Actor Roger Clark, who gave the voice and movements to Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2revealed details of the work on one of the character’s most recognizable traits – his painful cough. It turned out that some of these sounds were not acting in the usual sense of the word.
In a conversation with YouTuber and gaming journalist Cade Onder, Clark was asked how difficult the scenes with Arthur’s coughing fits were. The actor responded that the process spanned five years of recording, so “it wasn’t as bad as you might think.”
If there was a really tough coughing scene, we always saved it for the end of the day.
Much more interesting was the confession about where that frightening authenticity of sound came from. Clarke confirmed that during the five years he worked on the role, he suffered from numerous colds and deliberately exploited this condition while recording dialogue.
There were a lot of colds in five years, and we got quite a lot of really genuine material.
According to him, he himself suggested that the studio take advantage of the moment:
I said: “Listen, I have a cold, let me sign up,” and they agreed… it turned out to be a good portion of phlegm.
This approach can be called a type of acting method, only in the literal, physiological sense. Instead of imitating symptoms with his voice, Clark waited for the actual illness and used it as a working tool, adding an almost documentary authenticity to the performance.
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This is why Arthur Morgan’s cough in the game sounds so convincing and unpleasant at the same time. What the players perceived as outstanding acting was, in part, an honest depiction of a real illness stretched out over years of production Red Dead Redemption 2.
Clark’s recognition adds another layer to his already highly acclaimed performance in Red Dead Redemption 2. The actor’s approach to using his own colds to make his character’s symptoms sound more authentic once again shows the degree to which the Rockstar Games team immersed itself in detail when creating one of the most talked about games of the last decade.
