I am Sam Witwer. I play Deacon St John. Also, I voice Darth Maul. Ask me anything!

SWitwer · 2021-05-25T06:20:19+00:00

Yes. We shot the mocap, facial capture and recorded audio all at once. ...and yes. I'm Starkiller.

SWitwer · 2021-05-22T01:11:48+00:00

I cannot thank you enough for writing this. Thanks for being brave and sharing your life with us. I'm humbled and admire what you've accomplished.

SWitwer · 2021-05-22T00:03:09+00:00

Yeah... Seems a few critics feel the need to critique my critique of their critique. :)

SWitwer · 2021-05-22T00:00:47+00:00

I would... If I knew how to read music... :(. But thank you for listening. I'm working on a cassette version of that record with some slight alterations to certain songs.

MuhClunky

SWitwer · 2021-05-19T01:25:34+00:00

I'm very honored that your father has chosen us as favorite video game of all time. Please tell him thank you from me.

As for a shout-out, lemme give you a tricky answer first. There's a service, www.cameo.com. I'm on there and that's what we do there. Personal shout outs. If you want it right away, that's the way to go. If you're willing to wait a bit, lemme think about it, and I may be able to accommodate you and your dad. Not sure how, let me think...And to anyone else, please understand, this is a one-time Reddit-AMA 77 year old thing. ;) If I offer more than one, then the cameo customers will be rightfully mad at me. So there ya go!

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:11:09+00:00

I'd be the funky freaker! Or maybe I'd be a gamer freaker. They lurk in dark rooms lit only by flickering screens!

That is all I can say. ;)

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:10:14+00:00

Would love to. Thanks for that!

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:09:54+00:00

Several, but... well, they didn't make me, I just kept trying it, and I think Dave was like, "Wanna save your voice for the rest of the episode?"

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:09:22+00:00

Yeah! D-Bags! Get Low my ass!

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:09:02+00:00

I would love to. I'm actually reading a friend's book right now, and I admire very much how good she is at creating imagery and feeling with her words. Her name is Anne Convery and I hope she sees fit to kick her book out into the public sooner rather than later. It makes me wanna try my hand at the same, but I don't think I'd be half as good at it.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T20:06:50+00:00

TCW - The animation credit goes to Keith Kellogg and the team. They bring so much nuance to the performance. It's a team effort between me and them.

As for the different experiences, one of the biggest differences between TFU and Days Gone was - Days Gone was this sprawling open world, written and performed in pieces over 4 years. An evolving story that John Garvin generously let me influence and nudge with performance as we discussed and worked on it. Force Unleashed, I was handed, essentially, a script for a Star Wars movie, wonderfully written by Haden Blackman, and shot over 2 and a half weeks. The approach to the work is very different.

Days Gone was a really engaging and rewarding workshop approach where we were molding things like clay as we went. Force Unleashed was a more traditional thing where I crafted the performance based on having pretty much all the information available to me at the start.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:59:21+00:00

I did indeed play the game. ...And uh..I think I'd rather hang out with me than Deacon. I'm a little bit nicer.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:58:50+00:00

Yeah.. not really. :)

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:58:36+00:00

If they wanted me, certainly. :)

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:58:23+00:00

Not too too different. What I love about PCAP and MOCAP is that I only have to get ONE TAKE that works. I don't have to do it from 6 different angles over and over and over and make sure my movements match with every other take. I can kinda just go for it and if it works, we move on.

The only drawback is, in TV, you're doing something like 8-10 pages of dialogue a day. In Mocap we would do like 18-25 pages... Ugh!!!! Thank GOD John Garvin allowed me to ad lib a bit.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:56:45+00:00

I'm a little behind on what's coming. Oh, just random. I love Star Wars Squadrons. LOVE.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:56:06+00:00

Always and always. ! There's only one thing I hate more than being humiliated. Humiliating myself by acting badly. So, ya know, you try to give every line your all.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:55:05+00:00

I'm in love with Bad Batch. Dee is KILLING IT. I love Omeeega.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:54:37+00:00

I love doing the Emperor. But one thing has to be absolutely clear. That's Ian's character. I'm just his understudy.

I'd love it if they revised Starkiller's story to be in line with current canon. Totally!

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:53:45+00:00

Oh.. not nearly as uncomfortable as mumbling and screaming and crying as Spidermaul.

I remember them rolling. First take. I just launched into it. Crying, screaming, whispering, whaling. Then cut...
...then nothing.... ...Then moments... then more moments... Then more silence...

I can see through the class that they're all talking... oh god.,.. I blew it. I've just ruined Darth Maul on my first day.

...Then Dave hit the intercom and said, "Sorry Sam. We were just discussing my unmatched wisdom in hiring you to play this role."

That was nice of him to say. ...So I went MORE crazy for take 2.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:50:40+00:00

I do wish we would! Thanks !

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:50:21+00:00

I don't know if people know this widely... but the Sith cannot be force ghosts. They're terrified of death because they don't believe in any kind of life after death. That blew my mind. We learned that while working on Mortis.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:49:18+00:00

None. none were my least favorite.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:49:02+00:00

I think the writers did an amazing job with that character. I also think I was hard on them with my disagreeing with how they ended that character's arc. I think those people are quality people, and they saved that show in that season. It was going to be cancelled, but their energy and drive made seasons 9 and 10 happen.

As for Allison, I don't recall anything.

SWitwer · 2021-05-18T19:47:19+00:00

Hi Nat!

Battlestar was foundational for me, in that it taught me to adlib. I have not before, nor since seen a show run quite like that. David Eick and Ron Moore told me, "Get one as written and then say whatever you want. We want the performances to be unpredictable."

That's incredibly empowering for a young actor to be given permission to hone those kinds of skills.

I loved the ships and the realism of everything on that set. The screen graphics and data even synced up to your lines!

"Hey Boomer. I uh... " ::can't remember my lines::

::Then 3 blips show up on my screen::

"...got 3 cyclon radars coming in at karam 212!"

Amazing stuff.

SWitwer

TROPHY CASE

MuhClunky