A nice chat with Anna Demetriou, Sophia's voice and mocap soul sister.
❔ Hey Anna, welcome back! Thanks for sharing a bit of your connection to Sophia! What was it like stepping into her boots again?
💬 I am so lucky that she feels so second nature to me... So much of this character especially in energy and tempo is just who I am, so I really find her an easy person to access and she fits like a glove. It was just even nicer this time to go back and fill in her backstory, explore her younger side and the history that made her who she is in Requiem. Every time we were working in the mocap studio it really felt like being myself but more heightened - and with obviously a completely different reality around her, one with life and death at the surface of every decision.
It was so much fun to embody her this time and step into her physically which I hadn't done for Requiem too.
❔ What do you love about her, and what part of her pushed you the most as an actor: the trait you had to work on to make her feel truly human and relatable?
💬 I love so much about her! I love her ferocity, her drive with the softness underneath it all. She is so impulsive and doesn't think a lot before she makes a decision so I think the challenge for me was making sure we know why she is doing something - that she's doing something immediately but she's still petrified, that she's going deeper into danger but knowing the risks.
In Requiem we don't see her very impulsive or 'messy' and that was the biggest challenge for me playing her this time around, adding this reckless layer where her survival instincts take over and we see her overcome with rage/out of control.
That was new in this game for her and so much fun to do but definitely a challenge as well.
❔ How did you shape her this time around? And what shifts when you’re portraying her fifteen years before who she becomes in Requiem ?
💬 About halfway through shooting I got given the note that for younger scenes they wanted to add in a bit of 'Vi from Arcane energy' into her. I love Arcane so that was a really fun direction to take her in.
Before she gets to Requiem she is bloodthirsty, violent and hot headed... She's also really stubborn. She's not yet become traumatized by the sight of death and she's not trying to keep the peace like we see in Requiem so shaping her became about keeping her swagger, her confidence and her groundedness but add in the "screw it" mentality that comes through more in Resonance. She has not yet understood the consequences.
❔ Who is she to you? What part of yourself did you pour into her: and in what ways do you feel the two of you mirror each other?
💬 As I said before, I really do feel like her and I have the same sort of spirit. I am an extremely protective person that sticks up for the things that matter to me and the people I care about, just as she does - so I feel like we have that in common.
She also goes to extreme lengths to source the truth and to get justice, I really relate to that too. I like to have the answers and get the information so I can move forward. I'm a curious soul and that runs through the whole of her character arc in Resonance too - always furthering knowledge and getting to the truth. She cannot rest without understanding and I know that is me as well.❔Did living with this younger version of her change the way you see the woman she eventually becomes?
💬 Oh definitely. I remember when I started work on Requiem, it was confusing as to why this independent pirate-like woman was imploring Amicia to stop being violent and never kill anyone. She seemed like someone that would participate! So I understood it as she was trying to be a parental figure for them both and that absolutely remains true - except now we have the added layer that violence leads somewhere much darker and is triggering for her. I will let you play Resonance to understand what I mean by that but it is no wonder by Requiem she is wanting to be done with that way of life and live in a more balanced way.❔ And about the mocap: did slipping back into it bring back familiar sensations from Requiem? How did you have to grow your performance, adjust your voice to the acting, and bring new intentions into the way you embodied her?
💬 The incredible Giorgia Sinicorni did the motion capture for Sophia in Requiem and I have so much to thank her for because when I played the game I thought "she's absolutely physically embodied what I had in mind to do with my voice".
We really synced up with our interpretations of the character so I am so grateful for the physical work that was done before I did the mo-cap for Resonance. Going to Bordeaux and being able to embody her in real time for this game was such a privilege and it was so immersive and helpful to be able to do both at the same time. To really see and react to the other (amazing) actors in this cast was so vital to me feeling as connected to the story as I did so I think it really helped with the realism that you see in the cutscenes and the chemistry between characters.
I believe this is the first time Asobo had done both voice and mo-cap for the same character on their set so it was so special to be part of that and get a chance to do that with them.
I had to remember to put my body and energy into a slightly younger place sometimes and forget I was in a skintight suit covered in sticky dots but once you get over the first few minutes you start un-velcroing your sword and dagger like it's second nature!
❔ If you could meet Sophia for real, what would you want to tell her?
💬 If I could meet her in her Resonance era I would tell her that she can do it and that she is loved.
I think she needs to hear both of those things in this one. She is in a really vulnerable and emotionally fragile place throughout the game, a LOT is going on for her and I think she just needs a cuddle honestly. If I was to meet her in Requiem I think I would tell her to be more transparent about what she is seeing... I will leave it at that so that I don't spoil...________Anna, huge thanks for your performance and for hanging out with us. We can’t wait for players to discover how much heart and honesty you’ve brought to Sophia in every step of the way…
See you soon!