Last weekend , Warframe fans gathered in London , Ontario , for TennoCon , an event dedicated to the democratic MMO . It was a engaged weekend full of panels , demos , and announcements . Digital Trends advert the show , mystify our first taste ofWarframe : 1999 . The approaching update to the long - escape series promises new story , weapon , and maybe even a bit of smooching in an substitute version of the Y2 K era .
The wizard of that expansion ? Ben Starr , the phonation actor known for both his role as Clive inFinal Fantasy XVIand his very on-line persona . I sat down with Ben Starr at TennCon to talk about hisWarframe : 1999character Arthur Nightingale , later ’ 90 nostalgia , and his bent for funniness — oh , and his presidential position in the “ gerbil fostering society . ”
How much do you remember of the year 1999 ?
I remember everything about 1999 . I still go back to the twelvemonth 2000 and see that as a bench mark in my spirit . For those people who were n’t alive , I do n’t retrieve it could be overstated how everyone was cognisant of what year it was . It was Y2 K , the entire earth could terminate . This good sense of something fresh … there ’s something so exciting and grave about what that represent . Especially where I arise up , in London , the millennium was massive . We had the Millennium Dome , we had the London Eye . A lot of the iconic turning point that exist in London now were because of that . And so that aesthetic [ inWarframe : 1999 ] is so implausibly nostalgic for me , you know . And I cerebrate they ’ve capture it so bright . It is n’t 1999 , it ’s how we imagine 1999 was , or how nerveless that full point was .
There ’s something so exciting and dangerous about what that represents
I studied history at university , and the most interesting prospect of account to me … is the historiography . It ’s how human beings choose to catalogue that period of time in which they subsist . Why were man choosing to bet upon the period in which they populate and ruminate in that way ? And that is what this is . This is a 2024 take on 1999 about how the mass who grew up in that period felt about it , and kind of reflect back on that because it ’s now not the present . It ’s a collision of really sinewy nostalgia .
Let ’s babble a fiddling bit about Warframe : 1999 . Who is Arthur Nightingale ? What makes Arthur tick ?
I think we ’ve kind of described him as a boy scout . He is kind of the anchor of this world . He is proto - Excalibur , after all , he is the player ’s fashion into this newfangled public . He has that gravitational draw around who he is . It grant other characters to accentuate really interesting aspect of who they are .
You ’ve seen in that demo all the really interesting different textures that the other proto Warframes are bringing to that . And I really think he is the unattackable loss leader and anchor that allows other type to come to life . Hopefully masses who love Arthur are gon na love Arthur , but it allow them to also go , “ you know , I ’ve played with this fibre . I desire to estimate out who these other character are and relish the floor that way . ”
When you ’re developing a voice for a character like Arthur , how does that process work ? How do you find a character ’s voice ?
Literally , you look at a picture of them , and then you see them in - situ and see how their body works . [ Warframe originative director Rebecca Ford ] gave me an image , and then she showed me a demonstration . I see the way that Arthur would move , and I go , OK , what would he have been through ? How would he sound ? And I recall voicing in my chamber how I think Arthur would move and sound as I watched that demo .
Also , what is a realistic voice that you may do ? Reb said , “ I need someone who sounds like their voice is grinding gears , like they ’ve been in the dirt . ” A caboodle of Arthur sits in that , but hopefully , more facets to him as you find out his loves , his likes , his hates , his wants , his desires , all that variety of material .
When you are jumping into a role like this , how much of yourself do you put into that ?
With any sort of character when you skip over into it , is about find how much of yourself you could bring . I am not any of the characters that I work ; I am pretending . But in ordering to produce a spirit level of realism that works for anybody , specially in a game and when you ’re playing as a fictitious character , you have to create a level of raise naive realism that is that is appeal to a player . The only way you’re able to do that is by find what parts of yourself you’re able to associate with that character .
You have to be aware of what ’s happened before , and then kind of drop it out and just do your own thing
That ’s the really great thing about [ author and vocalisation over director Cam Rogers ] , who ’s directing us . He ’ll give me three different go at some of the lines , and he ’ll go , “ Now take it for a walk . attempt something . ” And that exemption is unbelievable , because what you ’re going to take is how not to do it , and sometimes you ’re by chance give out to create something that we could never have ideate in a planning stage . And I think that spontaneousness is the most interesting part , and it also shows that they have a faith in us as performer .
Does joining a franchise with a game that has 10 class ’ Charles Frederick Worth of lore present a unique challenge versus something likeFinal Fantasy XVI , where it ’s all work up from cabbage ?
No , because it ’s the same matter . People that met Clive , they met him 35 twelvemonth into the franchise that already exist , but an entirely self - take storey . It ’s the same affair where you link a group of people who are profoundly , profoundly passionate . It is n’t just a secret plan . It ’s a agency of spirit , it ’s a culture , it ’s a fellowship . And this is an entirely new story do in that world , in the same way thatXVIis an entirely newfangled story correct within the ideas and the motifs of what Final Fantasy is .
You have to be aware of what ’s happened before , and then kind of befuddle it out and just do your own thing . Because if you ’re too scared about what ’s happened before , then you are just going to get in the way of yourself . It ’s something that I did onXVIa slew . I feel like I get in the way of myself sometimes , but I was golden to have people around me who were able-bodied to just say , “ No , Ben , you get to make something from excoriation ” … It ’s intimidating , because I hope they like me , but I think they will . It ’s really cool .
The only reason I ’m an actor is because of Jim Carrey .
You ’ve made a lot of absolutely empty-headed picture that you put on Twitter , and you ’ve worked with other voice doer on some of them . Where does that add up from , that comedic ingredient of your personality ?
I ’ve always been a goof . It was the affair that start me tending as a small fry . The only intellect I ’m an actor is because of Jim Carrey . funniness is where I learned to perform . I did n’t see to be an actor through being a dramatic performing artist . My sense of humor is the thing that has kept me alive my intact life . It ’s the thing that I get my most joy out of . Being funny for other individual or endeavor to accept the world in a humourous way is the matter that means that when the voiceless things chance to you in your life , you may accept them . It deliver me on so many function where , if I ’m incredibly low , if I take a humorous look at the earthly concern , it ’s a ego - defense mechanism , but it ’s also a fashion that I heal .
It ’s been a real joy to see the people who have n’t even played the games I ’ve been a part of have bask the stupefied stuff that I write . I was fall in the ability to write a thing which was me , Neil Newbon , Yuri Lowenthal , Matt Mercer , and Jennifer English doing a stupid sketch about Magic the Gathering . And I wrote a matter in which I just need Yuri Lowenthal to call me Bing the whole time . I spell this affair , they remember that my smell emits a noise , and so I ’ve got like , 10 instant of Matt Mercer on raw footage just say different ways of saying “ smoise . ” It ’s so stupid .
I like making people smile and making people happy . A person coming up to me and being like , “ I was really upset , but I saw one of your dazed video , and you made me happy , ” that ’s outstanding , because I ’ve been affected in the same elbow room . I ’ve go steady goof and comedians bring joy to my life . Hopefully I can do the same for them .
Do you aim to do comedic roles professionally , or is this something that you favor to keep for yourself ?
I require to do anything . I want to work . It ’s interesting at the moment I ’m most well know within the study to do very , very serious down the line character who bring a lot of drama . And that is so coolheaded that I get to do that . Actually , a lot of the work that I ’ve got coming up is still very much in that mineral vein , because that ’s kind of what I ’m know for . But also I ’ve had people see my piece of work online and be like , “ do you want to go and do something a number silly ? ” And I ’ve got a few light-headed thing coming up , which is really , really fun . People are allowing me to be a little minute more silly .
Who exalt you comedically ?
There is this group of British comedian who started around the ’ 90s and then kind of die and created , like , amazing stuff . And it all come out with this television show calledThe Day Today , which is a ’ 90 British video pastiche of the news . It ’s kind of in the vein ofAirplane!a little flake . It is the most stupid television system show ever made , but it ’s done in the vena of a right serious news television channel . And from that , you had these amazing comedians come out . So you had Steve Coogan , who play the character of Alan Partridge come out of that . You had Patrick Marber , who wroteCloser , and he ’s a ridiculous dramatist . And you also had one of the main risers in that , Armando Iannucci , who went on and made a lode of more ridiculous show , Time Trumpet , The Armando Iannucci show , The Thick of It , andVeep .
Those people inspire me staggeringly , because they are able to take normal situations and extend them to ludicrous , farcical ways . I call up Armando Iannucci , specially his work onVeep , is incredible to see . That is a idiot box show that is about a horrendous individual , and it ’s grounded in something , but it run to such ludicrous height . So those are the people that urge on me .
I ’m going to inquire one more , passing serious query , because I was looking at your Wikipedia pageboy …
Is this the gerbil breeding guild one ?
It is ! What ’s up with that ?
So what happened was , I was on a podcast once , and I said that I do n’t checkmy Wikipedia page . I do n’t edit my Wikipedia page , I do n’t have anything to do with my Wikipedia page . So if anyone wanted to make me sound coolheaded on Wikipedia , they could . Someone went and append that , and I have n’t change it since . And I get asked about that all the fourth dimension . And now I do n’t know . I kind of want to keep it there .
It ’ll be a question for the historians and the philosophers one solar day .
Yeah , I desire it to be documented that I was the chair of the gerbil breeding bon ton .
Warframe : 1999 , starring Ben Starr , eject wintertime 2024 for PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X / S , Nintendo Switch , iOS , and PC .
