Actor Michael C. Hall can be seen on Showtime's new season of "Dexter", playing a serial killer who only murders bad guys, including other serial killers. But Hall also went virtual in Marc Ecko Entertainment's and developer Icarus Studios' Dexter video game, which is out now on iPhone and iPod Touch.
In addition, Hall took a big screen role in the video game movie, GAMER, which has earned over $24 million at the box office so far. He plays Ken Castle, creator of video games like Society and Slayers, which allow gamers to control real people. Hall took some time from the set of "Dexter" to talk about his first venture into video games in this exclusive interview.
Did you have any background playing video games as a kid, or did you do research for GAMER?
Not beyond the inevitable. I'm certainly not a gamer and I don't continue to play video games. So really, it's all smoke and mirrors. As far as getting a sense of the technology that they were dealing with in the movie, I think the directors helped me out a lot on that. Just talking to me about what they had envisioned when they wrote the script.
And what was it like for you to play a bad guy in GAMER?
It was fun. It was fun to play someone who was on the cusp of that much technological know-how and prowess and had that much power, the power to actually control other human beings with his mind. I've never been a part of a project like that. I've never been in an action movie and yeah, it was fun to be the straight up-bad guy as opposed to the, I don't know, I guess the good guy who should be a bad guy with Dexter.
You have a Broadway background. What influence did you have on that song and dance number in the middle of Gamer?
I had influence in as much as...you know, I learned the basic steps and then sort of added my take on it to the sort of marionette kind of physicality. But as far as there being a lip synced, soft shoe song and dance number at that point in the movie, that was in the script from the beginning and it was a part of the fun in the idea of doing it. I didn't know if the opportunity to do something like that would come along again, so why not? It was in the contract of an action movie.
Transitioning from GAMER, you actually have your own video game now with Dexter for iPhone. What was it like to work on that project?
Well, my work began and ended with just recording the audio for the voiceover elements on the game. I wasn't consulted on any of the technical issues, which is probably smart on their part cause I wouldn't have been able to be much help.
But have you seen yourself as an avatar in the game?
Yeah. I saw a mock-up of it a while back when I went in to record the stuff and I was impressed with the way they managed to recreate to a T the geography of the set that we worked on...the police precinct and Dexter's apartment. It really does feel like you're there, and I can say that definitively cause I'm there all the time.
What do you think fans will get out of literally stepping into your shoes as Dexter in the game?
I don't know. I don't know. Some of the guys on the crew are playing it and they seem to like it, so that's good.
What are your thoughts, from a broader prospective, of the opportunities that video games are opening up to actors?
I don't know. I guess I don't know a whole lot about how that emerging, or not even emerging, existing technology dovetails into the acting business. Certainly, yeah, I know of other actors who have gotten work voicing video game characters, and I guess if there's a video game based on characters who are associated with certain actors, that creates work opportunities as well, but it seems like everything is sort of dovetailing into everything else at this point.
And do you see the potential for future Dexter video games as a way that fans can explore the universe between seasons?
Sure. If somebody is both a fan of Dexter and a fan of video games, it seems a nice way for them to spend their time.
Sounds good. Take care.
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