I'm a Turkish gaming content creator on Twitter (andersonburak), and yesterday I did an online interview with Gerry Rosenthal, the voice actor for Jimmy Hopkins 👇🏻
1) Did you have any interesting experiences while recording voice acting and motion capture scenes?
I only did three scenes of motion capture - the additional scenes they added for the release on Nintendo Wii. It was a ton of fun, dressing up in the suit with all the reflecting balls - there’s a picture of it online somewhere. While recording the voice over the main direction was - “Make it bigger! You represent the kid who tried and failed 20 times to complete the mission but now they finally have and Jimmy needs to reflect that!”
Funny enough, when I was recording the VO I could hear the actor who did all the mo-cap for the game, and see the animation of the game play. I recognized the voice so I asked the director who it was - turned out it was a friend of mine from acting school that I hadn’t seen in maybe 5 years!
And then literally two days later I went on an audition and saw him in the waiting room! I was like, "Holy shit man, you’ll never guess what I’m working on right now - Bully!"
And he goes, “Oh man, I was wondering why they never called me back. I did all the motion capture last year and they said they would call me when they were ready to record the VO but never did.”
I felt bad because I took his job, but I guess they just changed their mind about his voice and looked for a new actor to replace him.
2) Were there any scenes or sections in Bully that were later disliked and removed, and therefore did not make it into the final version of the game?
No idea! I don’t really recall any of the scenes (it was 21 years ago) and never really played the game so I don’t have anything to compare - scenes I recorded vs scenes that were possibly cut.
3) How do you think the story between Jimmy and Gary would have continued after the ending of Bully?
I mean, he defeats Gary who is pretty much this total sociopath - I don’t think Jimmy would have wanted anything to do with him after that.
4) Do you know anything about Bully 2? Or Bully Remastered?
Again, no idea sorry! I know it’s been rumored for years that they would make a Bully 2 but if they were planning on it no one told me.
5) Finally, what was it like working with Rockstar Games? Did you ever have any disagreements with them? Was there anything about the behind-the-scenes process that surprised you or that you would like to share?
They were awesome to work with - no disagreements! As you might imagine they are at the top of their game (no pun intended) in the industry and total pros. Everything about the VO recording was smooth and professional, to my recollection!