thank you very much for saying that!! You obviously realise flattery gets you everywhere!!“

How did you find out that the Tomb Raider developers needed a voice actress for their upcoming video game? Were you approached or casted? 

“As well as being an actress, I was also busy with voice work,voicing commercials and animations and I had heard on the grapevine that Eidos and Core Design were searching for a voice for Lara Croft but I didn’t know anything about that specific game or any games to be honest. Never being a computer game buff, I had no interest in the subject. One day my agent rang and asked if I’d like to record a few lines as the Lara character and so I did. Those were the days of recording something on tape and sending it by post! I understood that Eidos and Core had been searching for the voice for over 6 months and I didn’t think anything of it after recording the ‘audition’. Three days later I received a conference call from the people at Core Design in Derby and they offered the role to me. I wasn’t too excited about the character… Just about getting a job that so many people had auditioned for. Bearing in mind I was never interested in video games.. I was just happy after searching for so long, the voice they were searching for was mine.”

As you know, there were just a few female protagonists in video-games at a time. What were your thoughts about Lara back then? Did you expect her to become a worldwide icon?

“I dont think even Eidos and Core had a clue of how iconic she would become. I certainly thought I would record the voice and that would be it. But after that there were cinema commercials to record for it and interviews with newspapers all around the world.”

How did you react when you got the position?  What where you first reactions?  

“I was just happy that my voice was the one they had been looking for for so long and that it was another voice job to add to my CV! At the point of getting the job I didnt realise what a huge thing it would become”

Did you play Tomb Raider at all?  What are your thoughts on it?

“Ha! If you want the truth I have never ever played it!!!! I am completely, utterly technically challenged… No clue how to play a computer game. I can just about email!  I know many friends who have played it and I meet people all the time all over the world who have played it over and over. I think maybe I’m the only person never to have played it!”

Have you done voice acting before becoming Lara’s voice?

“Yes. I was already voicing jingles and cartoons and promos. But I had only been a voice-over artiste for about a year and a half. At that point I wasnt too established in the business. Also acting was a big part of my world, acting singing and dancing in West End shows as well as several commercials on TV and film”

What was most unusual about this role?  What parts did you like or dislike?

“I didn’t find any part unusual as such. But I did actually find the voice quite dull. I thought she looked quite sexy even in her early stages of development and I wanted the voice to reflect that.. But I followed directions they gave me to the letter and did it in a very straight mono syllabic way. Their actual direction was ‘do it like a female James Bond.’ The straighter I did it the more they liked it. ”

Where did you have to go to be recorded? Was anyone from Core Design there at the time?

“Gosh you’re going back nearly 20 years.. I can’t remember if it was a studio in London or in Derby. There were several people from Eidos and Core Design there directing me in the session and giving me more of an idea of the character”

Have you integrated quotes from the script of Tomb Raider you have worked on into daily life?

“Haha!! Like ‘welcome to my home. I think I’d better get out of these wet clothes?’ No. Can’t say I have!”

How long was the process of recording?  

“It took a total of five hours. Most of the time was spent making all the sounds for fighting falling and being hurt.. Or the sound of being slammed into a wall”

Does anyone recognize your voice in real life to be that of Lara Croft?  How much did you change your voice to become the character?

“No one recognises it in everyday life but sometimes people I do voice work for ask me to ‘do’ the voice. Then they all get excited as they recognise it. It makes me laugh to see them so excited. I only changed my voice in keeping any excitement or emotion out of it which was hard for me as I am a very expressive person and that shows in my natural voice”

Do you recall any funny moments or out takes that occurred during the process?  Unfortunately, there are no out-takes online for us to see or hear.

“I can’t recall any funny moments or out-takes. We were all there to do a job and get it done fast. If we had worked together for a longer period then no doubt things would have been more relaxed and funnier. ”

Would you voice Lara Croft again if the opportunity arose? 

“I was unable to do games 2 and 3 but I agreed for my soundbites to be used on them from the original game. My very good friend Jonell Elliot was chosen for a few of the games. I was called and asked if I would be interested in returning for the 6th or 7th game. I don’t remember which one.. And I agreed to be involved if they wanted me. Then they called me to say it was between me and Keeley Hawes and they called again to say they decided to go with Keeley, as she is a famous name.  I think she was a wonderful choice. She has a gorgeous voice, very fitting for the Lara character.

It was lovely to be asked again though.  A friend of mine worked on the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie and she told my friend that it was my voice in the original game that she listened to for inspiration. For me its a wonderful thing to hear ‘Shelley Blond…the Original Voice Of Lara Croft. I’m very proud of that.”

Thank you very much for your time!

“Pleasure!!”

Special thanks:

Tatiana Leitzel

Yaketyyak

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