Fallout 4 Nick Valentine Interview
Interview with Stephen Russell, Actor for (Nick Valentine) in Fallout 4
For call based interviews we try to present the conversation replies as close to verbatim as possible, for context.
A staple I do in all interviews in order to start things off is to ask that you elaborate a bit about your work, and this particular role for those not familiar with it?
Stephen: My name is Stephen Russell and I have been a voice actor as well as other things for since 1996 when I first started working for Looking Glass Technologies in Cambridge Massachusetts.
The role that we're probably primarily going to be talking about today and for which I'm probably best known at the moment anyway is Nick Valentine who was introduced in Fallout 4 and then continued into the DLC Far Harbour. I've also voiced Codsworth and all of the Mr Handys in the Fallout series for a number of years now continuing on into Fallout 76.
In Fallout 4, you provide the performance for Nick Valentine? Could you tell us a bit about the character and the situation he finds himself in?
Stephen: The character is a synth detective who has his office in Diamond City in what's left of Boston. At that point, that alone appealed to me because I'm a big baseball fan and that was clearly modeled on Fenway Park. The home of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest major league baseball stadium in the country and so that was that was kind of a fun little side thing that I always kept in my mind.
He's one of many companions that you can travel with in Fallout 4 as a player and he has a strong moral compass and in that respect I really enjoyed bringing that character to life. I think he's someone who they set up a nice irony in creating the character that he is a synth.
However he's probably one of the biggest hearted characters in the game and so that contrast is always kind of fun to play with and I was just delighted to get that part and to have a chance to explore him and bring him to life.
Fallout 4 has been something that’s resonated with players for a long time. Did you anticipate this sort of well loved response to the character and that this game would still be of such interest almost a decade on?
Stephen: We had done one session of Nick Valentine and when I came in to do a second session which was maybe three months later more content had been written. At that point there was a buzz even before the game was released within the offices at Bethesda.
So I was told that people were kind of predicting that he would end up being a favorite character and was getting some really good response just internally and that's always very gratifying to hear. Certainly at the top when you're going into a session too.
Hey people like this character. Oh great, I'll enjoy doing him even more today then and then once the game was released it was especially fun to just hear from people and to know that the character was working for so many folks.
I imagine it may be somewhat difficult to remember since it’s been so long, but were you given any initial direction in regards to the character? Just in terms of an example of prep work to get into the mind set of this particular performance?
Stephen: I spent time working with Mark Lampert who was the audio director at Bethesda at the time just kind of refining the voice. Deciding on a tone for him, Mark and I have worked together enough over the years now that I think he has a good sense of what I can ask of him and I'm always so appreciative of what the writers at Bethesda bring to the table it was pretty clear just reading the script what the intentions were for this guy.
Fallout 4 has levels of romance to it, were you surprised to find so many other characters are able to be romanced outside of Nick? Does it surprise you that so many want to romance Nick Valentine, even though he is a synth?
Stephen: What can I say? I did a good job making him appealing, but I mean look at that face. How could you not love that guy? Those beady yellow eyes. That’s been a fun little side thing too but I don't, I tend not to take it too seriously.
While it may have been touched upon, you do actually voice many characters in the universe of Fallout. Not only in Fallout 4, but also Fallout 76, and if we stretch back further Fallout 3. Could you tell us a bit about your experience being Mr Handy, My Gutsy or well Codsworth to some?
Stephen: Yeah that's been really fun because while there is a kind of bog standard Mr Handy there are all these variations on Mr Handy too and I'm often asked to you know put a little twist on him make this one a little bit different and I just love doing Mr Handy. I could do him all day long and the sessions where we had to do all those names so that we could personalize the experience of Mr Handy talking to you was just hilarious and so I have a great fondness for all the Handys.
You voice many Fallout characters going all the way back to Fallout 3. Who’s your favorite character to voice outside of Nick or My Handy in the Fallout universe?
Stephen: I tend to not think in those terms. The answer that I often give to that question is whatever one I'm working on right now. However I have a great fondness for the first character that I ever voiced in game work and that was Garrett in the Thief series and that's probably the other character that I've worked on that I get asked about as often if not more than Nick Valentine.
You have a long history of voicing characters in games. For those unaware you’ve voiced Garrett in the original Thief games and were part of System Shock 2 as well way back in the day. How has voice acting changed over that period of time; the late 90’s to now, from your perspective?
Stephen: It's changed a lot actually and one of the big changes is when I first started doing this work it was all non-union and then at some point in the 2000’s it began to be a more unionized workforce and I was able to join the union myself which you know doesn't have a lot to do with the mechanics or the performance of the game but it is a nice recognition that the work that we're doing, is something that is a professional caliber.
I guess that's one thing when I first started working at Looking Glass on the Thief games. I was actually recording in their studios and the sound booth the isolation booth if you can even call it that was a closet that had a lot of discarded PCs in it and it didn't even have a music stand. Fortunately now when I go into a studio it's a little bit better appointed.
I don't have to stand holding pages of text for hours at a time and oh man I remember the feeling in my arm was finally getting to put those pages down but the thing that hasn't changed very much is that it's still being produced by incredibly dedicated and really smart people who constantly amaze me with the level of detail that they bring to these characters in these games so that's always exciting to be a part of that collaboration.
Stephen:
There have been some rumors of a Fallout 3 Remaster in the pipeline, any thoughts on that and would you return to lend your voice if it were needed?
Stephen: Well if they ask me sure. This is the first I've heard of it so oh okay. Yeah I guess, I don't even remember that game very well at this point. That was my introduction to Bethesda and I know I did a lot of minor characters in that game as well as Harold the tree and I guess I did some Mr Handys in that one too.
So, you were also Corvo Attano in Dishonored 2. If we can squeeze that in I’d love to hear about your approach to adding a deeper narrative for that character in the sequel. Additionally, if there were a Dishonored 3 if that would be of interest to you, reprising that role should it fit?
Stephen: Yeah a job, I'll take it. That was an interesting experience because you know the first game, the character had not been voiced and there was a there was a session that I went to when they were considering a voice for that game and somehow it didn't pan out.
So coming into it was like for me, I just had to approach it as if I was starting something completely fresh and just go with what was on the page. It worked I think.
What was interesting about that game was having both a male and a female protagonist and so it was, when I finally got to see parts of it I was excited about you know just that experience of kind of sharing a role in a way or sharing a quest.
You have, ever so many roles in Bethesda games. Could you briefly talk about your experience with the indie darlings The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Prey and Starfield most recently?
Stephen: Start with Skyrim and I've voiced a lot of characters in that game. A lot of shopkeeper kind of folks and a dog too. I get asked about the dog every now and again and I love that dog and that was early on too in my connection with Bethesda. So it was a good experience because it was a franchise that I was already somewhat familiar with it had been played more than a few times in our household. Earlier Elder Scrolls games.
So it was kind of fun to be launched into a into a game that I had some history with and it was lots of fun. You know the thing that I always talk about Jason, with Bethesda is I just love the writing. It's all so good and they really know how to create concise and clear dialogue that is unambiguous.
It's a great gift for an actor, there are very few times in a session when I'll have to ask a director what the hell am I talking about here because the intentions are always right there and yet expressed often so beautifully and with this characteristic dark sense of humor. That especially in the Fallout games I just love. Let's see, Prey oh boy. I didn't have a lot to do in that game I think I died pretty early but it was but it was kind of fun to just have that.
I do remember that session and it's sort of the opening moment in the game and it was, that's it? You don't want me? No, you're gone now. Okay, Starfleet was a joy. Everything that I, Starfield yeah sorry it was just great fun and again because our household has always been big Star Trek, Star Wars fans it was nice to just even think about that you were going to be part of this whole space adventure that was even bigger than either of those franchises, pretty cool.
I’ve been told by one of my Skyrim fanatic pals that I simply must ask you about firstly, being Mercer Frey who has a rather dynamic role in the game and what it was like to voice the Deadric God Clavicus Vile as well as his dog Barbas?
Stephen: Oh nothing but fun you know. I love this work and the fact that Bethesda often lets me play and within the context of those very specific scripts that I was just talking about there's always a little room for improvisation and for taking it in an interesting direction.
I always like it when I'm working and somebody says well what else have you got and and gives me an opportunity to maybe expand on something a little bit. Take the voice in a slightly different direction, you never want to go into cartoon land but for me it's really fun when I can take on a voice that is a little bit more, you know outside the norm.
Create something with a completely unique sound and they've allowed that to happen over the years and the dog was one of those instances and Clavicus Vile too. I think I'm trying to remember, I don't actually have a great memory of what that voice sounds like at this point but I do remember thinking that it was a fun session.
What’s it like to see your voice attached to a game character?
Stephen: Sometimes quite surprising actually. There have been, especially early on I would sometimes voice a character and then the game would come out and I'd see what that character looked looks like having not been shown concept art and I'd go. Oh really?
Okay, so I might have made a different choice for the voice if I had seen that character beforehand but then sometimes that that contrast of voice that doesn't necessarily completely belong with that character will make for a more interesting character in itself and the prime example of that Harris the villain in Thief 2 who I had this very kind of whiny voice for and when I saw the image of what he actually looked like he didn't look a bit like that voice but that voice coming out of that image ended up being really interesting.
As I’ve mentioned, you have an incredible list of performances across many games and sometimes are multiple characters in a game. What’s your approach like in making various characters come to life for a single project, while also making them feel and sound distinct from the others you’re voicing?
Stephen: Well let me take the back half of that question first because I've only got one set of pipes and as much as I try my range is always going to be finite. I can't you know just keep coming up with new voices all the time, Mel Blanc I'm not but sure wish I was and though he's dead now so maybe I don't wish that and so in a way I have to kind of ignore what I've done before and just go with what seems appropriate for this particular character.
For this particular game and hope that because of the writing or the circumstances or that I'm X many years older than I was when I did that last game it's going to sound slightly different anyway. I try to be conscious of not repeating a voice if possible but sometimes people will say can you do something like what you did in this other game and that's a, you know that's my job.
I take it you’ve enjoyed doing the voice acting over the years, and this is something you’ll continue to do going forward? Might we see you down the road for Bethesda’s upcoming Elder Scrolls VI by chance, or well if the opportunity arises will you perform a number of characters for that game?
Stephen: Well you know I'm always happy when I get a call from Bethesda so will I work with them again. Boy I sure hope so. Do I have anything that I can tell you about coming up right now, nope.
Lastly I would like to leave a spot for you to say something or go over anything I might have missed during the interview?
Stephen: There's nothing I can talk about right now that feels like it's particularly relevant and just a big thank you to everyone out there who's listening to this and watching this and thanks for playing the games and thank for appreciating my work.
If you do. It's been interesting. I came to this work at a fairly, from a sort of backdoor position God I'm not being very articulate today. I was surprised when this work became a part of my life shall we say and it has been nothing but fun ever since to be working on these games and then to get the appreciation from folks about my work on the games too.
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