Metro Mix - Neil Patrick Harri

Voici un article paru le 16 Mars 2009 sur le site de Metromix.

Interview de Neil Patrick Harris, réalisée par Paul Semel.

While Neil Patrick Harris is best know for his work on screens small ("How I Met Your Mother," on which he plays Barney) and large ("Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," in which he played himself... sort of), the versatile actor has also done considerable work off screen, providing voices for the video game "Saints Row 2" and the "Justice League: New Frontier" and "Spider-Man" cartoons.

It is in this realm that Harris is working next with a role in "Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard," a spoofy action game that parodies other video games. Just released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by D3Publisher, the game casts Harris as Wallace "Wally" Wellesley III, a playboy CEO who's the arch nemesis of Hazard (voiced by "Arrested Development" star Will Arnett). Which, as we learned when we spoke to Harris recently, is one reason why he signed on for this game.

What was it about "Eat Lead" that got you interested in being involved? Was it the game's satirical tone?
I think it's one of the reasons they wanted me to do the game. I think they were trying to get two people to voice the leads who had some semblance of comedy in their voices. And certainly Will has that in spades. I was enthusiastic to be his foil.

Did you get to see what Wally looked like before you did his voice?
No. I think they had some drawings but nothing fleshed out. In fact, they had cameras on me while I was doing the recording so they could record my facial expressions.

Did that make this difficult?
In a situation like this, not really. I found it to be a bit like a radio play or something.

Wally is described as a "playboy CEO." Did you try to sound like any playboy CEOs, either real or fictional?
No, sadly I don't do that much homework. I think they were just interested in me doing my voice. Though I did have to ramp it up a bit because Wally is so closed-minded and silver spooned and just a villain. So it was a lot of yelling and cursing.

Now as I understand it, you're a bit of a gamer, yes?
I wish I played more games. I'm infatuated by games, but the last eighteen months or so have been really very busy. I tend to be the guy who buys the game systems and buys the new games when they come out, but then sells them at garage sales still in their wrappings.

What kinds of games do you like?
I just bought "LEGO Indiana Jones" for the 360, which I have played some of and hope to complete. Though, honestly, the iPhone games have taken over for me.

On "How I Met Your Mother," there's been times when your character has been shown playing "Wii Sports" with Ted or Marshall. How many times did you guys have to film those scenes before the director realized that they should turn the Wii off and make you fake it because you weren't paying attention?
Ha! That's funny. We never actually turned it on. We always fake it. In fact, Jason Segel [who plays Marshall] hasn't played the Wii much, so we had to show him how it works.

Is anyone in the "Mother" cast...
Pregnant? Yes.

Yeah, I know that. I know Josh is pregnant.
Nah, he's just bloated.

No, is anyone in the cast going to be jealous that you're in a video game and they're not?
No. I say that because both girls are knee-deep in mommy-ness, Josh [Radnor, who plays Ted] spends all his time on scripts he's writing and "The New York Times" crossword puzzle, he's very "Morning Becomes Eclectic," and Jason just has so many irons in the fire I don't think he's played a video game in ten years.

So being a gamer, when you read your lines, did you get a lot of the jokes?
Actually, I didn't really read the whole script. They just sent me an idea of what was happening, and then gave me the lines when I went to record the v.o.

Were you allowed to improvise at all?
I like to improvise, but I also don't like to disrespect the person who wrote it, so I don't tend to improvise very much. And I actually thought what they wrote was pretty funny.

The game also stars Will Arnett, who plays Matt Hazard. Was he cast before you?
Yes.

Did that impact your decision to do this at all?
Very much. I'm a big fan of his. I think he's almost always funny and on point. I was a huge fan of "Arrested Development." And I think this is the only chance I'll have to work with him. Sadly, we were never in the same room together.

Well, now if you see him out somewhere, you can say "Hey, it was good working with you on 'Eat Lead'."
I actually did see him at a party, and I said just that. It was a party the night before the Oscars. I think he thought I was some sort of strange man.

Besides this game and "Saints Row 2," you've also done voices for such cartoons as "Family Guy," "Spider-Man," and "Justice League: New Frontier." What is it about doing voices that you enjoy so much?
It forces a real specific skill set. It's only inflection, that's all you have to work with. So it's kind of challenging because you have to act everything out with just your voice. I wish I could do more.

Well, I kind of don't think they'd make a "How I Met Your Mother" game.
They could make some sort of disturbing and graphic Barney game.

I could see that. I could see them doing something like that for the CBS website as a promotional thing.
Yeah, me too. Except it would be X-rated.

Yeah. Could be good, though.
I'd play it.