In a new presentation of indie time loop game 12 Minutes, we get a few fun snippets of behind the scenes footage of actors Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy recording dialogue and talking about their characters. The game's other star Willem Dafoe sadly doesn't make an appearance, but it's a fun insight into the making of this hotly-tipped indie thriller.
Ridley and 12 Minutes developer Luis Antonio both talk about how the game's top-down view influences her acting. "Particularly because you don't see our faces in it, you really are projecting whatever you're feeling onto the character. There are no facial expressions that are instructing you. Where you go in the game I think will depend on you as an individual," she says.
"If there's enough subtlety in the voice acting and the movement your brain will fill in the rest," says Antonio. "Actors think in terms of motivations. What's my motivation for this scene? Workshopping with them, figuring those things out, allows the characters to become alive and meaningful in the way they behave."
I got to play 12 Minutes back in May, and found some surprises in how its time loop story plays out. I was also impressed by the voice acting, which is almost uncomfortably intimate as you abruptly insert yourself into the relationship of the couple played by Ridley and McAvoy. (Also impressive because neither of them show a hint of their native accents).
We'll hopefully be able to see how the mystery plays out within the next few months—Antonio still plans to release 12 Minutes this year.
