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Gone Gold with Simon Hill
Welcome to Gone Gold with Simon Hill, a show that features fun, insightful interviews with some of the biggest names in video games. From developers, to actors - this show delves in to what makes your favourite video games tick.
Gone Gold with Simon Hill
Samantha Beart
I'm joined by BAFTA Nominated Actor Samantha Beart, who talks about her journey and introduction into acting, having her breakthrough moment, bringing the multi-award winning Baldurs Gate 3 to life with her performance as Karlach, hosting the Future Games Show and so much more.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Gone Gold with me, Simon Hill, esports host, industry presenter and TV personality. here we are back for another fantastic episode but before we get into all of that let me say a massive thank you to everyone who tuned in to the first episode last week with the co-creator of life is strange and creative director on lost records bloom and rage in the first 24 hours we had over 100 downloads which doesn't count listens but the most fascinating part for me was where people were listening from now check this Peace out. Already after one episode, this show has now gone global. I want to thank every single one of you, wherever you're listening to in the world, that took the time to listen, download and join us on this journey. So thank you so much to everyone who listened. And that was just such a fun interview as well. And I would once again like to thank Michelle and the team at Don't Nod Montreal who all helped put this together. He was so open and inviting into the world that he has helped create. And I can't wait to see what he does next. And I'm looking forward to getting him back on the show in the future. If you're tuning into this episode as well, please do this show a quick favor and give it a rating on your chosen platform and even leave a little review, a little comment, and this will help push the show up into the ratings and help you be able to approach more of your favorite developers and actors in the future. You may also notice a little icon now where you can text the show. So feel free to get in touch by pressing the button which is above the episodes And I may even read them out on the next episode. So, yes, get in touch and let's have some fun with that as well. Talking of fun, let's get into this. I'm joined on this episode by the BAFTA-nominated actor, Samantha Bayard, who captured our hearts as Thomasina in the wonderful Hobbs Barrow before becoming the world-renowned Karlak in the multi-award-winning Baldur's Gate 3. We talk about her character work and the story that led her to her breakthrough role, which would eventually land her an opportunity to host the future game show alongside Ben Starr, and even find herself casting an advert with Ned Luke and Steven Ogg, also known as Michael and Trevor from GTA. There's so much in this interview that you don't want to miss. Welcome to Gone Gold with Samantha Bayer. As I said, I'm very excited to welcome our next guest to the show, a talented BAFTA nominee actor who has had a breakthrough career over the last few years, the voice of Thomasina in Hobbs Barrow, but more notably, the multi-award winning Baldur's Gate 3 have captured the hearts of Karlak, played by the one and only Samantha Bayer from Rezzed to Richies. Welcome to the show. I'm stealing that for the book.
Samantha Beart:Thanks. Thank you. Only you and I know what that means, but thank you. I'm working on the riches bit. Working on the riches bit. The non-visual actors not paid quite as well as the visual actors. Let's put it that way. But thank you. So I'm no longer choosing between eating and travelling. So
Simon:yeah, all right, I'll take it. Fine. I spent more time thinking about where to start, the fantastic rise you've had in your career recently than I did on the rest of the prep for this interview.
Samantha Beart:Is that because this is my third big break? When you were going, you were going, that happened, but it didn't go anywhere. Yeah, that's right. That's me. I've been waiting for this. Didn't think
Simon:it'd be video games. I've lost count, Sam, to be honest. Yeah,
Samantha Beart:thank you. You're very sweet.
Simon:What I wanted to do is give the listeners a little story. The first time we met was during a gaming convention here in the UK and you were super passionate about what you wanted to do and achieve at that point we met around six years ago now. Fast forward to today and Is this how you envisioned the journey that your career would take?
Samantha Beart:Oh, gosh, no. I trained as a classical actor for three years, as a lot of British actors do. And the two things we don't train in is audio and video games. So testament to traditional classical theatre training. Thanks. Um, you know, as you know, I, I, I've played games much longer than I ever wanted to be a performer or anything. Um, but it wasn't, it took a long time for that to click for it to be a thing I could do probably because it wasn't in that training. Um, so I'm trying to think, I mean, I graduated 2009 and I didn't start thinking about games till like Mass Effect 2 came out. I like telling this story about Jennifer Hellman. Oh, tough chicken space. I've been doing that. Oh, I can do that. okay now now you got to write me some stuff people so yeah that was it took a while and and i knew that um in an industry it doesn't have so many casting directors uh but also the gatekeepers aren't there sort of good and bad because like people aren't stopping you from from getting the audition but they also don't remember you from job to job so you kind of have to start all over again each time uh you finish something so i was i was cold calling for a bit which you know you're told to do for film theater tv etc but for games i wasn't quite reaching the right people and I didn't realize that the devs wear so many different hats in a way that they don't in traditional forms of media that aren't games essentially everyone has their role they're very very very good and experienced at it and so you know you have to give people a lot of grace as well but I didn't know any of that I started going to meetups dev meetups and conventions and conferences and that's where I met yourself obviously and I went to play the games and I got I went to meet folk it's funny because I think that was the first time I met Johnny Chiodini and I'm doing I don't know when this is going out but we're doing the Call of Cthulhu tour in a couple of weeks at the end of May beginning of June just for a week around the country and I didn't think that was going to you know you just don't know do you and just to jump to today and Baldur's Gate you know gosh it's coming up for two years and and people aren't sick of it yet, or at least they're not telling me to my face. They do come to the convention, they line up, the lines seem to be getting longer and it's a bit terrifying because I think games have been treated like bubble gum for so long in the way that pop music and the novel was, that it's just throw away, no one's gonna remember it. And then you're in a stonker like that and sort of nothing's come close to capture the imaginations of people in that genre. Quite yet, it will, but it hasn't happened yet.
Simon:Wonderful and terrifying. At the same time, and there's plenty more. I mean, you know, you've delved and touched into a few things that we're going to go into during this interview. But let's go right back to the start. Gaming itself has been on quite a journey, as you've just mentioned. Where did Sam begin to fall in love with gaming?
Samantha Beart:Yeah, so I relied on a lot of friends, older brothers, to get into the games because... Apparently, people like me don't play them. We're not allowed to, or it's brain rot. I remember learning poker, which now is a bilateral obsessive. It comes in quite useful. I was probably about eight. My mum was so distressed by me just spamming this thing all day. She sat me down in front of the TV, which, as we know, is perfectly safe and very good for your brain. It was sneaking out to friends' houses. My first console was an inherited Amstrad. green screen CPC 464 horrible thing with a tape in it and I'd rage quit exactly I'd rage quit and then I'd have to wait 20 minutes for it to load and make all the modem noises because older brother was getting a mega drive so I got this cast unloved child so I got that instead I couldn't afford to go to the arcades or anything so it was always it was always going around someone's house and playing a game and it was I've talked about Mortal Kombat 2 being the big one for me and just being able to beat boys make them cry that was like a superpower I was also doing martial arts so I made them cry in real life too so
Simon:Did Mortal Kombat have the inspiration to go into martial arts? It
Samantha Beart:actually wasn't. It was a little bit later. There was a boy at school that was picking on me. He used to kick me in the shins and I had no idea how to defend myself or fight back and they sent me to some karate stuff. It's all points. You never actually hit anyone. But I'd win on points and make them sad.
Simon:Brilliant.
Samantha Beart:Absolutely brilliant. No
Simon:fatalities allowed, boo. Thank God. Yes, yes. Let's get into the career of A BAFTA nominated actor One thing you've documented in the past Was a love for Mass Effect 2 You've already mentioned them More notably the performance of Jennifer Hale And in your words You said that Jennifer Hale helped choose the direction your life went in. Can you describe that?
Samantha Beart:Yeah, so I'd graduated from Guildhall, a really big, well-known international conservatoire, straight into the second once-in-a-lifetime recession that we've had, which was called the Credit Crunch back in 2008 and 2009. And all the productions were shutting down, the dramas were shutting down. And I'd always had a thing in this country where I look quite ethnically ambiguous. And it was just holding me back. I was either told to basically go away or to pass for another ethnicity that isn't mine. For the record, I'm Jamaican Irish. It was decided I didn't look like that, whatever that means. And as far as I'm aware, those cast and directors haven't gone. They're the same people. And, you know, nothing's changed. And if you interview other folks who've been nominated for BAFTAs or the US equivalents, it doesn't really make much difference, unfortunately, being seen for screen and theatre and the rest. So I poured myself into audio. And the first job I got is actually before the training was a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for Radio 4. And it feels like, you know, that Indiana Jones just... grabbing his hat before the door shuts. That was me. I was the hat. It's a book called Mostly Harmless. It's the fifth book in Douglas Adams trilogy. I played Random, the daughter. Sorry, spoilers. It's been out a million years. Don't care. And we did that for Radio 4. And then after I trained, I went straight on tour with the cast around the UK a couple of times. And I thought, okay, that's it. I've done it. Great. Fantastic. What's next? And then, you know, it was, oh, Sony Radio. Sorry, I thought it was the film. I thought, how dare you? Have you actually seen that? And then it was, you know, okay, well... I missed it. So next time you're in a really big theater tour, let me know. And you know, it just wasn't happening. And of course, off the back of that, I was starting to do more, or at least I was pursuing more sci-fi and fantasy audio because they didn't care what I looked like. And it was, bless him, Toby Longworth, who some of your listeners might know, might not know, but look him up. He's quite a legend. And he said, you're a nerd. You're a nerdy girl. They need more nerdy girls at Big Finish. Go to Big Finish. There's roles for you. They're always shorter people and I was like fine yeah so I was sort of cold calling them and we did some suits we did some Doctor Who's I did eventually did The Master with Derek Jacoby like they trusted me with him which I always thought was but again it was like oh but it's oh sorry I thought it was something I respect sorry it's it's audio so like every time I thought I'd hit it it was like nah This is a shit genre. And video games is the same, like trying to get a UK specifically casting director to look at a games reel. It's like getting blood out of a stone. It's impossible. Good thing I like games, isn't it, Simon? It
Simon:absolutely is, because we're going to be talking about it a lot in this podcast, believe it or not.
Unknown:Yeah.
Simon:What was the specific project that you worked on in the early days where you realised you had a real talent for this craft? And how much of an impact did that moment have on you to follow within the rest of your career?
Samantha Beart:There's sort of two points. There's a game answer and there's a non-game answer. I think it was on that tour, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We did that 2012 and 2013. And I could get a laugh out of this really big audience who wasn't necessarily there to see me. They wanted to see the original 70s cast. And I was a mere interloper. But I could hold their attention and I could make them laugh. And I was like, okay, yeah, the training's paid off. I'm probably quite good at this, I think, this stage thing. I didn't think I was good at improv comedy. That's something I've done very, very recently and we might get to that. But the game's answer is Hobbs Barrow. And when Hobbs Barrow came out, the reviews, it was very cult, but the reviews were saying that it was the performances that made it. And I had been a BAFTA crew member for some time, which is a sort of soft membership for people who were sort of around the edges wondering if they want to become full members. And as I said, I've been networking and stuff. So I'd done all that. But I said to them, you should nominate this. Don't be freaked out by the AAAs and that, especially Best British Game, those categories. There is something for you in there. And that year, we were up against God of War. And I got long-listed. I got in the top 10. And if I got shortlisted the top six... You would have seen Thomas Cena's little pixelated face blown up next to 8K Kratos. And that's all I wanted. That's all I wanted. But you can't call yourself a nominee unless you've made the top six. So that emboldened me. I was far too arrogant and full of self-importance. And I applied for something called BAFTA Breakthrough. And I was the first actor to come through on a video game. And I don't think that's for one of good games actors. I think that's for games actors going, oh, this doesn't really count. And I know Jennifer English, she was Shadowheart, has just come through on the next cohort. And so I hope there's more in the future because as we know, The games industry generates more money than film, TV and music put together. And yet it's not quite landing with mainstream media. So, you know, I've got the old picture up in the BAFTA bar and they've quoted me, the fools. I said big words. So, you know, that sort of really emboldened me to go, actually, I think this is something quite special and I should be, you know, actually pushing this a lot more. We're talking 22, 23. It's quite recent.
Simon:So as recent as that, so this wasn't an early thing. This is very recent where you've actually realized you've got something special.
Samantha Beart:I think so. I think it was just like, okay, this is tough. There's lots of talented people. That's still true. But it's when I started to find, for want of a better metaphor, it's when I started to find my voice. I started to go, this is what makes me unique. And, um, you know, one other influence I should say very early on for me becoming an actor in the first place was, was basically 1990s Gary Oldman because he got to play everything. And in a medium where you don't see my face, it's a lot easier to do that. So, you know, with these, we were talking before about, there's a number of titles I'm sitting on that I'm not allowed to talk about right now, but they're going to be very, very different. I'm going to be unrecognizable in some of them. And I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but for me as the artist, I love it. I absolutely love it because what's the point if you're just doing the same thing all the time
Simon:one thing that you mentioned in that whole statement there was the gaming industry in general thriving more so than any other form of entertainment right now and you look at some of the recent games you know one that Jennifer English was in is Expedition 33 Baldur's Gate these were games originally that weren't expected to break through as big as they have both been but now we're seeing these titles these developers these publishers these studios really go to work and because of the expectation now in the industry do you think that's pushing for these more cinematic engaging experiences we're getting in gaming compared to what we had with mortal kombat 2 back in the day
Samantha Beart:Those fatality scenes are a bit graphic now, aren't they? It's like, do you know what? You look back at the stuff they were scared about us looking at when we were kids and it's nothing. Yes, I mean, very much so. It's great because it means more work for me on a selfish level. You get people who come, you know, obviously I'm very biased. I'm talking about people who come and line up to see the act who plays Karlak. And a lot of them will tell me they've never played a game before or they've actually not played the game, but they've been watching clips on YouTube and TikTok. because they're just in love with the characters. And like, it's like, that's not expected. And then you've also, I mean, you've also got what it means to them, which, you know, is, might be an answer for another time. Cause like I can go on there and I've, I've talked about that in interviews before, but you know, one, one of, one of the games, no, two of the games, one's a beat them up with RPG and story elements that didn't used to happen. And another one is real time strategy and, You know, in the style of Total War. It's not Total War. In the style of Total War. But with some cinematics and I had facial capture and I got to work in the same room as the other actor, which I've never experienced in a video game before. So, you know, things are catching up. Our directors are coming in from all other media. You know, I'm going to work on another game where the lead artist comes from anime. They've never done a game before. So it's just great, this cross-disciplinary stuff. We're getting such a variety of work. I mean, that's kind of why I balk at the term voice actor, because something like Baldur's Gate, we did hundreds of hours of mocap to produce a few hours of audio, essentially, just because of the way they, they wanted to stitch it together. It just, it was, it was sort of surgical the way we had to do that. And yet it looks so organic. I think they just, they just, you know, they just did such a tremendous job. And then, you know, another game I went in for the other day, they told me it was mocap and voice. What they didn't tell me is they're doing them separately. So I'm there in my gym gear looking like a twat. What are you doing? Do you want to maybe, Yeah, do you want to maybe mention? Do you want to maybe mention what I'm actually doing? Because, you know, then there's the whole thing of, you know, sight reading. That's if you're listening and you want to get into this, I'd say, you know, train, but also number one skill, sight reading, because they're quite paranoid about things getting leaked or they change them last second
Simon:sometimes. So you just got to be ready to roll. I love the fact that you rocked up to a voice session in your gym gear.
Unknown:Mm hmm.
Samantha Beart:In the middle of Soho. Hi, everyone. Yes, I'm in the new game. Apparently not as much as I thought I was.
Simon:Let's jump to your audition for Larian on Baldur's Gate 3 as Karlak. Implementing your background as a professionally trained actor. Like you said, you've got that theatre background as well. What were your thoughts going into the audition? Did you know straight away what you were going into?
Samantha Beart:It's a bit of a two-parter because I think right at the beginning of the lockdowns, I was sent... Neil Newbon talks about this as well. I think we were all sent a breakdown of maybe 12 different fantasy races where the names were obscured, right? So you had Planeswalker, a Devilkin, and I'm going, oh, this is very close to the bone with Wizards. I don't think they're going to be too happy about this. And I think they said audition for two or three, and I think I went for eight or nine. That's sitting on a hard drive somewhere. Maybe I'll release it. It's very odd. It's a very odd piece, but you know, I had to film from like the knees up in a very narrow hallway in the flat, you know, and I did that and I forgot about it and they never called me back. And then Kirstie Gilmore had put me up for what I'd become, what later became Carlyle. She was very different. She was much more like Liesel to cut a long story short and didn't get that. And then Hobbs Barrow happened. Twitter worked. I could see what people were saying and folks from Larian were very vocal about my performance. And so being emboldened by the old almost BAFTA nomination, I slid into those DMs and I said, if there's anything, if you're casting anything significantly large, because you have to be careful what you wish for. A game like Baldur's Gate, if you just say, I'll do anything. Then you're merchant number 72, right? And I knew that I play enough games. I wasn't going to say that. I said, if there's anything left, thinking there might be a good supporting character, let me do it. Because I knew it had been early access and everything. And I don't play her in early access. That's a different actor who did it a long time ago. And then that was the end of her job. Yeah, so if you talk about the audition that got me Carla, that was so much more recent. And that came off the back of Hobbs Barrow. It had some real corkers in there. It had gods. I want to ride you to UC stars. I had the post Gortash fight thing, which, you know, I guess I'm kind of known for. It's all in there. And I had to, I gave him that. And then I got a recall almost instantly, which never happens. It's between me and the person who gets it. And so I went into the studio and my new rocks and my N7 shirt. Come on, let's do it. And they gave me a fake crossbow. And I did a scene from Early Access and she was a bit more grimdark, serious business. And then, as you know, they changed it up quite a bit. But it was the quickest reaction I'd ever had. It was almost instant. It was almost instant. And I don't know if you know Mulholland Drive. but I did wonder if there was a secret mafia that finally picked me. This is the girl. I was like, who is pulling this? It was so quick. It was so quick. And then we just went to work and I was in because the others had been, we all did the same amount of time, but I did mine in a much shorter period. So I did mine in one year rather than like three years plus pandemic or whatever. And they'd only done, I guess, most of act one. So when I went in, we're all doing acts two and three together. just to it's taken me a while to work out that timeline because we didn't meet each other till after we found out on panels what everyone had actually done how long people have been on it and all the rest and what was cute was you know coming out of the booth and bumping into someone you haven't seen for five years or ten years you know Annie Tracy Wiles who played Jahira for many years we worked on some audios together Scott Joseph who's the emperor I don't know 13, 14 years now so you know it was a day Jones you know we've become really good friends over the years and we were always trolling these conventions and just you know meeting up and looking after each other and looking out for each other and we said wouldn't it be nice to be in a game together and he was in Hobbs Barrow as well as an increasingly grumpy man I think there's three of them he plays and this as well and it was just really magical it was oh shit I think we've made it because we're the most famous actors in the room oh okay oh Okay. That
Simon:must have been an incredible feeling for you, though, knowing what you'd gone through to get there, knowing that... And we can get into the nuances of acting. Look, there are a lot more setbacks before you get the role. For you to have now gone through this journey, gone through so much, spending all the time, hours of all nights and day trying to connect with these people to now be like, We're doing this. We're actually doing this.
Samantha Beart:It is incredible. And it was a moment. I remember getting a message from Amelia Tyler going, Sam, is that you? Are you in this game? Because I'm pretty sure that's you that I'm narrating to. And I'm going, oh, God, finally I can say it. Because, of course, I benefited from early access. I knew who everyone was. But I'm like, NDAs, I don't say anything. And Amelia had been there a few years, almost in a sort of mentor role. You know, I'd been to a meeting at Equity, I remember, about getting into games. And here's a flex. By the end, by now, I've worked with every person on that panel. But that shows you how small that is. It was... Creative Assembly were there. Obviously, Amelia was there. Oh, God, there's some other folks. Yeah, casting directors. I've worked with all sorts and met Johnny Chiodini that weekend. And we're all friends now. And it's just worked out really beautifully, you know. It's, yeah. And just seeing Amelia, you know, and me and her at the same level and Dave and just all these people I've known for so long just plodding away, you know, to finally... So we always knew it was well-written. That wasn't the issue. We just didn't know so many people would play it. It was a stonker bringing it out a month early so it didn't have to compete with Starfield, really. I think that was a lot of the work
Simon:done. Aldersgate didn't go out and clear house just because it had released at a different time period. It was an incredible title. Of course. I think what's beautiful about what you just mentioned about Amelia there, again, going back to the research and the time that we met you did a panel at that convention. Amelia was on that stage with you. With
Samantha Beart:her. So I'm already going, oh, I'm moving up. It works a lot in the medium I want to work in. And we're doing a panel. So was that the one with Dave Gilbert?
Simon:Yes.
Samantha Beart:Yeah, so he directed Hobbs Barrow. She's now worked with him as well. Unreal. It's a very, very small world. And I wouldn't say– it goes from this small fish in a big pond– to people now being intimidated and they don't want it. They think suddenly you're on a Hollywood feat. No, we're not. Oh, by the way, we're all on equity minimums, all of us in the UK, if you know us from games. If you know us from film and TV, different story. But if this person you're thinking of is primarily from games, despite the image they may be projecting, we're all on minimum. And I say that because there are people, again, not even up and coming, I would say at my level, but weren't in Baldur's Gate, who cannot... reach the suggested equity minimum. They're having to fight for it. And I'm really, really mad about it.
Simon:And you can understand that.
Samantha Beart:Yeah, I just thought, okay, well, if we're all on minimum, fine, but we're not. And it's a portion of what SAG-AFTRA get. SAG-AFTRA have a four hour agreement. If you go in for 10 minutes or four hours, you get paid the same. So if your session gets reduced, you get paid the same. I had a session the other day that went from two to one hour. And so I get paid for one hour. My efficiency is punished. So, you know, it's different and people think it's lucrative. You know, we're in and out quite quick. Baldur's Gate is a very different fish for the amount of hours that we put into it. Yeah, if it'd been audio only, I believe I'm around something like ten and a half hours to 11 hours I think that's about as much no it's not about as much time as I spent on Hobbs Barrow but that's about the recording session time that I spent on Hobbs Barrow but it's comparable it would have been a very short relatively short recording time it wouldn't have it's about 260 hours I've estimated I did on it
Simon:And acting can have many nuances and layers to it until you find what the character you're portraying needs to be believable. And you're also building a backstory, aren't you, that brings the delivery to life with a complex character such as Karlak with a huge backstory. It's very dark in many ways. How was the process of you finding the voice, working through those layers to bring Karlak to what we know now?
Samantha Beart:So let's talk about collaboration. The games industry is incredibly collaborative for something where departments can be so siloed, which I think is a shame. Although studios are now catching up, I think, to that Lucasfilm thing of let's have everyone in the room, let's see what everyone's doing, and we all inspire each other. I think it's a wonderful thing. Table reads, you know, chemistry tests. You don't spend thousands of months to find out that the two actors are not quite gelling. You know, you can find it in five minutes if you're sitting down with the script. We had the most, for Baldur's Gate, we had the most incredible team. We had, so I recorded with a third-party studio called Pit Stop in London. So we had, And remember, I was doing evenings and weekends. So there was a bit of a lag between asking a question, getting an answer. But they wrote the biography. Sarah Bayliss wrote, I believe, every word that comes out of Karlak's mouth. The biography was so clear. The journey was so clear. That was fine. And the first thing I thought was this character is very traumatized and she will do anything to stop other people knowing that. So that'll be cracking jokes and big hard ass and that. So that was actually, she was quite simple in certain ways. Thomasina's was all the trauma in a different way, you know, and in a way I found, I had to find out what other people said about her just to get the haughtiness. Otherwise, you know, cause she obviously thinks she's great and there's no flaws and I was desperate to find them. Whereas Karlak is hiding all hers or her perceived flaws. But I had this incredible team we had in the room. We'd have mocap engineer, audio engineer, what they call a performance director. but in theatre we call them a movement director and a voice director but by the end of it we had people multitasking in all sorts of ways as well it was like doing theatre for me what worked for me most with a character who's seven foot if you've met me I'm not seven foot I know it's disappointing it sounds like I'm joking some people are really upset but yeah yeah yeah yeah but you know I just reminded Neil Newborn is too tall to play a star in it in the live action so you know we can't have it both ways but um maybe we should switch but um yeah, we, we have such a good team. So what we, you know, I did my text work as much as I could on, on essentially what's an Excel spreadsheet. Um, it's like reading a choose your own adventure book in order and your brain kind of goes, Oh, that's what page 14 was about. Okay. Right. Yeah. That's what it does. But you know, you, you ask and you find out and, and, and some of these minds were colossal and could remember stuff they'd done a year ago or how it worked with, you know, later or Gail or whatever. And then we remembered where we are, but, um, For me, it was the text work first, obviously, because I could do that on my own. And then it was a movement next. Just to, you know, if you can see me right now, I'm flapping a lot. Looks really weird when you're seven foot and on fire. So we had to just calm that down. We use something called Laban technique. It's a quality of movement. And so for Carla, we use pressing. Just keep her really heavy and weighted to the ground so she doesn't flap around and freak you out. And then with the voice, it had to be... I mean, 99% of the voices are Southern English, Carlax working class. That really narrows it down. And I thought she can't be too cockney because she'll sound like a goblin. So I'm looking back at it now and it's a kind of Gordon Ramsay accent. The consonants are there, but the vowels are a little bit loose. And as long as I kept that rule, it was fine. But I always say, you know, the voice came last. There were a lot of restrictions, which I like. I like that. I like a challenge. So yeah, I didn't have to choose an accent or any other quality of voice. It had to be something that I could sustain for four hours a night, yelling across a battlefield in bizarre Latin. It had to be something I could maintain. So I brought all that into it too. Yeah, I think that answers your question. Yes. There was a lot of people involved.
Unknown:Yeah.
Simon:We could have had this interview done in five minutes.
Samantha Beart:It should have been an email, shouldn't it? Yeah.
Simon:Another interesting fact with Karlak, and it ties into that whole theme of you being put in this position because Karlak was the final character to be written into the game. And I think you put almost over 240 plus hours in the studio, which you've already mentioned. Was there a bit of pressure for you to go in knowing that Karlak had been written quite late on? People had already... recorded, like you said, quite a lot of content by then. Was there any pressure or extra nerves, added feelings going into the studio for that?
Samantha Beart:No, because as I said, we were all doing acts two and three at the same time. And I think it was deliberate, maybe why Karlak's the last one to be recruited. And, you know, there are people that will run straight to her. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. But, you know, she just, you know, she isn't the first person you meet. What I liked about that is Karlak is so aware about the clock and, hanging over her head. I just went with it. Come on, guys, let's go. We've got to do it. We could die tomorrow. Come on. And I had a full-time job at the time, which is why I was doing evenings and weekends. So it was so enjoyable compared to my day job as a software engineer. It was just so much more enjoyable. It was pure escapism. It really was. I just love going in there every night. What are we doing now? What did she say about Astarion? Okay, sure. Okay, fine. We'll do that version. Even the Dark Urge, for someone who quite early on says, you're doing evil stuff, I'm not here. By the end, she's in love with the Dark Urge, she's ride or die, and you have to justify that. Just change their minds. Just change their mind on things. Yeah, I mean, I like that. And when you do theatre, for God's sake, it's... God, you're lucky if you get a month's rehearsal before it goes out. And it'll be, you know, the four weeks just before it goes out. You don't get to sit around and work it out or anything anymore. Might do if it's a new piece and there's lots of money, but it's a famously doesn't have lots of money behind it. And then, you know, film, film and everything. Those, those, those scripts get changed on the day a lot of the time. So it's, there's always a sort of high pressure environment. It's just, I think different games work in different ways, but I will add that by the, But Karlak benefited from early access in that she was ready to go when I arrived. She was written. She was ready to go. I think that's why they got me in to get on with it then.
Simon:Yeah. It's almost like a speed run for you. in the studio
Samantha Beart:it wasn't that but I mean some of the guys were doing pulling double shifts by the end you know some of them were actually working TV actors and things who have other things to do and they were working harder than me they were doing more hours than I was so let's put that out there
Simon:I mean having JK and Jason Isaacs as part of that cast unreal I mean didn't do
Samantha Beart:their own mocap though so they were in and out they got the better end of the deal they absolutely got the better end of the deal so if you watch the promo kids they put out and it's with the big actors they didn't do their mocha that would have been really expensive I think so yeah I imagine that's that Yeah.
Simon:So the first time we see Karlak in the game, was that the first recording you had in the studio? I know the first mission was absolute chaos, but in a good way.
Samantha Beart:Yes. And I think that was the one we worked on the most. It would get, you know, there's a pipeline, get play tested, it would come back. And that was, that was the one. And the first time she sees Will as well, because that was... which is that scene it just depends on whether he's with you or not um yeah they really wanted to nail that entrance and they did you know when i saw it in game i was like she's pretty cool that's me she's really cool you know and you've got like jen english loves telling the story how she she actually came up with the line uh she looks like so i'll do it as her she looks like she could pick me up and throw me over her shoulder should the need arise
Simon:that's actually really good
Samantha Beart:um But no, she was very proud of herself, and she said, Sam, I've told them, they've got to get that in the game. I was like, sure. My name is Sam, it's nice to meet you. And it was just one of those things where I was getting feedback from the directors, because obviously we're doing all this stuff at the same time, and they're like, no one has anything bad to say about your character, they just love her.
Simon:Okay, good to know. Do you know, I hate to admit this to you, when it first got announced that you were playing Karlak, And then I started seeing the content or the trailers or anything like that, especially when the game came out itself. I never thought Karlak. I was like, that's Sam.
Samantha Beart:Acting.
Simon:Yes. But what was beautiful about it was I would watch scenes and I'm like, it doesn't sound like her. That's how good she is.
Samantha Beart:Oh, bless you. Because now there's lots of people who say, oh, you soundy. You sound and look exactly like her. I don't know if look's a compliment. Please get off. No, she's gorgeous, but I don't look like her. But it's like, please get off TikTok. Please. You know, they'll be like, oh, you're physical. It's like, well, you know, I did play her. That's what I keep saying. Of course, the physicality might be there. I'm a bit more of a frenetic mess. But, you know, we said that Carla can... bench press too much and didn't stretch afterwards. That's how I kept the, you know, she has a great big lump of metal in her chest. That's how I kept the shoulders still. But yeah, I like this revisionism of, oh yes, yes, they did get your face in there, didn't they? No, it's how she was in early access. It's the same face.
Simon:I think with Karlak being a new character to the whole universe, having that new backstory of being stuck in hell for so long, it just made her a bit of an explosive badass. She had this very dark past and a great story which has had an impact on the community who have gravitated towards her in their masses. Was there any... Pressure from a performance standpoint, knowing you're going into a AAA game, obviously you've just come off the other project, which was a huge success. This is a different environment for you. Are you encouraged, excited, nervous?
Samantha Beart:Oh, I'm up for it. up for all of it. You know, I just, this character, I knew, I just knew that I'd be associated with her probably for the rest of my life. And it's like, yeah, it better be good, right? She better be the most amazing character on earth, which is what I was going for. But you know, it's all in the writing. Did I feel, I mean, the infamous scene where, you know, she gets to have revenge in a way that in other, you know, in Marvel, people are always being talked out of revenge. You never see what it's actually like when you get it. And that was a big part of my audition. I put the pressure on myself for that. And it was one of those things like, you know, when you're crying and you can't quite get the words out. And I thought, I can't hit that intensity. So I was just thinking of enunciation because I didn't want to have to keep repeating that. It would just get weaker and weaker and weaker, you know, because I was so ready for that scene. And Josh from Pit Stop directed it remotely, bless him. That was great. He wasn't there. And he just, he does a beautiful job. He just talked me through, talked me through what just happened. And now all the, all the fluff and the jokes, they're all gone. There's nothing left to hide behind. Off you go. And I'd been waiting for this scene for a very long time, you know, because it's all out of order, as you know, but we, we, we shot it around the front. I'd say in the first third of the shoot, we did it there. And because that was her for me, that was actually who she really was. That's her. It's horrible and it's ugly. And as a performer, you don't often get to play ugly. We forgive her because of her circumstances, but it's really jealous and it's bitter and it's angry. And as I said, the world is not a safe place to put that out there. But another reason why I'm an actor is I get to experiment with those sort of feelings in the safest environment you could ask for. why people love roleplay. It's why therapists use roleplay.
Simon:Yeah, absolutely. And look, you did nail that performance. I don't think it's just... one of the greatest scenes of Karlak. I think it's one of the greatest scenes in the game because it really captures your emotions.
Samantha Beart:Stop
Simon:it! It does so much for a player who's invested. Yeah,
Samantha Beart:because, I mean, as you said, I've only come to realise this recently. I've been gearing up for that scene. I know it's coming. Karlak knows it's coming. At some point, the barrier's going to come down. The player does not know it's coming. The player thinks, she's going to be so happy and impressed with me when we kill this guy. And I just, I've only realised, I've had about two 200 people tell me this, and now it's actually finally sunk in. So it was a great, great rug pull from the writers there. It really is. And there's a whole, like, if you meet Day Malin, and Day Malin has a similar thing. And I think both the starian and Carla are like, I don't know what she's griping on about. When I get my revenge, I'm going to be so happy. And it's just a great, you know, foreshadowing for both of those characters. I love that they're echoed throughout the game in different characters.
Simon:Yeah, and you could see that throughout. And what was also really cool, you mentioned jokes and fluff. You got to put a bit of Sam into the character as well. Oh, hell yeah, as much as I could. With the sarcasm. They didn't stop me.
Samantha Beart:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think that's why I got the job because I was just like, you know, it's a fantasy character. She's really well-written. I don't know anything about her, but she's just, I'm just getting the size of her. And I was, there's so much text. There's so much to play with. You can put all those colors in and, you know, and, you know, I used to throw things over the shoulder. I think they never used it, but I just like, it's talked to the voice in my head. And if you play as Origin Carla, she does talk to herself. So there was all this stuff in there and I just felt I knew her really well. One thing I said, I think in one interview was I was trying, you know, tough chicks in space, been playing them a while. It was always Sarah Connor or Ripley. And this wasn't either of them. This woman is the strongest woman in the room. She's not scared of anything. That's a really different thing. You know, if you walk in that room, Simon, and you are two heads above everyone. Why wouldn't you laugh and have a joke? You've got nothing to worry about. And I had to really internalise that at the beginning because it's unfortunately not something I get to live with. But I thought of Titus Pullo in Rome, HBO's Rome, which I can't imagine many people will remember, I think. It came out before Game of Thrones and I think it walked so Game of Thrones could run. It's fantastic. And it's only later on you discover his very traumatic background. But he's so much fun, Pullo. Until he's not. You don't want to get him angry, but he's a good laugh. Yeah. He's a good laugh and whatever. And then when you get down to it, you realise sort of a tough life this man has had and he's chosen to not let that colour him, to not let that, you know, he doesn't believe in fate. He's going to have a good time with the time he has. And so at the beginning for the shape of her, you know, just for that complete, character as i'm reading it out of order uh it just really helped and then i you know forgot it and moved on but like it's just such a shame that ray stevenson isn't around because i'd love to freak him out at a con he wouldn't know who i am or what baldur's gate is and i could say thanks thanks for the early start it was really helpful
Simon:whilst you were uh putting In all these hours, did you ever imagine how big this game was going to be? You're in the studio recording your best grandad line. Thank you. That was near the end, and
Samantha Beart:they were like, yeah, she's rolled a minus one on that. And again, at a very dark point of the game, if you remember where that comes in. It's an incredibly dark point.
Simon:But it was perfectly timed. It was so perfectly timed. Where was I? You've lost me, Sam.
Samantha Beart:You're asking did I know that it would be such a big hit?
Simon:Although you knew you were going to be associated with this character for a while, did you expect this game to reach the heights that it did?
Samantha Beart:No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. But, you know, again, to anyone who's getting into this business, just a good rule of thumb, don't phone it in. Never phone in. Don't accept the job unless you want to do it because you never know which one will make you, you know, which will make you well-known or whatever. So that was, you know, I'm always very honest about, I'm quite picky about the roles I play, but even though it's a variety of roles that you're going to see me in in the next couple of years, with any luck, please end the strike. With any luck, you're going to see, and you're going to see where I like to play and what my tastes are. And they're pretty broad. You know, I said, I had something recently, which was, was almost like a, it was a bit sad because it was almost like a facsimile. with Karlak. They've gone, well, she's big and she's angry. So they said to me, well, she's like nine feet tall. So she's bigger than Karlak. And then I'm yelling, can you yell more? So she's louder than Karlak. It's the only role I've gone, okay, I've been a bit typecast. Thank God it was, you know, it's only one. But I was just a bit sad because they said to me, you know that thing you're doing where you're quite charming and then you like throw away a line. Can you stop doing that, please? We just wanted to be angry. Please pick someone else.
Unknown:Yeah.
Samantha Beart:The angry, loud woman. Brilliant. Thank you. That's my legacy. So no, we didn't know it'd be this big. As I said, there's so much stuff to play. There's so many alternatives. Everyone who's played that game has had a completely different experience. And I love that. Of course, there's the overarching bits you have to do to finish the game. But in terms of how you get there, the decisions you make, you don't even have to pick any of us. I've heard people do that. I don't think anyone would actually kill us on sight. No, surely not.
Simon:That'd
Samantha Beart:be crazy. Yeah, so, you know, it's just a real blessing and I'm a big nerd and I've been playing D&D for a little bit. It was just before the pandemic. On a one-shot basis in London, it was like, you've gone to the tavern, you're a mercenary. Congrats, you got picked for a mission. And so I played a dragonborn barbarian. I couldn't be bothered learning the rules. I was like, spell slots, please tell me less. And to this day, you cannot get me to play a wizard, right? I might play a sorcerer or warlock. I played a regretful tiefling warlock in a home game during the pandemic. And then I had to stop because I was playing Karnak. And I was going, guys, I promise, I promise, right? It's for reasons. Unfortunately, I can't do the game anymore. But I can't tell you, you're going to kill me when you find out.
Simon:They've been very supportive. What was the reaction when they eventually found out?
Samantha Beart:They lost their minds. We had Dominic Sewell as the DM. He's a dear friend. He's a composer. Amy Turk, look her up. She has been playing covers of game music on her harp. for years. She cosplays, you know, it's quite wonderful. And I played with her and a lawyer who always played as a rogue. He was far too good at that. And it was, yeah, we'd known each other, you know, for a while. And yeah, I said to keep them for a very long time and it was painful. And then I had to go, yeah, basically I was rehearsing with you guys.
Simon:Wasn't using you, honestly. Yeah, cheers
Samantha Beart:though.
Unknown:Thanks.
Samantha Beart:I really wasn't. I couldn't have possibly known. But no, it was very useful in the room with the shorthand. They'll talk about, oh, it's a drow man. I know what that means. I know how badly he's been treated. Or you're in the underdog. I know what that means. So it was very helpful. Pronunciation's always been a problem. We just had to ask to spell it out. I'm very bad at that. But yeah, it was a great knowing D&D. And I think what I'd say to actors generally is if you're going to be in games, you actually know what they are. Film and TV theatre, you can't get away with not knowing. So do know, it'll help you, it'll help your performance because they're so sort of averse to even telling you genre a lot of the time, which really doesn't help. If I was told that this Baldur's Gate was a little... you know um indie little indie game which i was told by pitstop at one point little indie game that you know very naturalistic and that and and maybe a bit soap opera you would have got a very different performance from the operatic uh scenery chewing stuff especially for that evil ending because that came later i was like i'm getting i'm gonna be bigger and they were like yeah
Simon:i mean that's what you want to hear especially when you're in a studio you know after a long day
Samantha Beart:I mean, to get that scene, to get evil Karlak, you have to play as origin Karlak. And it's such a minority. And then such a minority that might make her evil as well. So I was like, go for it. But also greatest performance of my career. Certainly the campest one. So if we can get more camp in there, that's going to make me very happy.
Simon:Before we switch focus from Baldur's Gate, what do you want? I don't want to use the word legacy, but you've managed to capture the hearts of millions of players now with this character. Many are saying that it's the greatest character in the game. There's been some great performances, iconic moments. Baldur's Gate, at the moment, is currently at its highest player base after almost two years.
Samantha Beart:No. Stop it. Gee. Wow, I didn't know that. That makes sense, like what I said at the start. The lines seem to be getting a bit
Simon:longer. And that's obviously key to the developers, but it's also key to all of the actors that were there to put in these performances to be able to bring you into their world that they've created, people like yourself. You've helped create a world. What do you want people to take away from that?
Samantha Beart:It's a huge collaborative effort. And I think without writers, we've got nothing. People seem to challenge me on that. They think it's quite a controversial thing. Without the writers, we have nothing to say, and we cannot move you in any way. I'll just be standing. If I was a good writer, I'd write it myself. If we didn't need the writers, the actors would write it themselves. We need them more than anything, and they're treated very badly, I think. I think artists in general are. Thinking about visual artists, composers, and writers, particularly the ones who aren't on the screen, I think we need to look out for each other. I'm on hate at the moment for reasons but I did a show called It Takes a Village and that was the point I was sort of sick of being put on a pedestal as if I'd done the bloody thing myself I hadn't and so I thought actually some of these people have been in this business all their adult lives some people are middle aged never interviewed in their lives and got all these titles under the belt let's have a chat for an hour and see what happens and you know we did it on Twitch which meant people could ask questions off the back of mine and then they'd get really deep they'd find something that I didn't find and they're going I'm sorry how did you know or you know it was like a mate of a mate or we had people who'd served in the army and then they had a chat about that and you know it's just incredible stuff that there's no way that I even I could have contributed to having been a friend of this person so I've really enjoyed that if I help like people understand what this industry is about I know Russell T Davies likes to credit himself by doing the first behind the scenes on TV content which was Doctor Who Confidential I didn't even realize because I was so used to film doing that and going TV and I forgot that. Games needs to do that, I think. Big time. Gamers love it. And the more they get into that narrative and the more they care about people making this, because they are, because they're connecting with the human, the more interest it's going to be. And I think that's the way to go. It's the biggest industry out there. It's the biggest entertainment industry out there. People should know. And people should know all disciplines are welcome. I've never interviewed someone yet who's had a straight path from school into games. They've pretty much had a second or third career before they've come in. And they bring that wealth of knowledge with them. It's a fantastically rich space. That's the legacy I'd like. Making the world a better place. I told you I was in tech for a bit. That's what happens. We're making the world a
Simon:better place. Moving on from things outside of Baldur's Gate 3, because many people might not know, Sam, you're so much more than Baldur's Gate 3.
Samantha Beart:Am I? Tell me more.
Simon:Just in case you didn't know. The
Samantha Beart:last couple of years have been a bit of a blur, mate.
Simon:How was it filming the Republic of Gamers advert with Trevor and Michael from GTA? First question, we're going in hot here, Sam. For context... You're the first to notice! Thank you! For context, Samantha was a part of a commercial with fellow actors Stephen Ogg and Ned Luke that played on characters that you've portrayed in the past. And this was a great advert. It's had almost two million views.
Samantha Beart:It was really cute, wasn't it? Has it? Wow. I thought, you know, if I'm going to do a commercial, do something you'd actually buy, right? And it's a gaming laptop. Great. It's one that works. It has a good reputation. And yeah, it was a fun script. And I thought, yeah.
Simon:I mean, working with those two legends of the business, not just because of Grand Theft Auto, but both of them go way back in acting as well.
Samantha Beart:Yeah, I mean, I was really honoured to be asked because we had two versions of the commercial with us and then we also had Troy Baker. as Joel in The Last of Us. I don't know if you've seen that one, but it's cute. There's a father-daughter
Simon:relationship. Beautiful.
Samantha Beart:And of course, yeah, he's like, as the expert on father-daughter relationships, he's going to advise them to go camping in the woods or whatever, with all their survival gear. No, it was fantastic. So I was very flattered, to be honest, because you think of something like GTA V, for which the actors, again, did all their mocap and everything. A lot of people don't know that. They've been riding that wave since it came out. And to have sort of just come up hot in the last year and to be asked to do it, That was one of those sort of outside-in moments where you go, okay, this is, you know, it's like having, I've got her over here, it's having a little Funko Pop. As stupid as that seems, it means you've reached a certain level of recognizability, right? So that's what that means. That's success. But yeah, I did ask them. I did ask the client, why am I here? Why have you chosen me? And they said they looked up the most beloved characters in video games, and I was on a few lists, apparently. Again, it's just, you know, I'm not looking at myself. I'm not going to do that to myself. I'm not going to look at myself online. So, you know, it was very, very flattered. Very flattered. So, yeah, thanks, guys. Thanks for watching, Simon. They need more. I think there was a lot of legal back and forth about how Carlackey I could be. It was quite fun. You can have the top, but you can't have the trousers. No, no, no, that's too far. Yeah, it was something.
Simon:Brilliant, brilliant. And it is a really fun ad as well. I would definitely recommend people go check it out. You've also been involved in a few projects since Baldur's Gate 3, recently a wonderful 2D RPG titled Cabinet, which is set in the 19th century of Eastern Europe. It's a stunning game. It's got a really good rating as well. I would definitely recommend people go and check it out. You played Alyssa in that. Talk to us about how you found the acting process in comparison to Baldur's Gate and how you're able to tap in to this vampiric world.
Samantha Beart:Well, I mean, you know, we have quite a famous vampire in Baldur's Gate 3. His name escapes me at the moment, but it was, you know, going to the opposite again. And, you know, the aristocratic, cruel vampire. But, you know, it's not, again, RPG so she can go in all these different directions so I'd known Party for Introverts for a while again going to Adventure X, Rezzed, all these things I was going to and they are very keen to let me know that it was Thomasina that did it nothing to do with Baldur's Gate but no it was great and it was quite a longer recording process than I was used to for a point and click adventure so I think that's the narrative coming into it a bit more, people going actually we want a bit more content and the fact you can romance characters in in something that isn't as expensive as some of these triple A's it is creeping in I mean going to PAX the what a few months after release it's all it's all one blob now go to PAX last year and there were two MMOs over 10 years old that announced they were suddenly going to put romance into the game I thought, I see. I see where the needle is. Okay, interesting. We've unlocked something in people, unfortunately, and it ain't going back in. So yeah, there was that. And the fact that my character in Cabernet is romanceable, I'm not used to at all. I just thought that Baldur's Gate thing was going to be a one-off. In the style of the old Bioware games that we've mentioned, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, I thought that's its own thing. And I was talking about, should we hint at things that I'm doing that I'm not allowed to talk about?
Simon:talking of improv and you being able to extend your cv even further last year we saw you hosting the future game show alongside the handsome and talented ben star who i got on stage and managed to get him to do a just dance at an insomnia once you clearly look like you were having the time of your life up there although there is timings to consider cues and a script and beats to hit you just look like you were having the time of your life
Samantha Beart:Yeah, so a couple of things that I've not done before, which is, as you say, presenting, but also the improv stuff, which was 20-Sided Tavern off Broadway, which is, yeah, comedy improv with lots of audience interaction with the rules of Dungeons & Dragons. And I imagine there is a minority of people that are very excited by that. I certainly was. And I always thought while I was at drama school that I was just... just didn't have a gift for this I would clam up I would be trying to think ahead which means you're not responding to what's in front of you and you're missing you know these little opportunities to get in there and with the old wordplay and the comedy and all those things. So, yeah, it was really hard. And it turns out if you've got a really supportive bunch of actors who don't throw you under the bus for a laugh, it turns out that it's totally doable. Who would have thought? At the time of my life, it was fantastic. The audiences sort of grew all week. I expected them to come down after the weekend, but people came back from the looks of it. Yeah. Yes, and I got to play a tabaxi called Katya, who is a cat. She's a cat. She doesn't want people to know it, but she's more cat than tabaxi. And a bard called Tamblyn the Great, for which I was allowed to sing Bowie songs. I didn't have to make anything up. And my God, I fitted everything I could in there, including some of the most obscure references.
Simon:Yeah.
Samantha Beart:just for the one dad at the back that got it. Yes, the handsome, talented Ben Starrs is his full Christian name. Yeah, I mean, I was presenting with my friend. Like I said, I hadn't had any real presenting experience apart from an auto cue at the Golden Joysticks, which we got to rehearse and everything. realized that the autocue operator follows you, not the other way around. Otherwise you sort of slow down and grind to a halt. Yeah, and we got a chance to spend with the writers and tweak things and make it sound more like us and work together. um and be silly we've both got very stupid senses of humor and quite surreal at times as well so i mean there's there's stuff on the cutting room floor that it's probably best it's there but uh the stuff that made it in we did we did all right and the reason we're matching in hideous speech ensembled it was spring i don't know why i'm saying hideous it's just not my color normally. I had a blood red tulle dress that I hitched up in the middle to make a sort of mini skirt at the front and then it was long at the back. Anyway, turns out when you've got green screen behind tulle, it kind of shines through and it messes with the green screen. I was perfectly decent. There were lots of layers. It wasn't that. It's just the moving around and that it creates this horrible effect with the green screen. And we spent a lot of tech in the morning with engineers just sort of looking at me in a Eventually, I said, what's up? And they explained. And I said, it's all right. I brought a spare. And that spare was peach because Ben told me he was wearing peach. And I thought, there's not much that goes with peach. I'll get peach. So that explains that. But yes, I had, again, very well supported, not just by Ben, but the whole creative and technical team. It was a lovely day just filming that nonsense. And yeah, we're both into games. We know what we're talking about. We were getting genuinely excited about... the features and the trailers that we were showing so yeah
Simon:Sam this has been incredible I can't believe it's been six years for us to catch up and what I like to do on this show is I like to close with the guest so I'm going to give you the platform here to close the show obviously thank the fans who are still engulfed by your performance and performances to come So the stage is yours.
Samantha Beart:Thank you for giving me the opportunity to thank our fans for Borders Gate 3, because I think particularly for this one and the trajectory that the actors have been able to move on as a result of our players and our fans. They're not always the same. Some people have never played, but they've watched the story online. We weaponized social media and that only works because you guys were tuned into the algorithm. And you come and meet us at conventions and you tell us how you played and you bring us art and amazing cosplays and people have written songs. I mean, every sort of art form you can think of, someone has expressed themselves in. I've lately received a scent in the style of car. Like, yes, it does smell of campfires and whiskey. but not self, for they were very kind, I felt. So yeah, I owe you a huge debt of gratitude, I feel. In an industry, the games industry can be very isolating and just because you did a good job on something doesn't mean you'll be remembered because there's no casting directors, really. There's a real minority of them. So you kind of have to start from zero every time, which is another reason for us to get ourselves out there and get seen so you have that recognition. If I'm known as Karlak... rather than Samantha Bayhart, there's going to be trouble for me trying to get booked. And the irony being to be typecast as that is hilarious because that is the last thing I would be cast as in a visual format. And that's been its own hilarity. I cannot wait. If you have the patience for these eight titles I'm currently sitting on, hopefully a lot will be revealed in summer. I can't wait for you to find out what I'm capable of Everything is very different from each other, and I'm really excited. Hopefully there's something for you in there, but every single title is completely different from the others. And as a performer, as someone who's inspired by 90s Gary Oldman, yeah, it's incredibly fulfilling as an artist and as a human being. So thank you for helping me get to that point where I was able to be seen for these good roles.
Unknown:Thank you.
Simon:You know what? I couldn't be more proud of Samantha Bayard. I've known her quite a while and to see what she's doing now and what she's got coming up in the next few years. It's only up from here and it's pretty exciting. What a great interview and a great conversation that was. Full of energy, full of life. She got this amazing addictive bubbly personality and i'm looking forward to that catch up down in london real soon thank you to everyone who's tuned into this episode one of the most fun interviews i've ever done in my entire career and there's been a lot of good names a lot of big names but that one was just super fun so yeah really really good for everyone who's tuned in Make sure you leave a little review, a little comment, a little rating. That'll help push this podcast up into the algorithms, put it in front of more people, and we can share it with the rest of the world, which obviously we mentioned at the start of this podcast. Now, we're global. We've got listeners in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Tunisia, everywhere in the world. So keep doing those amazing things you're doing to support this show. Next week, I've got a very special Until then, this is the end of another amazing episode. We'll see you next week.
