Recently, we had the chance to speak with Alyson Court at the Atlantic Entertainment Expo in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Court is a Canadian voice actress who has played the role of several beloved characters, such as Jubilee in the original X-Men animated series. Additionally, she also voiced Claire Redfield in the original Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Resident Evil: Degeneration, and more.
Our interview explores how Court landed the role of Claire Redfield and her experience with the Resident Evil series as a whole. We also discuss her work on the upcoming comic, The Biotic Crisis, and even potential upcoming projects related to video games.
How did you get the job as Claire Redfield?
Alyson Court (AC): We were already working with Capcom for the various X-Men video games. They had come to Toronto because they wanted to use the real cast from the X-Men animated series in their Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Street Fighter games. Once they got to meet the talent pool and the studio, they really liked that unit of both talent and crew, so they continued to work in Toronto, and the very next project was Resident Evil 2.
Going from Resident Evil to Resident Evil 2, the upgrade in the voice performances is very noticeable.
AC: Thank you, I appreciate that. I remember when the reviews came out, I was actually on tour for The Big Comfy Couch…. we had a production across the U.S., and our sound guy, Johnny, was really into video games and Resident Evil 2. He’d been playing it, because they would travel on tour on the bus. For the long drives, he was there playing his video games. It had been out for a while, and I remember he sort of tipped me to the fact that the reviews were actually pretty good.
I hadn’t even really noticed the game, so I got to see it through him. And my boyfriend at the time, he and I ended up renting a game system from our local Blockbuster and played the game and screamed like little girls through it. It was definitely a unique experience, but I was really happy when people said the voice acting got better. Thank you! Because it was weird, a really weird experience, and some of the lines are still wonderfully cheesy and odd, which I love.
How was it a weird experience?
AC: It was very isolated. Most of the time, we recorded separately. With the gameplay, Claire is usually alone. So, I didn’t know what I was making. I had no idea what Resident Evil was. I hadn’t played the first video game. The idea of a survival horror video game didn’t really compute to me. Often, I felt like I was re-recording the same script over and over and over.
Paul (Haddad) and I would sort of meet in the hall. I’d be coming out of the studio, he’d be going in, and vice versa. We’d sort of check in with each other because we were friends and we worked on several shows together over the years – Free Willy being one we worked together on a regular basis. Beetlejuice, Road to Avonlea, we did a ton of shows together. But we’d meet in the hall and be like, “This is weird, right?”
“Yeah, this is really weird. Do you understand what’s going on?”
“No, I keep recording the same stuff over and over. They keep bringing me back in.”
“I know. What’s going on? It feels like it’s the same dialogue. I don’t understand.”
Because we didn’t realise back then, every possible outcome had to be its own voice file. The system didn’t have the ability to mix and match. Now, they can mix and match depending on what you do, but every scenario had to be its own whole file. So…. if in Leon’s game, you picked up the gun, then when you’re playing as Claire, the gun isn’t there; it doesn’t actually change the dialogue, but it’s its own outcome, so it gets its own voice file. So, we were technically re-recording the same scenes and dialogue over and over again, but they all had to be entered into the game as separate files. That’s why. I didn’t understand it until I played it. So yes, that’s why it was a weird experience.
You continued on as Claire Redfield for a while.
AC: Code Veronica came next, then the Degeneration movie, and then Darkside Chronicles, the 3DS Mercenaries game, and the Operation Raccoon City game. Between Code Veronica and the Degeneration movie, when I came back to do it, I directed stuff for Capcom.
I saw that you did direction for the Outbreak games.
AC: Yeah, Resident Evil 0 – I directed Riva Di Paola, who voiced Rebecca in that, and the Outbreak game, which was a huge undertaking – motion capture and voice.
How was that? Was that a first?
AC: It was. We did some crazy stuff on that. There was a six-person fight scene that we actually managed to do. This was back when mocap, the system, was all of the cameras around the room, and all of our actors had to wear these little balls. You’d have a lot of interference with stuff, and normally, if you’re doing two people, they’re not allowed to touch, and I was like, “Eh, screw it. Let’s do a six-person fight scene.”
And we made it work. It was kind of mind-blowing for even the guys…. It was, I think, the Vicon mocap system. When they would call up to see what we were doing, and we would give them reports, they were like, “What? You did what? Oh my god. Can we put that on the press release?”
And we were like, “Unfortunately, no, because it’s under a heavy NDA for Capcom.”
But yeah, we had some fun times, some crazy times, some brutal times, but I’m very proud of what we did on that.
Did you do any more work like that after Resident Evil Outbreak?
AC: No, right when that was finishing, we just had a couple more months on the production, and SARS hit Toronto. So, everyone has experienced COVID, but in 2003, we had the precursor to that called SARS, and it mainly just hit Toronto. That was in the spring and summer, into the fall of 2003. So, our studio shut down. We finished production on our side, and that was pretty much it for Resident Evil for us.
Can you tell me more about The Biotic Crisis?
AC: Ah, yes, the t-shirt that I’m wearing. So this is actually a book. I’m the executive producer of it. It’s my husband’s book, and it’s a horror book. There’s a bit of a love letter…. it was initially inspired by the old monster movies and the 1980s mob film and all that stuff. So, it’s a creature from outer space that comes down and falls into the hands of a doomsday cult. They try to use it to bring about the end of the world and take over the one that they can. Yeah, it’s pretty horrific. The art is phenomenal, so if you’re a horror fan, I highly recommend you find The Biotic Crisis from Trepidation Comics.
Do you plan to do any more work related to video games?
AC: Yeah, I’m in the midst of working on some projects with some friends who are producers and own animation and VR companies in Toronto, and we’re doing some stuff.
I can’t imagine you can disclose what it is, but you said it’s VR-related?
AC: One of the productions is VR, and then another one we’re looking at doing is a survival horror thing.
Resident Evil 2 just recently landed on Steam and is discounted to $4.99 for a limited time.
