2023-05-22 17:22:54
Resident Evil 4 Remake is one of the great games of 2023, being considered one of the favorites for a nomination for the best game of the year award. The new version of Leon S. Kennedy’s journey was extremely well received by critics and the public, reaching great numbers.
Capcom’s new hit offers cutting-edge graphics powered by the RE Engine, while the reimagined gameplay manages to enhance the classic to make the dangers of RE4 even more interesting and fun. With the remake, we also had a new version of the characters from the original work, and names like Luis Serra gained even more prominence in the new version.
In Brazil, the character was played by Michel Di Fiori, a voice actor known for his work in films such as Mortal Kombat, X-Men: Apocalypse, Eternals and more. Oficina da Net talked to Michel about working on the Capcom franchise, and in today’s post you can check out what Luis’ interpreter told us about the game, his career and more! Check out a message from Michel below.
Before starting this journey, I would like to thank you for inviting me to talk a little about myself, my profession, my career and about this incredible game that marks not only my youth, but also many who stopped here to read and honor. Thank you very much!
Interview as Michel Di Fiori, Luis Sera in Resident Evil 4
Speaking about your career in general, how did you get interested in voice acting and what served as your motivation/inspiration?
Michel: I became interested in dubbing between the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s. It was there that I started to have some references about what dubbing was. A time when the internet was still a bush, but when many media, such as TV and magazines, were beginning to give a face to those voices we heard on TV, in movies, in cartoons. As I liked to watch several films many times and memorize the lines to repeat, I realized that this could be a profession that might call my attention. I was already on my way to the door of the artistic world and I decided to insist in order to enter the market. A while later, I took my courses, focused more on my acting career and started doing my first small jobs..
Is there a lot of pressure to meet fan expectations on work with established characters/franchises? How do you deal with these situations?
Michel: It always exists. And I think this is very valid. However, sometimes, some things get out of the hands of actors, directors, the studio and sometimes even the platform that will show. I say this in terms of terms, censorship, adaptations, voice choices… a lot can happen or have its restrictions. Of course, most people will always try to get as close to expectations as possible. But it’s hard to please everyone. So that the delivery is with a quality as superior as that expected. I’m always interested in knowing which way to go in productions that I don’t have much affinity with. I am an actor who will be at the service of that work, it is necessary to build a quality work. In general, I handle it well. When there are restrictions, I try to be as clear as possible about “changes”. Then, those who pay attention to the explanations, begin to have a new view of things, agreeing or not.
Talk a little about your process for playing new characters. How is your preparation, what are the methods to find the right tone?
Michel: Normally, we don’t have much time. Hardly an actor is informed in advance about which role he will dub, hence the importance of being a good actor. Being prepared for any type of situation differentiates you within the market. Usually we have very few minutes and little reference to try to find some characteristic of the character to be able to shape the voice, the rhythm of speech, the tone of the conversation. I always try to observe and listen to what already exists as a guide to be able to get very close to what was thought by the creator.
Talking about Resident Evil. What was your relationship with the franchise before working on RE4 Remake and what was your first contact with games?
Michel: I’ve always been a huge fan of Resident Evil. Even when I was scared to death. I always played video games at home. My father played when I was little and I went through the stages of Atari, Master System, Mega Drive, Nintendo, Game Boy, all versions of Playstation and even some PC games, which I don’t adapt very well, but with titles such as Day Of The Tentacle, Rise Of Nation, Age of Empires, Duke Nuken and a few others. My contact with RE really started with RE 2 Dual Shock. I thought the graphics were revolutionary, and even then, they scared me. Then I had to sleep with the TV on and the light on. When RE3 came out, I bought a walkthrough magazine so I could avoid scares. It didn’t help much because one of the Nemesis entries was missing. The one at the police station. But, from then on, I followed all the games in the franchise and became a big fan. I may be the biggest Resident Evil fan out of the cast.
Were you a fan of Resident Evil 4 Original Remake?
Michel: Yes, it was. I played the classic version a lot. This game marks a great connection with my brother and is also very important in that sense. My brother now lives in Canada and making this game is like a tribute to him. We played a lot when he was in school and I was in college. It was our game on rainy afternoons, with the cat on our lap and currant milk. We played this game so much that I have several memorized dialogues, which I even questioned during the RE4R recordings if they would be.
How did the opportunity to voice Luis in RE4 come about?
Michel: Around August 2022, close to confirmation that the game would be coming out, I was urgently scheduled by the responsible studio, Keywords, to audition for a very important game and in absolute secrecy. As I already knew that the Village had been made there, I was expecting that it could be him. When I joined to record, the project had no video, no name, not much information. The project’s director, Andre Mello, said that he couldn’t say even the name of this project. Except that I had seen the trailer and had taken in the voices. And reading the text, and listening to the audio guide, Andre himself commented: “Ah, but you’re going to kill the charade” and oh, I did. I knew that “scenario”. We did two tests: one I did, as it was done in the game, respecting the Spanish side of Luis, and the other, I made Luis more loaded in the Spanish accent. They opted for the “cleaner” version and I think it worked well in the context of the finished game. About a month later, I learned that I had been one of the approved ones. I got Covid, I was afraid I wouldn’t recover in time, but it worked. In September, we recorded the game.
Do you identify with Luis in any way?
Michel: I think Luis is as enigmatic a figure as Ada. We didn’t know that much about him. People don’t know that much about him. Luis is a cafajeste. He is gallant. He’s committed. But there’s a lot we don’t know about him. So I think it’s a little tricky to score. But I identify with him in his willpower and irony. We are very ironic.
Is there a big difference between dubbing games and movies/series?
Michel: Yes, they are different processes. For dubbing, we have the video, the text in script format, the original audio on the phone. The work is usually ready to guide. In the case of games, we call it voice localization. Because in this case, normally we don’t have images. We have several audio “waves” that guide us as the speech should be, to understand the size of the dialogue, the tone of voice, the interpretation, but that’s it. And this is done with the script in a spreadsheet that is all numbered. Then the recorded lines go to their proper locations and are located there. It’s a little more ingenious. Eventually, we get some videos, some cutscene, some video of the face actor still in the mocap, or something in the draft. But these are very rare cases.
How has the Resident Evil community received your work?
Michel: Until the moment of this interview, I went undefeated by the critics. I didn’t see any regarding Luis. I think that’s good. I think I did a respectful job. I’ve already played 5 campaigns in the game and managed to unlink Luis from me. I received many compliments. So I think it was a good reception and I’m really happy about that.
What are your favorite roles in your career?
Michel: This is the hardest question to ask a voice actor, because we forget. There’s something new every day. But some roles I played, for example, in anime, were Neji in Naruto, Genos in One Punch Man, Rohan Kishibe in Jojo’s. He did shows like How to Get Away With Murder, where he voiced Wes, Aaron on The Walking Dead, Isaac on Teen Wolf. Cartoons like Pig in Porco Goat Banana Cricket, Cricket in Os Neighbors Green, Tom in Tom is 10 years old, Josh in Not Maturity for This. I played Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat the Movie, I played Ikaris in Eternals… there’s so much stuff!! It’s 21 years dubbing!
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