Lynn Harris was Voice Director and voice of Rebecca Chambers, for Resident Evil and its live-acton intro! She is also credited for casting.
Interview by Joel Welsh [Not to be reproduced (c) Crimson Head Elder 2022]
“It was my show as far as the voice acting goes. I based my direction on making it camp, loosely on 'Dawn of the Dead' meets 'The Blob', meets 'Rocky Horror', but nothing else, since I was not provided with enough information…”
CH: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions, to begin please explain what your contributions were to Resident Evil?
LH: I directed the voice actors, and played Rebecca Chambers on both the dubbing of the live-action movie trailer, and the Resident Evil game. I also did many soundtrack voices, such as ‘Countdown for Disaster’. I was on board from the time Capcom decided to do voices in English, and visited the vault inside Capcom Tokyo studios. There is no Japanese language version of the game as some claim!
I was involved from a more complex aspect than playing the character of Rebecca Chambers. I refined the script grammatically, I didn’t translate the script, I refined the grammar. I also assisted with casting. Capcom had nothing to do with casting, the casting director is someone with their own company and that person contacted me, so I did casting as a favour. Overall I had control over directing the actors and the meetings we had were filmed by Capcom.
Decisions on how and where to use the voices, and in which context were made by game editors whom I assume had little English language skills. Gamers are under the impression that we are acting to recorded video sequences, but that is not the case. Game voices are done long before the game has been finished. We are often unsure of the scene itself. I'm sure lines were inserted randomly, that's why they're funny!
The game was recorded, in English only, at a recording studio in Tokyo. it was my show as far as the voice acting goes. I based my direction on making it camp, loosely on 'Dawn of the Dead' meets 'The Blob', meets 'Rocky Horror', but nothing else, since I was not provided with enough information to know exactly what was going on in each scene. That’s just the way it was!
CH: Going deeper into your technique, were you aforded any gameplay or cut-scene footage, to influnce your choice of direction?
LH: The game was purposefully acted in a tongue-in-cheek way since the action during each scene was not exactly known, nor was it explained before each scene as in other games which I've directed the actors on since then.
Games are recorded ‘blind’, there are no visual action scenes, they are done afterwards, so without direction there is no way to know in which context lines should be said, or to know how they may be used during actual games.
It was meant to be fun and over the top! This was my first videogame title as director and I'm personally delighted with many aspects of the game, especially since it was a new, ground-breaking game in many respects at that time.
CH: Your role with the sound production went beyond in-game action. Was the opening movie you dubbed the coloured version, or was it already edited black & white?
LH: I dubbed the gory version in colour. It has a lot of blood and guts, I don't think they released it in the USA, where there were regulations about blood. Parts of that original recording session were filmed by Capcom, but I’ve never seen footage. That is Scott McCulloch as intro narrator and Chris, he’s a great actor. We had so much fun, we were laughing so hard! Barry and Sergio will confirm!
Scott McCulloch voiced Chris Redfield in the gameplay cutscenes & live-action FMVs. Chris Redfield was portrayed by Charlie Kraslavsky in the live-action intro movie.
“The intro movie actors were models. Jill was played by an adult female who worked part time in Japan. She was not a high school student and did not know what she was doing as it was her first voice job.”
We were instructed to dub it over since the soundtrack was poor. We re-dubbed the game movie trailer, and the same actors who played the game characters did the dub of the Capcom game promo movie trailer. The lip-synch was very well done because most of us have movie and/or animation lip-synch experience. I also have lots of film and anime direction experience as a director for dubbing films and animation.
CH: What was your approach to the roles of both casting, and of voice-acting for Rebecca Chambers?
LH: We spoke extra slowly and had no idea what the game would look like as we recorded the scenes! Scott was a great guy and fun to work with, so that’s why I hired him. He was well known for being on radio at FM Yokohama. I did cast Barry and Scott, whom I worked with in radio for many years, as a favour to the casting director, thus I’m also credited for casting. That is Scott McCulloch and myself in the ending movie scene (starting with Rebecca’s yawn).
CH: What was the nature of your meeting/s with the production team?
LH: There was a film crew from Capcom who filmed my meeting where I was discussing how people should play each character. We had the art up on the wall and sat around a big round table. I controlled that meeting.
CH: Do you remember if Shinji Mikami or anyone from Capcom besides the recording crew were there to monitor the session?
LH: No, Mikami-san was not there. There was one person there from Capcom sitting silently next to the sound engineers. I don't know who he was. I was director and decided which cut to use and directed all the voice actors. There were no second opinions.
CH: Can you speak about any material/dialogue that was removed or heavily edited?
LH: I have played the game many times and know lots of material wasn’t used, or was placed in strange manners here and there. It lends the game some of its charm, but of course that was all done in the course of the editing. I am certain there was no native English speaker involved.
CH: Were you involved prior to the first recording date in August? Did you review the script in advance or was it all done in one sitting?
LH: I was working on the script for at least a month. I met people from Capcom several times, and it took a few months before we set the recording. I don't remember their names or ranks. It was over twenty years ago and I was very young!
CH: Who assigned you the position of voice actor director, an agency or by Capcom, and how did you feel about your directorial debut?
LH: I was hired by the production company who hired the casting company. I was working already in games since 1988. I was a veteran in the field and spoke good Japanese so I was hired. Also, I am a professional writer and editor. But, I didn't touch much on that script. I thought we should keep it that way and that it was meant to be funny - it was!
Special Thanks: Joel Welsh