I am a Magi
protector of Egypt
my land is on the brink of collapse
my name is Abu Bakr Salim and I play
bike of C WA in Assassin's Creed origins
just go back a bit to talking about how
this came about you know you've you've
worked on television shows like 24 and
black mirror and recently strike have
you worked in animation or video games
before you know how did you get the part
never worked in animation or video games
ever before this is my first game and
yeah I actually auditioning for this it
was advertised as an animated TV series
which needed motion capture and you know
different characters you know different
time frame different you know was it was
very it was very different and
did the first round it's great then got
to the second round and that's when they
dropped the bomb that it was assassin's
creed and yes i died a little inside but
it was it was a beautiful death came
back to life and did the best I could
yeah so then yeah it was a it was a it
was an interesting process because it
was very different to normal other
auditions you know the camera was
positioned in a way in which it captured
the whole room so there needed to see
your body and see how you how you'd move
and how you'd you know the character
would move and you I had the animation
director there as well as a
cinematography director there and yeah
they direct me differently and depending
on you know what they wanted to try and
bring out of the character and yeah so
it was it was really exciting it was a
interesting way of auditioning how is
the process of doing you towards there
about seeing how the character would
move and how the character would fit in
the space obviously in the past it used
to just be voice recording whereas now
you've got the motion capture you've got
a camera on your face how hard does that
make it neared you have to be very aware
of how you're moving and how you're
expressing things as you speak I mean I
guess I
mean like with acting anyway you kind of
have you don't really get your thinking
a bit about how you are moving and how
you're speaking and different you know
but at the end of the day you're still
you you know you've got this kind of
objective and you've got to try and
you've got to follow that through so
you're not really thinking much about it
what was what was interesting though was
because we had the animation director in
the room you know certain things like
you know either touching someone or
hugging someone you had to do you know
in a specific way because otherwise the
animators would have difficulty you know
editing that and it's and it is it there
you have to kind of you do have to think
of okay I'm not necessarily going to
stab you I'm gonna stab the air you have
to react and then you know that's the
way kind of the way movement sort of
worked and in those in those in those
rooms it wasn't necessarily as clear as
doing small movements you still had to
do big movements so it could be captured
but also you didn't want to do 2 grand
movements otherwise it would look
ridiculous yeah so how long did the
process take oh man I'm still like it's
like ages I've been working on it for
now nearly a year so yeah so it's
because it is because there is so much
content and there's so much to to record
and you know constantly you know new
things are being added into the game
did the process never stops so yeah so
statist now I think I've nearly been
I've been working on it for now nine
nine ten months so yeah back and forth
from Montreal doing the motion capture
and vio stuff which has been I mean it's
been great fun all the time but like
it's it yeah it's been a very long
process it's very different to film and
TV where it's like after three months or
four months on TV that's it you know
then you do the ADR then you wait for it
to come out no I think it's a video with
this anyway it's constantly evolving and
constantly adapting which is great you
mentioned earlier that you'd played some
of the previous Assassin's Creed games
and obviously people have got their
favorite assassin but they've all kind
of gone on quite a journey through the
stories like Altair going from like a
reckless character to being something
more thoughtful like an old man looking
for meaning and answers and Ezio going
from like being sort of that yeah okay
boy yeah to being like these big leader
of Mendes despite it go on a similar
journey I think my ex journey is really
it's it's it's very internal I think
that's what's so interesting about this
this game anyway is that his journey is
you know it is again the origin or the
origins of the Brotherhood but there is
it there is a journey and from what I've
done and from what I've it's it's not as
as big as it doesn't make as big of a
change as Ezio or you know or even like
Connor it's very it's a personal journey
and I think that's what's quite exciting
about this game is that you know they've
got a completely different way of you
know portraying these characters
portraying the world do you know we sort
of take a little Nemo taking risks and
beautiful risks and it's yeah it's gonna
be great to see the finished product so
obviously nobody knows how people in 49
BC spoke in terms of like accents and
dialects and stuff how did you and the
team set along how byuk should speak
well we had him so that's a good
question it was it was very much a
creative process so you know we had a
dialect coach in there we again we've
got no you know we had a historian there
but what was what was great was
because there was nothing that we could
go back to to look at it gave us a lot
of room to play and create so we ended
up you know we tried especially with
dialect to try and get you know Egyptian
words in there as much as we could to
kind of keep in with that immersion you
know when it came to even deciding an
accents who worked a lot with with an
accent coach and you know coming to
certain decisions on saying certain
things so for example you know byuk
doesn't roll his arse whereas some
Nubians and i roll their ours or even
though even the Greeks would roll their
arse so these sort of rules were kind of
set in stone and then we'd kind of you
know we would be creating this this
accent this world within it as we went
on which was quite fun to do really
great fun to do so yeah when you were
doing the motion capture were you
working with the other actors in the
game like like oh yeah the woman he
plays iearned yes so um yeah I was
played by Alex Wilton Regan and she is a
force to be reckoned with incredible
incredible woman yes or you know a lot
of my scenes took place with her it also
took place with Zora bishop he plays
Cleopatra and yeah it was it was great
fun working with them and working with
all the other actors as well on the
makeup floor
because again there was someone to play
off I mean normally you know I'm sure
voice normally you're in the booth and
you record and the other person's
recorded the dialogue before so you
don't really have that connection
whereas on the actual floor you've got
this you know you got this space to
create and play and it's it's so much
fun so much fun I mean Alex I mean I was
a fan of Alex before you know before I
even you know started playing Assassin's
Creed you know she's she's done so many
video games so it was pretty crazy to
think oh my god she's playing my wife
like is insane but yeah it must be
pretty tough to do anything romantic
scene wise with the big camera oh it's
so much fun it's so much fun with it
with a camera they're doing kissing and
I mean I don't know how the facial
animators are coping with seeing my
kissing face I mean oh sure they're
having a lot of fun laughing at me
behind my back about it but no I mean
yeah it is quite hard to do intimate
scenes especially with the velcro as
well moving if you hug someone you might
get stuck to them and you have to kind
of pull yourself off so you've got to be
aware of all these different things but
um but again it's all part of the joy of
making a video game it's all part of
that that fun process of being silly you
know it is it is that's that's what it
is it's just playing do you feel that
you'd like to continue doing stuff with
video games and voice work oh man yeah
yeah I mean it is it's such a it's such
an interesting way of telling a story
it's it's so you know this this way of
interactively you know communicating
these journeys that you know these
people are going through is it's so it's
so powerful that it's yeah I'd love to
continue being a part of that because
it's it's so different to film and TV
you know you're giving it an hour or so
or two or even sometimes if it's a
series eight twelve hours to you know to
the viewer whereas with games you're
giving hundreds of hours and you go and
you know there is these world in which
they're exploring and creating you know
that they're you know they're viewing
and experiencing and it's yeah it's it's
so rich it's such a rich way of
storytelling people are actually playing
you rather than them watching you so
much exactly yeah they are they are they
are you know participating in that you
know in that in that journey that the
character is going through they're going
to connect to certain things react to
certain things you know with this
character and it's it is it's it's a
beautiful yes a beautiful experience are
you the kind of actor who who can't
watch stuff that they're in or you can
actually play play this Scott man I'm
gonna I'm as like as I've said I'm gonna
be out there queuing up you know the day
before waiting for that launch and
playing that game to death I'm gonna
lock myself in a room and play it it's
go yeah I cannot wait cannot wait I mean
I'm sure I'm gonna cringe at some moment
and think oh why do I say it that way
but at the same time I am so excited for
it yeah
[Music]
I'm the giant no longer
we shall be known
as assassins