Dan Allen Gaming's Interview with Angela Sant'Albano
A recap of the interview with Graceâs VA. Needless to say, spoilers ahead:
One of the first scenes she filmed was her strapped upside down on the gurney.
Audition came during the US writerâs strike, she already had an interest to do horror.
Her agent wasnât aware it was for a RE game, just a generic âzombie apocalypse gameâ.
Angela did her research and figured it was RE.
Did her audition with Kate Saxon in the UK, she wore an outfit similar to Grace with a backpack and glasses.
The audition was 30 mins long, involved actual(?) scenes, dummy scenes, and an improv of a drawn out 3 minute death scene.
Got along well with the cast, was only nervous filming the scene with Jane Perry (Alyssaâs VA) which took about 4 takes.
The Alyssa-Grace take they used was the one where she cried uncontrollably.
Once Angela nailed the scene with Jane, she felt confident that she could do any intense scene.
Capcom showed Angela a rendering of the scene where Grace thought her legs got chopped off.
Emma, the actress who plays Emily is not that small IRL so Angelaâs eyeline would be at Emmaâs boobs which could be awkward at times.
Angela would be carrying a doll that simulates Emily instead of actually carrying Emma. Plus, the velcro on the suits would cause the mocap actors to stick together at close proximity if she were to carry Emma.
Emma did such a stellar job in the Emily transformation scene that Angela was terrified. Every flip, every hand, and eye movement was done by Emma.
Tonyâs voice as Victor Gideon is so chilling and Angela feels it has a Voldemort-ish quality.
It took over 2 years to film RE9 and it was filmed chronologically in a way, Eg. chapter by chapter
Angela deliberately chose to portray Grace differently before and after Alyssaâs death.
While Grace was already an introvert before Alyssaâs death, sheâs still a bit sassy with her mother and likes physical touch.
After Alyssaâs death, Grace is still traumatised and struggles with making eye contact.
Grace slowly develops over the course of the game, from being unsure at the beginning to having a purpose at the end.
Grace grew to love Emily over the course of the game and was heartbroken when Leon kills Emily. Grace only sees Emily the girl and not Emily the monster.
Angela loves filming scenes where Grace loses someone, including the bad ending where Leon dies.
They were only told near the last block of filming that there were gonna be two endings.
There was so much secrecy surrounding the game that Angela didnât know Grace was gonna be one of the lead characters, even during the table read.
Only on the first day where Angela was shown the concept art did she realise she was in the whole game and not just the beginning of the game.
As an actor, Angela feels most of the TV & movie world doesnât quite understand how vital mocap is in video games. To be able to have cinematographic sequences and having the player spend hours bonding with the character in the game is not something to scoff at.
Angela feels mocap is like theatre but performing for TV, film, and the audience since the camera is right in your face. She feels it to be quite freeing.
Plus in theatre, you canât really quite get all the subtle emotions out but with mocap itâs a blend of everything.
Capcom did not ask Angela to stutter but they liked how she included it to convey Graceâs emotional state at the beginning of the game.
Angela naturally stutters a bit in anxious situations. So when these anxiety inducing scenes are filmed, she will incorporate it but made a conscious decision not to overplay the stutter. Angela has a friend who stutters IRL in certain situations like when theyâre anxious or around people they donât know.
The stutter eases off near the end of the game and so does the way Grace handles the gun where sheâs more steady with it.
Angela is a huge bookworm. She used to be staunch fan of physical books but was gifted a Kindle and uses it now.
Angela has no preferences about which genre she prefers to act in.
Nick gave lots of helpful tips to the British actors who were unfamiliar with motion capture.
Angela said Nick lost it and almost cried when Raccoon City popped up in the storyboards. It helped motivate the other actors to do this game justice as he was a super fan that loves the franchise and they know other fans love this game too.
Angela was initially nervous how the fans would take to Grace and was prepared that people wouldnât like her character. Sheâs genuinely touched by all the praise.
As someone who has a background in TV, film, and theatre, Angela is still boggled that 5 million copies of the game got sold which is equivalent to selling out 200 stadiums.
She has played 30 mins of the game and would like to stream RE9 at some point but she warns fans she wonât be very good. She would like to invite other actors onto the stream as well.
She knows she doesnât sound or look like Grace but thatâs what acting is, finding a sliver of yourself in the character and magnify it 10x
Angela feels if Grace was to appear in another RE game, she would still be scared but able to self-regulate better and allow her analytical side to come out more. She was too afraid in RE9 to let her analytical brain process the environment.
Even if this was Graceâs last game, Angela is pleased where she has left the character.
She still feels a bit weird watching cutscenes of Grace âcos even though the character doesnât look like her, the physical and facial movements all belonged to Angela and she remembers doing all of that.
Angela has met Grace's face model (Julia Pratt) in person and it felt a little trippy.
The last day of shooting was emotional for her. She knew she would see the other voice actors again at launch events but it was a low probability to meet the Imaginarium Studios team and Japanese team again. She grew close to the mocap crew too.
She is more active on IG than X so feel free to tag her on IG for fanart, sheâll do her best to like all of them.
Regarding her accent, sheâs half-Italian & half-American, grew up in London & Italy. Went to an American school in Italy. If sheâs been in London for a while, sheâll sound more British. If sheâs in the US with her mother for a while, sheâll sound more American. So donât be surprised if her accent sounds different in various interviews. đ
