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Devastating news, folks: They did not, in fact, perform motion capture on a cube for God of War Laufey. At least not in a way that was critical for animating The Boys star Jack Quaid's geometric character Phranque.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, God of War Laufey director Ariel Lawrence said the ridiculous-looking PVC mocap rig Quaid wore in the Meet the Cast video was mostly for show.
"We mocap a little bit, like we have a marker for him to be able to be directional on set," she explained. But instead of actually translating the rig into a 3D model, it helps the team figure out the blocking, or where the actors should be standing, for each scene.
Regardless, Lawrence said strapping a bunch of PVC pipes to Quaid is "not super required, but it is a lot of fun."
I can't blame Sony Santa Monica for that. If you have the opportunity and the resources to do that to a Hollywood actor, you might as well. Say what you will about Sony's obsession with cinematic storytelling in its games, but you can't deny that it commits to authenticity no matter what.
And you can already see it in the relatively small bit of God of War Laufey that we saw earlier this week. Doborah Ann Woll plays Faye as a stubborn warrior who has no sympathy for the nasty gods of the afterlife, even spitting in their faces when she has no upper hand. The fact that Sony went through the effort to put the actors behind the talking cube and sword in the same room is impressive and grounds an otherwise absurd group of characters.
Frankly, I need to know how many hours Quaid spent looking like he's wearing a work-in-progress Halloween costume. The PVC wouldn't weigh you down much, but it certainly might cause some problems maneuvering around groups of people. We can only hope Sony is filming a full documentary so we can see more.
God of War Laufey director Ariel Lawrence hopes Faye is a character "we can keep telling stories about"
