On this episode of the podcast, the voice of Final Fantasy 7 Remake/Rebirth's Rude, William Christopher Stephens, joins us to talk about his career and bringing Rude to life for the Remake Project.
[00:00:14] and with that I want to welcome everybody to Crashing Game Night. My name is Matt DeOreal, your host as always tonight we have a special guest, a member of the Turks voice actor William Christopher Stevens is crashing game night with us tonight. Yeah.
[00:00:32] Oh, is that the easy button? And then that leads gentlemen is the the beanied one Gerard Barar. That's right everybody. What's up all my nerds? Thank you for joining. Once again, Mr. Stevens. Thank you so much for joining.
[00:00:51] This has been like a huge tradition for us trying to get everyone from Final Fantasy. And it's you know, we're just so happy because we're huge fans of the franchise. And we can't wait to get to know more about you. Cool. Hey, please call me Will, man.
[00:01:06] Will. Well, let's ask that one. I jumped in, you know. And then lastly, ladies and gentlemen, our major services, the man with the couch, the man, the myth, the legend, the lion's mane, Jason Bolidio. How's it going guys? How is it going tonight?
[00:01:23] I was just about to ask you Will, how'd you want to be called? But thank you for coming on and joining us tonight. Thanks for having me. It is always a pleasure having the Turks in there. Yeah. Has Vic been on with or already?
[00:01:38] Oh yeah, Vic's been on multiple times. Not recently since, you know, it just came out like not like barely a week ago, you know. But, you know, we'll get all the guys. Last time he was on was what? Christmas when we had our holiday.
[00:01:54] It was Christmas and then we popped on for a little bit. Yeah. And last time we saw him was the dinner. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So yeah, we have, we've had something on a few times. Yeah.
[00:02:07] Yeah. And I guess, and I have to say this guys, we've got to give a shout out to Uncle John. Yeah, absolutely. Who was gracious enough he had built up and said, hey, you gotta be on and gave Will my contact number. And so yeah. So, uh,
[00:02:25] Mr. John welcome, welcome to the family like welcome to the CgN family and welcome the, you know, officially for us, you know, I know you were in and really making stuff. You know, it's great having you being a part of the Final Fantasy family.
[00:02:38] I am jealous to the hoodie that all you guys got. Scream and it's been great to us man. A lot of love on there. Well, well, you might need to just like, you know, throw my name out there as a reference. Just like, pledge your flag, baby.
[00:02:53] This is anybody to anything. The running joke. And anything. Yeah. This is, you know, it's what a five year running joke at this point for you.
[00:03:02] Hey, but if like, you know, they need that assistance or, you know, like QA or, you know, I don't know, like just somebody to do run Aaron the Aaron boy. Like janitor anything. Spirit in it. So you just hit me up, you know, like, I'm there for you.
[00:03:21] There for you. So when I went by the offices, they showed, you know, everybody in their staff a lot of love and I mean, they just kind of beam that into us.
[00:03:32] We were so appreciative just to be there at the office and, you know, it dropped on my birthday. So it was just like, this is the ultimate. Oh, cool. Yeah, which Jason, you have a very important question to ask.
[00:03:43] It's one of those you've been asking trying to ask people for a couple of weeks. Will is a leap your baby? Oh, are you really? Are you really? So one happy belated birthday. Happy belated and do you celebrate on the 29th? Like, are you like the 28th?
[00:04:01] The first like the years is not a leap year. Yeah. I mean, I usually would go like the 28th or March 1st. You know, I get people because I'm just like it's not my official birthday. So I mean, you know, don't don't even sweat it.
[00:04:16] But okay. Yeah, because it's like, like, does your driver's license say the 29th? And it's like, oh my goodness, man, like it's it all depends on when it expires. Like when I get it renewed. Oh, really? Oh my goodness. See, see all these questions. I'm so excited.
[00:04:31] I'm so excited. Like I've always wanted to meet somebody that has a leap year birthday. So it's like Jerry's is 28. Like, yeah. So I missed it. He missed it. But it's just like so it's so it's so fascinating. That's funny.
[00:04:46] It's a day that I love celebrating just because it's like the Olympics. So it happens every four years, you know, let me to count winter summer. But there was a part of the staff at Square Enix. She was also a leap year baby.
[00:05:00] So it was like, hey, birthday buddy. Oh, that's rare. Yeah. That's cool. And that's the thing is like, I very I rarely find anybody I've rarely met anyway that's been born on the 22nd.
[00:05:13] Like I've met a total of five people in my entire life that have all been born on the 22nd. Wow. You know, one of them was my great aunt. So but yeah, so so we'll talk about, you know, going up to the Square Enix offices and stuff.
[00:05:31] But really when you look at the whole thing like, how are you doing with it all? Like when you look at how celebrated the launch of this game is, how are you feeling on that? Again, man, this is special as I told the staff there.
[00:05:44] I mean, it's kind of come full circle because I mean, I knew when they were Square saw, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Back in the day. Good old day. Chrono trigger. Did you see any kind of added pressure since this was like the the sequel
[00:05:59] or anything like that hoping, you know, any kind of nerves or anything like that or for me now that was more with the design team. They had to they had to up their game pretty much.
[00:06:10] I was going to I was going to bring what I had to rude, you know, but you start seeing it like, oh, you guys, I mean, you outdid yourselves from remake, which was pretty awesome itself. Yeah, that's that's what I mean.
[00:06:24] So like, you know, the curse of the sequel, you just want to make sure you make it as good or definitely, you know, get there, be better and yeah, it's a it's a home run man. It's amazing. That's that's good to hear.
[00:06:37] I mean, to me, you know, as as the voice behind rude, they just gave us more to play with, you know, that's that's awesome. That's how I saw it and they put so much work in on this man.
[00:06:50] And it's so so I'm just like, OK, what are you guys going to do on the third one? How do you top it? I mean, all the I just I just started chapter four. I don't like I need to get through this game first.
[00:07:05] Think about the third one. But it's like how how are they going to top it? Because even I'm 12 hours in starting chapter four and it's it is so so good. And like I from where they're at right now, they topped remake,
[00:07:20] which you know, it's just it's amazing so far. But let's, you know, get further into talking more and more down the rabbit hole that is remake rebirth and crisis core, right? Let's give you your your due for your career, right?
[00:07:38] Because a lot of people may just know you as just rude. But you've been you've been going at this now for quarter century. When you look at the IMDB and and everything, Jason saying, hey, honey, my wife in our chat. Hey, now.
[00:08:00] But yeah, so like when you did your bio right for for our website, which everybody can go to crash and game night com. Click on, you know, Williams profile be able to find his, you know, social media and and how to get in contact him.
[00:08:13] But, you know, you you started on the military. Yeah, man. You know, that was straight out of high school, you know, and and really just coming from there. It's like before the military one day I was in junior old TC and high school.
[00:08:29] So that gave me my taste. My mom's retired. She's retired LTC, you know, for those people. Thank you for your service, by the way. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I came out for National Guard, you know, I always knew even going to military, I wanted to act.
[00:08:48] I wanted to go into broadcasting actually, but my recruiter had other ideas. It's like, yeah, I want to go on broadcasting and it came down to well, you know, this one's kind of like broadcast. You seen a good morning Vietnam. Oh, no.
[00:09:05] And I was like, oh, the radio man, I was a phone operator. I was so mad. No. You got you. You got you. So I was already like career mind. I can come out. I would eyeball that recruiter every time I was like,
[00:09:20] Hey, I don't know what you got. But I was like, yeah, I see you. Yeah. So but as it came down to it, it was like, you know, I grew up playing games and things like that video game.
[00:09:32] So always like one system came out, you sell the old system, get the get the new one. And yeah, I came out the military and start National Guard. I was like, man, I want to go to acting school, dude. You guys are downsizing right now. Cool.
[00:09:53] Let me let me take that honorable discharge. Let me go off to New York and pursue this stuff because I was already in community college, you know, doing theater. You know, if it really wasn't acting, I just, I wasn't interested.
[00:10:04] But yeah, I went to New York, went to a conservatory called American Use Goin Dramatic Arts Academy, Amdipa Shore, you know, did some off off Broadway there. Just, you know, all of my chops. I didn't really step into the video game arena until
[00:10:20] I lived in Pittsburgh for a short time. I did this game called Jeff Fighter Full Burn. That was like on, they had like a double C rom when they was doing that on PC. So yeah. Yeah, worked on that.
[00:10:34] But when I got to LA, I did a man, am I going to have to go get the game? It's battle battlefield. Battlefield Hardline. Yeah. Oh, whoa. Yeah. That was the first. So Jerry, that was at our first real E3 when EA was
[00:10:55] last there and they had the big armored car set up. Oh, yeah. That's how far back that goes. Hey. So when going through your systems, what were some of your favorite systems going through, you know, your gaming, gaming years? Wow.
[00:11:14] Well, we know he goes well truly touch us. I was like, what were some that were your what? We know he goes back because he referenced it as Square Soft. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. So he went through some system. That's what I want to know.
[00:11:27] Like what were some of the systems you went through that you loved and that were like close to your heart because I have a few to me. Yeah. Oh man, dude, I go back to joystick system. I go back but.
[00:11:41] There are some arcade locations I still miss like to this day, like, oh yeah. That's that was the funny thing about me. I mean, anybody who knows me like going back to kid days. That's like, all you had to do is go find the arcade.
[00:11:54] That's where we find. What was your what was your go to cabinet? My go to cabinet. So many. We all. Yeah. Number one. Two or three. I always check that we're open. It's always it's fine. I remember which one I dropped the most coins into man,
[00:12:17] which which one fingers the most for me with turtles in time turtles in time and X men X men. Yeah. X man. I would say a good the solid third would have been the Simpsons game. Okay. A lot of money on those games. Okay. A lot of quarters.
[00:12:35] And then like any vehicles, like probably the Terminator or alien game where you had like a gun or some an object to use at the game. See Capcom and I hope Capcom if you're listening, I hope you bring this bring this, you know, just retro game.
[00:12:52] It was aliens. They did an aliens game that was like had street fighter characters in it. Oh, what? Like they did Dungeons and Remember when Capcom did Dungeons and Dragons to I remember the Dungeons and Dragons one. So they did something.
[00:13:08] No, it was aliens versus Predator by Capcom. Yep. Yeah. Oh, it's sweet. You were dragon punching people's predator. Oh, yeah. There was a scene. In between the levels sometimes in the actual armor transport as a gunner. And yeah, it was love that game. It was great. I don't.
[00:13:29] Yeah, I don't remember that one. Yeah. It's one that was at the arcades. I used to go to this place called Putt Putt golfing games. I'm from Dayton, Ohio originally. So I was like birthday birthdays would come around like
[00:13:40] 29 or whatever folks just dropped me off at Putt Putt. I had some cargo shorts, both pockets be blown out with tokens and I'll just be there playing game. Boo boo boo boo boo boo. Yeah, those are the most going back to the consoles.
[00:13:56] When I got out the military, I remember I had my bonus. When Genesis had just dropped the stuff like that, man. So I got I remember getting that Sega Genesis. I'm like, I got the advanced. Sweet. Let's get that.
[00:14:09] Let's get that Sega Genesis and playing stuff on that, man. I remember then it was like Super Nintendo and, you know, just worked your way up from there. But I can't remember like, well, let's let's educate. What's up? Let's educate carry on. That looks cool.
[00:14:28] Oh, there you go. Oh, bad ass. I did not. Yes. I don't know about this game. So many quarters into this game. That's tight. Yeah, it was a joint. Almost kind of like, yeah, like Street Fighter is like streets of rage. Yeah, she's right. Yeah. Oh, that's cool.
[00:14:48] Here's a picture of him doing like the uppercut. Oh man, the predators look tight. Yeah, that's cool, man. Yeah, that was a fun game. Oh, I didn't know about that one. That's cool. Yeah. There was a title game. I'm saying title is T-A-I-T-O. Yep.
[00:15:05] They built some bangers too. I used to love playing this game called Renegade because it was pretty raw. Renegade. Yeah, it was like Double Dragon was around. Oh, really? When Double Dragon first jumped off, man, and you started learning like all the little extra moves
[00:15:23] like you can do, like somebody throw a knife and you could inside kick it like, oh, I did that. Yeah. So there was a game called Renegade. I used to love it go beat up because you could, you know, you just drop kicking people off a chopper
[00:15:35] and then rush them down the hallway. You find yourself in the drama. Dang. I came down and... Oh, man. My other go-to was back when Ace Combat was still a sit-down. Oh, that one, yeah. That was the best vehicle one. Yeah.
[00:15:53] But when you were slipping down and kind of like a little side to side, that one was cool. Rushing attack was another one. Oh, yeah, that one was good. Yeah, I dropped a lot of quarters in that. Man, you are making me a little teary-eyed here
[00:16:08] because like here where I live, like we had the mall, we had the food court right next to Time Out, which was our arcade. And we used to go every Saturday. I mean, my buddies used to bike down across town, go to your arcade and all of that.
[00:16:27] And then they just totally tore it down. But I mean, it's like malls nowadays, like a lot of them are getting torn down for those open layout type things and whatnot. But when we look at your career, IMDb has got you listed as doing even some live film,
[00:16:48] you know, TVs and movies and whatnot. And I thought it was interesting you were in The Guardian and The Mentalist. Yeah. The same primary actor. Yeah, man, that's interesting. I did The Guardian back when I was living in Pittsburgh.
[00:17:06] I think that was the first, yeah, that was the first TV role. I did, you know, it was like just one line. And yeah, there was some growth there, I would say, from the actor. I remember, I think it was actually like,
[00:17:23] he was a star and yeah, I think it was tense for the day. And I remember, you know, I was in character. We had that scene that gives me the urinal cuff and he just kind of given to me like hold it like,
[00:17:36] I'm not your piss boy, man. So when you see him, I was just like stressed. It was like really like it fit the scene. And we worked together again. I reminded him of him. He was so cool. So I mean, you know, sweet. Yeah, he's my maker.
[00:17:50] I had to grow this stuff. So yeah, man, they were just mentalists and felt very fortunate to work on things I have worked on. Even then like cold case and you were on private practice, which now I want to go find what episode that is
[00:18:07] because my wife is a huge Grey's and Adime fan. And she watched that spin off and. It's it's so short, you know, you'll see me go by the scene was, I'll just say the scene was much larger on paper.
[00:18:23] Hey, OK, but at least you're not like where John was in an episode of Deep Space Nine as a Klingon. Oh, he actually had to really look for him. Right? You know, it's like, well, it was no,
[00:18:36] it's like he had to tell me like which Klingon he actually was. I'm like, dude, I'm watching the episode. Where are you? Right next to the bar. That's a big news. So it's like, yeah, well, you really can't miss him there.
[00:18:50] So, you know, and then like you talked about, right? You started with Battlefield Hardline, you know, and that came out in 2015. You know, we got to see it at E3 would have been 2014 or 2015. It was last time he was even there.
[00:19:06] But then you were also in Horizon for us as well as as Erichai, MK11. Yeah, by the time that was in K11, that was one of those things like, you know, you geek out. That's so cool, dude.
[00:19:23] Not all the other ones, but it was like when you get handed something that has such a legacy is a legacy title. Because I mean, that was one of those games I played at the arcade and we were pretty good.
[00:19:35] I mean, always will be planted and people would just do the fatality and just like, I quit, man. It goes black, you know, whatever we had as far as Friday ego, just. I mean, we can all remember for those of us that
[00:19:51] frequented the arcade, we can remember when Jax was introduced. Yeah, you know, as a character and and whatnot. That things got such a storied history with it. You know, you've said he's. Yeah, I'm sorry. And he's had a legacy and, you know, look at the
[00:20:10] multiple storylines that Jax has had. Like it's so awesome that you're a part of that, dude. And you brought him to life. I remember 11 and I loved it. It was got it was awesome. And yeah, it's so cool again.
[00:20:24] And it was like, you know, you're on the shoulders of giants when all those actors played him. And, you know, when I got it, I was like, man, rest is rest is so Carl Weathers was was a version of
[00:20:37] Jax at one point because they kind of tied it into the predator thing. Because you know, the predator got the metal arms. I like and the mustache. Yeah, yeah. When they told me because, you know, they give you fake sides, man.
[00:20:51] You don't know what you're eating or they just like, OK, all this dude's military. OK, I can I can dial the same. I got this. And then when they tell you what it's for, like the title wasn't even Mortal Kombat. They had a LH title.
[00:21:03] I was like, I'm playing who? And you go in the room like this is for real. This is happening me. That's so cool. So I'm like, wow, OK, you know, it's, it's, you know, it's playtime for real now. So let's go.
[00:21:21] Yeah. When did you so when you did remake? Like when did you figure out that you were actually rude as one of the Turks? Because we know that that was, you know, covered in secret and again. That's one of those titles they don't necessarily tell you
[00:21:37] what it is. But here's the thing, you know, being being a game geek myself, man, I started looking at artwork. I was like, dude, this is this is square artwork right here. I'm like, I know this world and they kind of gave the description of the character.
[00:21:54] I was like, maybe it could be, but I'm not sure. But I said, you know, they said something like, I think the description might have been like Vin D and I was like, hmm, OK, I'll just go get my phone on it. I'll be slim.
[00:22:12] So let's do this. Family familiar. I got a. Maybe since you knew the artwork, I'm assuming that you you played FF seven. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing about FF seven. It has a special place in my heart because when
[00:22:34] the original came out, I was working at GameStop before it became GameStop. E.B. Games. E.B. Games. It was E.B. Games and I don't even think when seven came out, it was E.B. Games yet. I think it was still electronics boutique. No way.
[00:22:53] It wasn't sexy. Oh, that means yeah. Yeah, man. So but yeah, it came out and I was a guy, you know, enjoy selling games, man. I was I was the gamer. So I'm like, man, I'm here. I know where most of my paychecks are going
[00:23:09] to be back to the company. But when Final Fantasy seven came out, I remember that trailer and it's an old trailer on YouTube. I downloaded it just because the music in the trailer wasn't even in the game, but I was standing in front of that auditor.
[00:23:22] Big say that the big screen TV in front of the windows you walk by all the customers were going by. What's this? Because FF seven was groundbreaking. That was like PS one before it was PS one PlayStation exclusive. It's like this is one to get. Yeah.
[00:23:39] And I would watch it mesmerize until somebody said, Hey, we got customers over here. Yeah. I got a job. Sorry. But yeah, that it was like that in Metal Gear Solid. Those were like the two coming out that man after my own heart. Yes.
[00:23:56] You just the franchise I hope comes back is yes. That was one of my favorites as well. Yes. I think it's funny that if you look back at that time, right with Final Fantasy seven and it being PlayStation, right is to think if Nintendo hadn't gone cartridge
[00:24:10] for the N64 and went CD. Oh, yeah. It would have been an Nintendo title. Yeah. You know, like a Nintendo Sony title, right? Because they were collabing. Yeah. And like, you know, the PlayStation was the game. All the developers wanted to make games for us.
[00:24:27] So I mean it was like when I think about it and things coming full circle because that was like one of the first RPG titles that I just played all the way through like I had to beat it and all the just the story.
[00:24:43] You know, of course when you know everybody I remember I was living with like three other guys and they were kind of ahead and we was like, don't tell anybody. I hate to. Those spoilers dude.
[00:24:55] This is why I can't start up my game until my wife gets back and I was like, yeah. And I remember one of my roommates told me about air. Like he slept. He's like, don't cry when I was like, oh, he ruined it for you.
[00:25:08] At least me and my brother had that much respect for each other. Like he would like, hey, he would at least like, hey, like you're going to want to do a couple more fights and level up at that area.
[00:25:19] So we kind of helped each other out, but we didn't spoil anything. But it didn't tell me what happened, but that was enough. I was like, what do you mean? Like he already ruined it. Already ruined it.
[00:25:32] Yeah, it's still got me, but I was like, like that's like everybody ruining that Darth Vader was Luke's dad, you know, back, strikes back, right? And that's why I'm like, I'm with all the people that have already finished, you know, rebirth already that they're all bright and
[00:25:50] hey, we've already finished it, which I'm like one dude, it just came out. You mean you cranked through and enjoyed weekend and didn't enjoy it. Like everyone for the most part has been pretty, pretty chill. Like they've actually listened to the dev team's requests to say
[00:26:06] don't spoil anything. Just let people enjoy it. Yeah. And all the cut scenes are on YouTube now. So it was like, you know, very easy to as usual. It's like clockwork. The moment the game comes out, so many people are clipping it already.
[00:26:22] And yeah, so I mean, I've already learned to kind of just ignore it and like go at my own pace. But I've been meaning to ask, so since you did play seven, the original for me, I just wondered how you played because
[00:26:36] for me that was like the first game where I kind of became the completionist where the moment I heard of a secret weapon or a secret summon or or like that secret ending and all that. So I would get to my character like 909 and nine right.
[00:26:56] And like I fit like I finished that game. Like it was one of the first games I did that too. And that's what kind of started me on like Matt and I are kind of completionists for games and right. It's not completely. Let's be real.
[00:27:11] But hey, day in our heyday we were completionists. Okay, Jason was let's be fair, Jerry. I started with Prano trigger. Oh, you did. Yeah. But I see. I started with Final Fantasy. That's where I started trying to get everything. Yeah, yeah. No, another classic.
[00:27:34] Well, were you kind of the same way or did you finish the game and like did you did you go replay it when you hear? I tried brother. I really did try to try to find all the secret stuff I never got.
[00:27:46] I'm trying to think of one summons that I was trying to trying to get that I never got. So I finished it but not to completion. Oh, okay. I'm guessing. But not nights of the round. Nights of the round. That's what I was thinking.
[00:27:58] I should have another Capcom title. Oh, dude, I remember that one too. Yeah, but yeah, the summon nights around. You need to get it. Yeah, yeah, because you have to you have to go through the whole gold chocobo quest and you know, race all
[00:28:14] your chocobos and you got to breed them and then after breeding them, you gotta breed more and more and then you finally get the gold chocobo and it can walk on water. Everything. All those wonderful little mini games inside quest, man. That's what just makes it so.
[00:28:29] I know I'm so ready to go to the gold saucer though. I'm ready to just spend hundreds of hours. I'm so ready. We know you're going to. Yeah. And then he's gonna go back through the game and try to get the other date.
[00:28:41] So he's going to try to date everybody. Bro, I mean like got it man. Like. Just as well knows, you know, like there's always going to be a lot of dialogue that you guys overdo and sometimes it's only because you get a certain like certain.
[00:29:00] Section like oh this happened so therefore oh it's if you answer that one Easter egg, the little Easter egg dialogue is always helpful man. It's always one question like if you miss one question with Barrett, it blows the whole entire thing.
[00:29:15] But or like, you know, just like in the first one remake, you know if you take the elevator or you take the stairs and like when you take the stairs, I love John. When he's like oh my God, like yeah get tired of this. Like oh my God.
[00:29:34] That's the replay value of it all. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And it's it's I'm ready for it. My body is ready, you know and it's I just can't wait to see like how rude is especially with all the Turks around.
[00:29:51] Now you got rude, Elena and I'm not going to because I'm not saying it Jay. I'm not saying it but that the scene where we get to see rude for the first time in in rebirth is great. Yeah, I mean like don't don't say anything but
[00:30:05] it's just going to be cool to see the entire Turk force. Yep. Like pulling through like. Yeah Elena is no she's no slouch man so. No way. I'm excited for that you know and all the things that we've been talking about like old retro games
[00:30:25] you know it's such a throwback because I and we always say this to all of our guests and everything like that it's we are all connected through this love of these old retros or these old like memories that all of us have
[00:30:41] you know like as kids playing the first final fantasy seven when you're like oh dude I got a dis to today. Like I'm so dis one or like oh did you get that thing at the at the end of this to
[00:30:54] you can't get in this three and you're like oh man I just like gotta go back get the memory cards. Yeah, I check the same. Why are we. Where the days of old when we were when we were working at gameplay Jason.
[00:31:10] Yeah me and Jerry used to work together and days or we would close the store a couple beers and that's that's why you're talking about eb games like hey we got a customer and like all the time being Jerry would be like watching
[00:31:22] something or like oh I like Joe Jerry his customer you were sitting there doing after our video games when I was growing up for me it was after hours laser tag. Oh sweet oh that and well being that you're from you were in Pittsburgh.
[00:31:37] Did you ever go to laser storm? No I didn't laser tag place. Laser tag and arcade it was like fantastic. I do remember playing a couple times in the neighborhood like in Ohio man when they brought out school laser tag and deal TV show.
[00:31:54] Yeah, you know everybody's running trying to shoot each other with we had some kids get fancy put some mirrors of something. Dude you movie traffic. Yeah, that's cool. Outdoors all you know it's free for all so yeah I guess you will know what made so when you started
[00:32:15] off you were doing film right TV and movie what made you really make stage but part of the plays first. Yes well yes who plays when I'm talking like when you look at your movie and you're moving into like film and TV like right your evolution
[00:32:30] right is when what made you make the jump from doing film to actually doing more voice over work. I always wanted to do I mean when I getting the L.A. and started taking classes I mean I got my voice over agent in 2010. Yeah just like
[00:32:51] taking classes it was just like really with the whole shutdown is what really led to even more be over. Because you know people were recording remotely or if you went into the studio was just you so I mean really that's what kind of led to more
[00:33:09] be all stuff and I just started focused on it and I was blessed to get more work so I was like you know what I'm something I've always wanted to do being a gamer and somebody loves animation I was just like hey I'm at home here so hey
[00:33:25] give me more give me more sweet so that was something you pursued no one like kind of suggested or open like like put the idea like hey you should go maybe check this out or I mean that's awesome it's something I always wanted to do
[00:33:41] and particularly when I was in theater school in New York that's about the time when a Batman animated series came out oh yes that's that's all right. Hey Kevin rest in peace yeah and I remember seeing all these great actors coming through there
[00:33:57] that you know many of that I've seen on TV you know Richard Maul also maybe rest in peace didn't two-faced all I mean all that stuff I was like dude this is incredible I wanted I want to do this I didn't know how to go about
[00:34:13] I just knew it was possible so I mean ever since then I really wanted to do like you know growing up on cartoons but that was that was a turning point but yeah getting to LA and getting a chance to take those classes to pursue it
[00:34:25] and yeah it didn't happen for me traditionally it was like classes talked to an agent came my first BO agent and you know took me on and the rest was history in mind do you think doing theater helped prepare you more for doing you know film and
[00:34:49] voiceover work well yeah definitely because it's all like you know theater you don't have everything it's coming out of your head like you know you might have some great stage as they build your great set but a lot of it's just you know that internal preparation and it's
[00:35:09] yeah it all played a part and I mean what led to me going into theater was actually tabletop games RPGs Dungeons and Dragons all that stuff man nice it played a factor so it was like D&D was all about improv and creating characters
[00:35:25] and stories which I spent hours doing like man you done roll up the character what was your character yeah what was your D&D character characters yeah what was your D&D like what kind of classes did you like to favorite man I I favored halflings
[00:35:45] oh cool okay yeah halflings, rogues I'm waiting to get back to a campaign right now with some buddies that we had the last character I played was a cat person swashbuckler slash gunslinger oh sweet a lot of uh a lot of chaotic he was harder he chapped you
[00:36:15] that's cool my only tabletop that I've played is called Deadlands it was it's similar Dungeons and Dragons but it is set in the world after army of darkness hmm oh cool so there is there is the secret ending on the bootleg version of army of darkness
[00:36:37] where Ash leaves the stuff in the past okay and they essentially reverse engineer it oh so it takes them on a completely different path and it leads to the summoning eventually of the four horsemen of the apocalypse oh cool world is ruined my character was based on Hawkeye
[00:37:01] hmm with a little blade and cloud so so the bike and advent children where it opens up and has all the swords in it for me that was arrow or racks like all the different types of arrows that's good idea my quiver and stuff
[00:37:23] because we had the technology to build whatever we wanted we could imagine right and I had the same type of bow that you could you know change up and it would do the arrow tips from the first avengers movie but it was a collapsible bow
[00:37:37] like in blade trinity hmm so you know how it just pops out and it just folds out and whatnot and then I had the katana just like blade did and I hit it underneath my trench coat and like it was a lot of fun
[00:37:53] and I missed doing that with friends it's just to your point it is improv because you have to be pretending your character and what your character would do and what not so with when you look at kind of going to fast forward to being part
[00:38:11] of the remake project so we're talking remake crisis core reunion and rebirth what's it for you when you see what the overall community is like how welcoming has it community been to you and like when you hear the stories of how all this game
[00:38:31] touched so many people how does it make you feel that you're actually a part of bringing into the modern era last man because you know it's hard to go back and remake something that's a classic that uh that touched so many people it's kind of dangerous
[00:38:49] ground is like okay if you're going to go back and do this man don't eff it up yeah don't mess it up at all you are already playing with fire yeah I mean for them to to go back and do this I commend them you know bravery innovation
[00:39:07] you know well planned is like and to see how it turned out and just you know this one I was at the game awards and they said most anticipated title I was like wow nice it's one of those things and you know sometimes I go
[00:39:25] you know I go and look at people's posts like a lot of influencers and the people who are playing the game and they got the comment sections open up you know I go and look and say okay what is it oh man okay that's
[00:39:37] cool somebody had something positive to say because you know there's other actors that play rude you know um I'm trying to remember the gentleman's name from ad-bin children you know that was kind of a different version of rude yeah oh yeah and that was a controversial thing too
[00:39:53] when you guys draw a cast for remake the original the cast from ad-bin children to be a part of yeah the remake so you know when you see that and then you see like people are accepting it like yeah we miss miss the other actor but you know
[00:40:11] he's doing a good job and I'm joining so I mean it's like okay it's like a good sense of relief yeah yeah it was passing the baton I've done it justice I've added my own take to it it's kind of like when you take on legacy characters
[00:40:25] like Jax it's like you never know how it's going to be received and it's like you know you get that positive reinforcement that love their appreciation I like what you're doing with the role you know you didn't shame it you didn't do okay so
[00:40:41] you want to talk about connections right with you playing rude in the remake I just looked up on IMDB Crispin Freeman is the guy who played rude in ad-bin children he's actually plays additional voices in rebirth there you go oh wow cool that's crazy that's kind of
[00:40:59] interesting too yeah it's full circle and for those out there just Crispin Freeman he played Firefly in Arkham Origins he's been doing an action so I think it's awesome that at least they pulled in some of those voice actors to be part of it how did as a
[00:41:23] as an OG for FF7 what would your take on them taking it in a different direction at the end of remake where Zack was still alive well I mean it just kind of opened up the other possibilities you know it's because they get a chance to expand
[00:41:41] on the storylines things they didn't get a chance to explore previously and I'm sure somebody was sitting there like what if you know we get until like an alternate version and yeah I think it's great because again you're paying homage but you're also expanding the universe
[00:42:03] in a sense it's kind of like the whole marble what if someone so did this I love the series but no I feel what you're saying though where it's like back in 95 the first one going the original 97 back in the 90s but I say with respect boy because
[00:42:29] senior in high school I don't even know what I think it was like a sixth grade but I'm just saying you had so much space just like what the cartridge is back in the day like you had so much space to tell the story and like
[00:42:47] characters that get lost because they just don't have any more space for them they have to keep pushing the story you know yeah I mean it brings a lot more depth to why we're going through all this or like how much more heated like cloud
[00:43:07] separate being soldiers were what the whole soldier aspect was versus just like oh yeah here's a minigame that's all of it you know we can expand now so much longer or we can break down like oh here's a side quest to figure this
[00:43:25] out or to learn more about this rather than just like here's a linear you got to go here got to go here like it expands so much more and I think that's I'm excited to play this one because this is where the whole
[00:43:41] world opens up once you start getting out of sandbox yeah once you get calm once you get to calm then like everything just opens up and you got to get the hot you gotta hopefully we get the high wind here I mean
[00:43:55] again don't say anything if you do we do or don't but like you know you get the high wind going and just start like just flying around just taking the cruise like a regular day yeah that was that so well have you played remake
[00:44:09] not yet just I just got my code sent to me well no so like not remake like oh remake I'm sorry yeah I'm sorry brother I honestly I have to get my PS5 I gotta get I gotta get my new system I still have my deluxe version
[00:44:27] sitting in plastic I refuse to open it oh I just I just got a new PS5 and the Slims are nice they're real nice but it pained me that I was like I was as we were approaching the launch date right
[00:44:45] and I'm like all right come on taxes hurry up because I need this at launch you know and you know when we look at enough of a Final Fantasy John Key and Jerry knows this right is that I bought I bought it digitally bought the digital deluxe
[00:45:01] version of Rebirth plus I went and got all the guts to the physical version so I could have it all you know and when I was joking because I know a couple of people that work at PlayStation and I was talking to one of them
[00:45:15] I was like yeah I gotta I kind of felt like obligated I've got to support everybody I know that's been part of this project you know digitally get all the physical stuff you know and and I think and I think what's been amazing about all of this right
[00:45:33] all of you guys being a part of the project right you and and Brianna and and Gideon John Vic you know everybody now is that you guys are you guys have been so humbled by this experience like just how the world is reacted to you guys bringing
[00:45:49] this world back in such a way and it's still amazes me just how much love on social media you guys get you know and talking about this game and you know some some actors do let it go you know some do get let it go to their heads
[00:46:07] but in this case everyone that's been a part of this project is like I am so grateful to be a part of this and I think that goes to just how special FF7 is yeah it's a classic that you just cannot mess up and you guys
[00:46:21] have not and it's just been so good to have like the voices put to it where you feel like oh man like the sarcasticness of Rude like constantly because he's always hanging around with Reno it's like yeah dude like yeah you could feel in the dialogue boxes back
[00:46:45] in the day but now like it's you feel it even more because like the tone is just that much better love it love it love it love those character dynamics so what when you get when you look at your console gaming
[00:47:03] right and you look at the Final Fantasy series did you have a favorite outside of the seven man I started with three that was the first the first one I really ever played through again I never beat three but I remember playing it you know are we talking
[00:47:21] three aka six on the Super Nintendo three here in the US yeah during the US with Final Fantasy 7 and the rest of the Final Fantasy's I played what was your go to summon what was your favorite summon out of all of them damage wise aesthetically
[00:47:45] you know I remember which one that which one could I go to consistently I don't want to see free I think I may slip the name though big dragon Bahamut it's gonna be thank you oh yeah yeah mine as much as I love Neo Bahamut
[00:48:20] in seven my favorite summons across the board has always been Shiva okay oh okay Bahamut was I just love the most powerful but for me it was classic if it throughout like the games was a favorite of mine because I thought he always just looked cool aesthetically yeah
[00:48:42] those are good ones yeah I mean like those the go to you know that was the first you know yeah I love Diabolos that was mine aesthetically but the one I love just using all the time just cuz it was funny as hell
[00:49:00] it's cactar man you gotta use cactar cactar man like that's my boy like run in that's it all day hoppin up and down baby I'm gonna get a tattoo of him someday someday I'm gonna find a place for him that's okay
[00:49:22] I'm now gonna require it Jason every opening you gotta basically just oh bro man hey what's up guys dude Jerry we need to get Pierre to basically redo Jason's caricature and make it no no make him my number one just make him in but as cactar
[00:49:46] we can do different variants they're like common covers we'll do different variants so as we kind of close things out right it's already almost you know nine o'clock on the east coast and whatnot so so when you look at people that are
[00:50:04] starting to get in you know wanting to get into the industry you know about voice acting or whatever what's what's your one piece of advice that you would give anybody that's looking to get into voice acting I would say definitely if you have people that you admire
[00:50:24] who are you know already voice actors kind of follow what they did you know I had to take it back how I started I'm only child I grew up like doing voice before I even knew it was a career I would go downstairs with my parents
[00:50:44] basement with their JBC boombox and just be doing sketches doing voices I had had no idea this is its only child I was and I go back and I think about that I was already doing this stuff beforehand so study the crash if you can
[00:51:00] take a theater class I would say all that helps you know if you have a chance if you're in high school I don't know a lot of high schools now still have high school radio you know get some time get in front of the mic I am actually
[00:51:18] volunteer teaching at my old high school teaching podcasting okay yeah for their senior projects for the business class they started it last year and they're doing it this year where they basically have to do a podcast yeah getting in front of the mic
[00:51:30] and interviewing people so I've been grateful to be giving back and to my old alma mater to teach that and I think a lot of those kids as we've been kind of working through the podcast and getting in front of the mic
[00:51:42] couple of them actually kind of to that point right are looking at broadcasting now they're like I never this is something I never thought I could you know would be interested in all of a sudden it's like oh I'm good in front of the mic
[00:51:56] if you enjoyed doing it too why not man it's it's time to find always the fun find and join it also because sometimes you don't make any money you're doing it really just out of the out of the joy of you know practicing your craft so I would
[00:52:18] and for me that's filmmaking and yeah if those kids if that's their love yeah pursue it even like you said even if you're not getting paid it's the pure enjoyment of what you love to do that is the artistry in it and
[00:52:36] let me pull this book up here this is something I would say yeah you gotta you gotta read you gotta listen you can go on YouTube exactly and start listening to various videos stuff I mean YouTube's a great a great tool you know
[00:52:56] where is it I got it saved in here but voice over voice actor the extended edition um this is Yuri Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence all and Tara Platt that's a great book so wow when you look at it Yuri is Spiderman yeah another yeah read and absorb it
[00:53:28] just you know read absorb listen where's this other book thought it's in here but yeah all that stuff study the craft if you can take classes um that's another thing that I did I was I was taking workshops you know to really learn my instrument
[00:53:48] you know I find that's the people if you sing oh man you've already got command of your instrument a lot of vocalist because I can't tell you how many auditions I get where they like okay we want you to sing 16 bars okay so I'll sing a little bit
[00:54:02] wow well that it but I'm not a singer I've something for play but yeah get get to know your instrument your voice you know your range some art what you can do what you are challenged when you do it and um yeah just just dig into it
[00:54:20] um the help network HALP network you can probably find them on social media they have some great classes mm-hmm you know nice jewelry at the help that network is hired me for uh she hired me for XO Primal you know met some
[00:54:38] great people that I'm just trying to find that book but yeah this is this is the stuff that uh you learn as a as an actor as a voice over actor you know just get comfortable being in front of that mic sweet it's not easy
[00:54:54] that's for sure like I tell the kids that I teach right and I'm like if I listen if I go back and listen to our first few episodes I'm like dude that was rough like you could you know you could tell we weren't as comfortable you know on
[00:55:12] the mic as we are now um so the one lasting that we have to ask which is something we ask of everybody every guest on the show every guest first time they come through mm-hmm first time you roll through we got
[00:55:26] to find out is when you are able to have a night together with friends and family what is your favorite game to play with everybody what are your games on game night whether it's a board game video game whatever it is like yeah favorite game to play
[00:55:44] of all my friends nobody plays games like I do so if I get with my group of friends I'm the I'm the gamer um but I I have love playing cards against humanity that's a good game to just break the ice and see how crazy
[00:56:00] something is also you secretly learn a lot a lot about people's humor yeah really dark they really can go and how yeah or what they find believe me me yeah you know a lot about people that that's that's true and you know I don't
[00:56:20] yeah I had a choice yeah I would I would want to play some some D&D and um looking forward to getting into some cyberpunk too considering that you know I worked on it and that on netrunner such a great anime man man that was so
[00:56:36] beautifully done it was just the soundtrack it was just it was yeah it was amazing yeah I'm I hide because I'm the one that I don't remember what the other card was but it was the matching card was the choir boys yeah it was bad
[00:56:54] I'll say my favorite card it was one of those ones the second I played it was like you could have just done that could have been the mic drop moment yeah we already knew who won that one yeah yeah and it was one of those
[00:57:08] things it was like dude that was so messed up that dude how did you why did you actually say that a messed up card like this is so wrong and you win it yeah it's almost kind of tainted the wind a little bit like but yeah
[00:57:24] and now we do this because everyone looks around like who put that card yeah like oh that's me and I'll take the black card yeah now we've moved on to how do you mean yeah that one's fun too so it's called how do you
[00:57:42] mean so what they do is they take those famous meme pictures that have been out there for years and years and years it's like cards against him any but your card is the meme and then basically you put a phrase to it yeah the caption quote yeah yeah
[00:57:58] how do you mean yeah so yeah the meme card is a picture and then you put the phrase to the picture yeah oh man you know there's that picture of that little girl that's in front of the house burning like on fire and stuff like that
[00:58:12] that's been out there for ages so basically you basically match a card up to it yeah like and it's the same concept like how jacked up can you get it's funny that one's good if you have like it's more like just the picture and stuff like that yeah
[00:58:30] me and my friends we have one that's similar to cards against humanity it's called joking hazard and it's I'm an in zone yeah and it's pretty much two teams it's two teams and you have you have a train and it's gonna go either to team A
[00:58:50] team B so like the first one is like oh it's a good thing like oh like maybe like church of nuns versus like a school of school of kids then it's the evil thing and then it's like oh like Hitler or like what else
[00:59:10] will be like evil or like suicide bomber and your goal like there's one judge and they have to run over one one group of people and you know it's a lesser to two evils it's a little bit more dark it's a lot more dark a lot a little
[00:59:28] a lot more dark but still a funny game because people are like trying to defend like no you don't don't run over mine like you know like look at that one now it's got these like right and I left out monopoly too that's the other one
[00:59:46] what was that I left out monopoly oh no no oh monopoly I'll play it monopoly is amazing man it's a classic game well every time we get together you know every time we get together we do monopoly for a night like we use do it on the switch
[01:00:10] we have to have a set amount of games to play and that's it we will play and we do we do the rotating championship like four of us will be like you're the championship and so far the championship is not left to say to California
[01:00:26] yeah it hasn't who's the current champion just just yeah who's the current champion I thought we got that ring yeah we physically turned it into something now so yeah whoever wins next I got to mail it out if I don't retain the
[01:00:50] title is that what you're wearing on your pinky yes that's that's our championship championship yeah that's right so yeah I got to I got to put my name on the first plaque but essentially next next tournament we'll see we'll see where it goes yeah okay yeah
[01:01:12] yeah we'll see I'm thinking I'm thinking we'll play the final battle board man like yeah we're innings if you're listening monopoly you guys has bro there you go right I do it I'd be down there too the browns of monopoly or something like that
[01:01:36] dude the browns will be like sector 7 yeah oh yeah that's so funny there is one it's just you know it's I don't know how how expensive it is now I got to so Will I want to I do want to thank you for coming on and then crashing
[01:01:56] game night with us tonight it's been a blast having you on definitely we'll keep in touch because when we plan our Cali trip it'll be reunion with everybody else and you are down to come join John and Austin and us and just go hang out
[01:02:14] and be part of the fam absolutely absolutely and it would be I will definitely have you sign our kind of memorabilia we have the art book from remake okay everybody's been signing it so Austin and Vic and Mal it's just like our little memento like our time together
[01:02:36] and I am I need to try and get a hold of for everybody that has cards printed for them the final fantasy TCG game the trading card games so far I've gotten John his card for Barrett but my plan is I want to get everybody their characters that
[01:02:56] have been printed so you know ruin all that so I can give him to you guys in the next trip so we got to get you out there for it's a lot of fun we usually and it's we don't even talk
[01:03:06] work it's just like catching up with everybody how's life how is every year catch up it's like a big family dinner we all just kind of yeah just catch up with each other once a year thing like I was telling you in the
[01:03:18] sense of the picture of it but but yeah so to everybody else that did pop in tonight thank you for crashing game night if this was your first time catching us thank you you know we appreciate you taking the time out
[01:03:30] to get that little bit of distraction come hang out with with rude himself from the Turks you know if you like what you're make sure to drop us a follow or head on at corporate crashing game night dot com you'll find it you know the platforms
[01:03:44] were carried on as well as if you click on the contributors and guest tab you'll find will's profile right on there where he's got his links to social meeting all that but just you know and this is kind of might do
[01:03:58] some memories for will to but guys just in the times that we're going through right now just please as bill and Ted always says be excellent to each other absolutely everybody to all my nerds will thank you so much for joining it's been a blast it's you know
[01:04:18] we also got to thank all good john for the pleasure of the referral because without him we wouldn't have gotten the pleasure to meet you and thank you much so much for joining in and once again we just want to promote the same messages as always every episode
[01:04:36] with the craziness going on right now in the country in the world let's just try and practice a little bit more patience let's just try and be a little bit more courteous and lend a helping hand if we can overall let's just try to do and be better
[01:04:54] to try and be a little bit more open and accepting thank you guys all your nerds be you and thank you for joining and to Jayrock baby yeah thank you so much again well for joining us tonight as always this couch will be here you're always
[01:05:14] walking on it anytime again yeah like the guys have been saying we are in March already it's crazy like almost a third of the year has gone by so it's we've my kids hit celebrated 120 days of school on Thursday but again it's we're three months in we got
[01:05:42] Fano Fast and Rebirth coming out or it's already been out for less than a week some of us are already playing it Jay it's okay you can admit it you don't want to crack that seal I am ready it is it is like looking around me
[01:05:56] every day and I'm just like Rona if you're listening he's being faithful yeah he's good faithful to you we're so excited to just break through because of how it ended the first how remake it ended we're just so excited to play it though so I mean
[01:06:12] to all the people out there that have finished it for the ones that have not spoiled anything for everyone you know like kudos for you guys you know I hopefully play and enjoy it enjoy it have fun you know take your time there is no rush and
[01:06:30] I hope that there's more piano covers that get played like hopefully we'll have a few people do like some collabs at the same time with those piano covers because those have been cool yeah those are amazing so please that's that's
[01:06:44] the one thing I'm like I can't I love watching those but again as always you know we are three months in so hey let's keep it up man like it's it's it's been quite quite a good time take care of everybody out there you know happy belated
[01:07:00] birthday again to will thank you belated birthday to Jerry you know so it's thank you good times thank you very much and you know we're we're sends feel our fourth member you know like I need him back I need like I'm stuck between a rock and
[01:07:18] a hard place over here I'm trying to figure out who I give the outro to you know it's it's tough it's tough that doesn't screw it up yeah well I give to Matt last time I try I try to make it my own
[01:07:32] I'm not trying to steal it we need to rehearse this a little bit next time Jerry you know but you know I'll give it to Jerry because I gave to Matt last time hold on before we close can I can I say yeah for fans of Final Fantasy
[01:07:46] there will be a live signing event live streaming event next month in April ooh more details sir streamly to be posted on my my IG will see me but you guys know it's going to be on stream yeah I am in time together
[01:08:08] sweet and if it's a Sunday too I'm like alright I'm all in but but yeah like hopefully we'll get more info on that and I'm gonna you know send it out to Jerry you ready Jerry you ready I'm ready you ready sure are you sure I'm ready
[01:08:24] sure I got you you let me take it to make me steal I'm not gonna let you steal it man get out here get out of here my man you're not here but it's okay Jerry send us out like Theo does that's alright thank you everybody
[01:08:40] thank you for watching thank you for listening TTFN that's all for now till next time till next time oh that's right that's his thing this is why to me this is why it has to be word for word I'm making my own that's Theo's that's Theo's sign off
[01:09:00] alright everybody guys thank you for watching thank you for listening until next time TTFN ta ta for now thank you everybody good night good night everybody good night