How Gary Oldman Screamed His Lines in Call of Duty

The esteemed movie actor might be better known to gamers as Viktor Reznov from World at War and BlOps.

More and more film and TV actors are appearing in videogames. Recording the voice of a game character requires just as much talent, but the time investment for an actor is usually much less than a typical six week shoot for a film. But that time can usually be pretty taxing, especially in modern shooters. As Gary Oldman – he of Commissioner Gordon and Sirius Black fame – explained on the Conan O’Brien’s talk show last night, screaming the lines needed for “battle chatter” can really strain your vocal chords.

“Do you know how they actually make those [games]?” Oldman asked Conan in response to the staff saying they loved his performance as the Russian Victor Reznov in Call of Duty games. “There’s a thing called ‘battle chatter.’

“You have to shout commands over a lot of noise, a lot of music and explosions. You have to cover all of the variables. So you go into a booth and basically say things like, ‘Over there!'” Oldman screamed. “On the ridge! Shoot! Tank! Incoming! But louder than I’m doing right now.”

“That’s not possible,” Conan replied.

It’s pretty funny watching Gary Oldman in thick glasses and a purple shirt and bowtie combo screaming in a bad Russian accent, but the closing line he related from Kiefer Sutherland takes the taco.

“I did one game with Kiefer Sutherland, who was playing an American corporal,” he said, referring to Corporal Roebuck from Call of Duty: World at War. “He had been doing this for two days and when he came out of the booth he said, ‘Man, I haven’t shouted this much since I was married.'”

Zing!

Source: Team Coco