Official new Lara's voice & VA discussion thread

[dark7angel]

I feel like I need to explain myself better as to why I’m disappointed on the voice actress choice.

Since we first heard Lara’s new voice I’ve had mixed feelings about it. First we had the Turning Point trailer and the truth is the first time I saw it, I really didn’t like the voice. But I told myself that was just because the voice actress changed and I just needed to get used to the new one. After watching the trailer several times, I did warm up to the voice and grew to like it, though deep down there was still something I couldn’t really put my finger on. Then we got the Scavengers Den demo and I couldn’t believe when they said it was the same voice from the trailer. It sounded very different to me and not for the better, but again I tried to get used to it, though there were moments when I just didn’t like it. Then this year with Crossroads, I felt something was off again. And then the E3 demos, I thought it was better than Crossroads but there were still inconsistencies.

Now I tried to stay positive and told myself that these inconsistencies and slip ups with the accent were going to be corrected for the final product. Sure this could still happen but I’m no longer optimistic about it, because now I know who the voice actress is and I know she doesn’t have a natural English accent, so the slip ups will most likely stay throughout the game. And because I’ve actually seen her acting somewhere else, I also know that I’m not impressed by her as an actress.

So basically, what changed for me after knowing who the voice actress is was my state of mind, that went from optimistic, believing that it would be better in the final game, to somewhat… I don’t want to say pessimistic, because it won’t get worse, but I just don’t believe it will improve much, and what we see (or in this case hear) is what we’ll get.

Still, I haven’t cast my vote on this thread yet and I will wait for the final product to do so.

As for the nude thing, I also want to clear out what I said. When I first mentioned it, I was merely commenting on the irony of CD trying to stray away from the oversexualized image of Lara and a simple Google search would show the new voice actress topless. For me that was really something somewhat ironic. Then Elliot commented that it’s common for young actresses to end up in roles where they have to show more skin, to which I agreed. I have no problem with actresses (or actors) in roles where they have to be with less (or no) clothes. Again, I think Emilia Clarke is a fabulous actress and she has nude scenes in GoT. What really does matter is that actor’s talent (or lack of it). And ultimately, that’s my problem with Camilla. I’m not saying she’s a terrible actress, there are worst, but she’s also not a great one, IMO. So what stands out about her is not a great performance but the fact that she was naked on tv. And this all comes back to what I originally said about the irony of her choice for Lara’s voice actress. But again, my disappointment with her choice has nothing to do with this. I hope this time I worded myself better…

Sorry for the long post, but I really felt I needed to explain my position.

[The Hylden]

I do have to say, there are plenty of young actresses I've googled to find out who they are, if I've seen them in something, or heard them in a game, etc. They might have been nude in something, but even if they are, it's highly unusual for one of the first image that Google brings up is of them being nude (and, in this case, also most of the shots in the search).

For instance, since the comparison was made to Emilia Clarke, if you Google her, you won't see any nude pics (I found one way, way down the page), even though most of the shots of her are from Game of Thrones (where she definitely gets nude a good deal). In order to see the goods, you'd have to physically ask Google for nude shots of her. Type in any favorite young actress and it's probably about the same. They might have sexy magazine shots mixed in with headshots, promotional ones, and ones from their work, but the nude stuff has to be asked for, usually.

So, yeah, this was a bit odd to me, definitely.

[LadyRufina]

^^ I agree with you really. I did like the voice and the acting and everything the whole way through but there was the quite frequent slip-up where she would sound American and I just kept trying to remember that Karl said she was definitely British which obviously made me think that she's British, she's naturally got the accent. Obviously I didn't know that the VA is British but lived in America long enough to develop an American accent. So I tried to be optimistic but obviously when I found out it was Camilla I knew that Lara would always have a slight American accent.

CD will probably rationalise this because it seems to me the majority of the survivors on the Endurance are American: Dr. Whitman, Sam, The black man (who i'm guessing is Jonah) and Ria, (which is what I think the black woman is called drawn from the Will Wheaton video) the black woman. Lara probably went to an American University/College which could explain the American accent to me but this just makes it worse because it seems to me like CD want to Americanise her for a wider American audience. It seems it's what a lot of American companies do nowadays; thinking that just because something is related to America, Americans will want to buy it more. Well most Americans I know do not buy into that crap.

Maybe i'm just jumping to conclusions but it doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that a ship made in Plymouth, England has so many Americans on it for a reason other than the expedition is funded by Americans somehow.

[Driber]

Originally Posted by Darkwoodsoftime

^ i take it , other places are much worse ?

Definitely. And I'm not just talking about TR related forums. I can also name a bunch of websites and forums where Camilla is probably getting ripped to pieces at the moment.

Originally Posted by LadyRufina

Let's just say this is one of the nicer TR fan forums. Others are not so nice. Namely the Official Tomb Raider Forums. She would get ravaged there, in fact I think she is

lol, say what now? 0_0

You ARE on the official Tomb Raider forums right now.

The Eidos Forums are not ran by fans, but by Square Enix and its game studios.

I think you're probably confused with the tombraiderchronicles forum. That is a fan forum.

[Elliot Kane]

If I were a casting director, asked to cast a young actress who speaks very good English English and I turned up with Camilla, I would expect to be sacked for not doing my job properly, bluntly.

But if I was told to look for a young actress who LOOKED like Lara, I'd be very happy and wondering if I might get a bonus.

That, for me, is the bottom line on this whole debate. If what you're after is a voice like Carey Mulligan or Anna Popplewell or Michelle Dockery or any one of hundreds of other young English actresses who speak perfectly for the role naturally, you would not even dream of turning up with Camilla Luddington, would you?

[LadyRufina]

Originally Posted by Driber

Definitely. And I'm not just talking about TR related forums. I can also name a bunch of websites and forums where Camilla is probably getting ripped to pieces at the moment.



lol, say what now? 0_0

You ARE on the official Tomb Raider forums right now.

The Eidos Forums are not ran by fans, but by Square Enix and its game studios.

I think you're probably confused with the tombraiderchronicles forum. That is a fan forum.

Oh yeah my bad. Some of them call it the Official Tomb Raider Forums and this one the Eidos Tomb Raider forums for some reason.

^Agreed. I just don't think they really thought the voice through and how fans of Lara's proper English accent might see this decision. Carey Mulligan is a great voice if she wasn't such a big name now.

[Elliot Kane]

However big she gets, Carey will always be Sally Sparrow, to me

Amazingly talented actress, though. Can see why she's so popular.

[adobeARTIST]

Originally Posted by Elliot Kane

However big she gets, Carey will always be Sally Sparrow, to me

Amazingly talented actress, though. Can see why she's so popular.

I love that Doctor Who episode. Anybody see the one that had a guest feature with the new Spiderman, Andrew Garfield?

[LadyRufina]

Originally Posted by Elliot Kane

However big she gets, Carey will always be Sally Sparrow, to me

Amazingly talented actress, though. Can see why she's so popular.

I do love her as Sally Sparrow but she stole my heart in Never Let Me Go. Definitely her best performance yet. I never cried after Titanic, PS I Love You or any of those overrated movies but I choked up in Never Let Me Go because she done such an amazing job as Kathy H.

[Driber]

Originally Posted by LadyRufina

Oh yeah my bad. Some of them call it the Official Tomb Raider Forums...

Who does? Just some confused members, or also the mods/admins?

[LadyRufina]

Originally Posted by Driber

Who does? Just some confused members, or also the mods/admins?

The mods and most of the members call it the TRF or the Tomb Raider Forums but it's called the Official Tomb Raider Forums by a lot of the members.

[Danielsun]

Its late so i'll be quick and do bullet points

• She sounds good to me, some places not perfect and needs a bit more umph to her voice but still good
• I don't know too much about her but she seems to have had a career behind her
• aaaaand she is pretty hot, although I did just google her to find out her work but got a topless picture instead lol

[Elliot Kane]

Originally Posted by adobeARTIST

I love that Doctor Who episode. Anybody see the one that had a guest feature with the new Spiderman, Andrew Garfield?

I missed most of S4 on grounds that I absolutely cannot stand Donna Noble (Great acting by Catherine Tate to make her that annoying, though!), so I'm not sure. I wouldn't recognise Garfield on sight.

Originally Posted by LadyRufina

I do love her as Sally Sparrow but she stole my heart in Never Let Me Go. Definitely her best performance yet. I never cried after Titanic, PS I Love You or any of those overrated movies but I choked up in Never Let Me Go because she done such an amazing job as Kathy H.

I don't think it's possible for her to steal my heart more effectively than she did as Sally!

Still hoping she'll be in Doctor Who again one day, though I realise that's pretty unlikely. I think she's Britain's most in demand young actress, right now.

[Love2Raid]

Originally Posted by LadyRufina

but it's called the Official Tomb Raider Forums by a lot of the members.

Lol, no.

[Driber]

Well there ya go, undeniable proof that LadyR is wrong.

[d1n0_xD]

LadyR, you are wrong!

Need to emphasize it a bit

[Love2Raid]

I've been a member there since Underworld was released and I have never seen anyone refer to the place as the 'official forums'.
Therefore, I think it's not very likely that 'a lot of the members' are saying that.

So yes, it seems that LadyRufina here is a bit confused and spreading false information.

But this is entirely off-topic, lol, sorry.

[LadyRufina]

Originally Posted by Love2Raid

Lol, no.

Originally Posted by Driber

Well there ya go, undeniable proof that LadyR is wrong.

Originally Posted by d1n0_xD

LadyR, you are wrong!

Need to emphasize it a bit

Excuse me? I think we all know that LadyRufina is always right - end of story.

I stalk the TRF a lot and have definitely seen some members refer to it as the Official Tomb Raider Forums. That's all I have to say on the matter. Case closed, another win for LadyR - naturally

[Shaikh]

Yahoo. Camilla replied my tweet:

@shaikhsiddiky nope- just simply not done with everything yet. Games take forever to complete.

[The Hylden]

Yay, context

Or, as Moebius said, "And what are the questions for these answers?"


Related: games do not take nearly as long to record as movies do. They usually only have the actors for a week, or two. Movies, at the least, will run 4-6 weeks; at the most, up to 3 months, or so. *just referring to shooting/recording with the actors*

[Shaikh]

Aww. Forgot to add my question. This was my question for that answer:

@camilluddington What is going on? Haven't you already finished voicing and mo-cap for Tomb Raider?

[My 999th and 1000th Tweet was to Camilla]

[d1n0_xD]

Hoho, nice question and nice answer too That means there's a lot of stuff... I hope

[Driber]

Originally Posted by The Hylden

Yay, context

I am Driber and I approve of this sarcasm

[Shaikh]

Originally Posted by d1n0_xD

Hoho, nice question and nice answer too That means there's a lot of stuff... I hope

Thanks. Actually I asked it because of this tweet she posted earlier:

You really can't complain when the reason you're getting up early on a Friday morning is to head to ‪#tombraider

[Good way to make 1 post to 4 posts, posts counts increased by a lot suddenly.]

[The Hylden]

Originally Posted by Driber

I am Driber and I approve of this sarcasm

Hehe, it makes the world go 'round