‘Before Rockstar, I Was Just a Jobbing Actor Off Broadway’: Arthur Morgan Actor Roger Clark on the Red Dead Redemption 2 Effect
ign.comIt’s fair to say that before Red Dead Redemption 2 came out in 2018, most gamers hadn’t heard of Roger Clark. Six years, 61 million sales, and numerous awards later, the 45-year-old Irish-American actor can afford to be picky with roles. His performance as Arthur Morgan, the protagonist of Rockstar’s Wild West epic, is considered by some as one of the greatest in video game history. But Roger’s overnight stardom came after five grueling years in Rockstar’s New York motion capture studio and a contract that gave him the kind of financial security most jobbing actors only dream of. In truth, Arthur Morgan has remained part of Roger’s life ever since. Indeed, he is set to (kind of) reprise the role by narrating the upcoming audiobook of ‘Red Dead's History,’ an exploration of America’s violent past through the lens of the Red Dead Redemption games written by American history professor Tore Olsson. Olsson, by the way, teaches the world’s first Red Dead American history class at the University of Tennessee.
As Roger tells IGN in an interview to discuss the project, what it was like to work on Red Dead Redemption 2, and the threat of AI on the video game acting profession, “there’s no doubt that Arthur’s going to stay with me for the rest of my career.” But Roger is okay with that. And, he teases, if Rockstar ever were to give him a call to officially star as Arthur Morgan once again… well, he’d certainly pick up the phone.
Why were you interested in narrating Red Dead's History as Arthur Morgan?
I was fascinated by this because when we were working on Red Dead, I know how much research went into it by the writers and a great number of people. I know historical accuracy to a certain point was very important so they could get stuff thematically correct. Obviously the map isn’t completely identical to America’s history, but within the Red Dead world, the cultural historical accuracy is something that was very important. It’s just awesome to see someone else enjoying and
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