You may recognize actor Steven Ogg from his roles on The Walking Dead, The Tick, or the
new Snowpiercer series. In that show, he plays Pike, a convicted robber who escaped custody
and now leads the Tail of the titular train, serving as a warrior of lower-class passengers.
Or maybe just maybe you know him from the wildly popular video game Grand Theft Auto
V, in which he's the voice and motion-captured inspiration behind the deranged Trevor Phillips.
"Hey, what the f---?"
"I find your t-shirt more than a little offensive. If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's
post-ironic hipsters!"
That 2013 role effectively launched Ogg's career, and he's been climbing up the Hollywood
ladder ever since.
For the three of you who haven't played GTA V, the action-adventure title follows three
career criminals as they, well… commit crimes. These adventures typically involve gunfire,
graphic violence, and car chases. The game has sold over 130 million copies across various
platforms and generated more than $6 billion in revenue.
In total, the entire GTA franchise, which Rockstar Games launched in 1997, includes
more than 11 standalone games, many of which have been bona fide cultural blockbusters.
It's one of the most successful video game series in history thanks in large part to GTA V.
"Faaantastic!"
In an exclusive interview with Looper, Ogg opened up about what he thinks about the franchise,
his feelings about his role as Trevor, and what he knows about the next installment of the game.
Now, before we begin, let us ask you a question: What does a former air force pilot-in-training-turned
psychopath career criminal have to do with a good-natured Tatooine moisture farmer?
"What is it?"
"It is your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi knight."
Well, not a whole lot but Steve Ogg brings up a good point. You see, the enormous popularity
of Grand Theft Auto V has left Ogg in a unique position: Despite a prolific career in television,
his ultra-violent role in the video game garners him the most attention. He explained:
"It's sort of like, Mark Hamill is forever Luke Skywalker. I might forever have this
Trevor Grand Theft Auto thing which listen, I'm proud of it. It doesn't bug me because
it was work I enjoyed."
While Ogg has never played the game, he says portraying a motion-capture character was
a blast. He tells Looper:
"Be it theater, film, [or] TV, the words are the words and that's your job as an actor:
to create these characters and say these words. But it's just the technique that differs [with
motion-capture]. So it was sure fun to do this motion-capture and to create, again,
this rather crazy impulsive character that I had a blast doing it. It was like seven
years ago, but it was fun a lot of fun."
Ogg also shares that portraying Trevor in the Grand Theft Auto universe has generated
the largest fanbase out of all his characters though he does have a legion of Walking Dead
enthusiasts behind him as well, thanks to his role as Simon, the right-hand man to Jeffrey
Dean Morgan's Negan.
"It's time to do some proper slaughterin'."
On a worldwide scale, however, there's a clear winner. Ogg dished:
"It would probably be GTA and then Walking Dead. But certainly globally, Grand Theft
Auto. It's pretty crazy. I've been all over the world China, Brazil, Europe, Canada, the
Philippines. I've been a lot of places, and the response to Grand Theft Auto is still
crazy. [...] That's a pretty global, crazy thing. It's really nuts."
However, just because Ogg contributed to the success of GTA V doesn't mean he knows anything
about the next installment of the video game franchise.
He explained, bluntly:
"I don't know s---. Actors are the last to know anything. You want to know anything about
any production well, maybe not a motion-capture go talk to hair and makeup or the special
effects team because they have to budget the entire season. I spoke at the Vancouver Acting
School or Film School and [they asked], 'What's your advice for young actors?' I said, 'The
first day, be friends with hair and makeup because that's how you're going to know where
your character's going and what you're doing. Because they know everything.'"
Still, Ogg speculates that his character Trevor probably won't be back though he can't say
anything with complete confidence considering he hasn't kept up with the Grand Theft Auto series.
He admits:
"I didn't follow the video games. I don't know what they do, so I'm still not in that
world. I have no idea. I don't think they bring characters back ever; they all seem
to be one-offs."
And he'd be right more or less. GTA isn't known for bringing characters back too often.
At least… not for very long.
"Grah! F---ing s---! C---! C---! C---! C---! C---!"
Though Ogg's Trevor may not pop up in Grand Theft Auto 6, fans of the actor can still
see his face on screen, just in a different medium. Like we mentioned at the start, Ogg
currently stars on TNT's Snowpiercer series, and though his role in season 1 is in a recurring
capacity, the actor will fortunately become a series regular in season 2. So whether you
know him from TV, or just the games you play on your TV, fans certainly haven't seen the
last of Steven Ogg.
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