Kevin Spacey, House of Cards actor, insists to prove to his fans that he is a Jack of-all-trade in terms of acting and character building. His acting in Oscar winning movies such as American Beauty or The Usual Suspects or in highly acclaimed TV series like House of Cards seems to be only the tip of his real and wholesome artistic aptitudes. The actor’s latest project is not based on a Hollywood production, but on his starring as a video game character in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. November 4, 2014 is thus, a calendar bookmarked day for any gamer of Call of Duty series, as it hosts the USA release of its latest part.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is a first-person shooter video game, in which Kevin Spacey takes the role of Irons, the CEO and founder of Atlas, a military corporation from 2054, which struggles to reestablish world order. The game was developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision.
Kevin Spacey intended this to be astonishing for his fans around that world, but did not consider the fact that the gaming world might become so interesting and appealing to a film actor who is, in addition, the artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre (a 10-year job). In a recent interview for The Guardian, he confesses how the Activision crew has spoken to him about their wanting to create a vivid and realistic character and has convinced him into joining their team.
The filming process of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is incomparable to any kind of prior shooting experience: ‘’do this scene, stand up on those boxes there, on an empty sound stage, put your hand on this pole like you’re leaning up on the top of something, walk down these boxes, sit in that chair and say the rest of your dialogue, then the scene will be over’’. What completes these apparent scene segments is the post-processing work, which gives those meaningless fragments of slow-motion, vividness: “But when you look over at the monitor where they’ve rendered that world, you’re standing in a helicopter and your hand is on its roof. And then you get into a jeep and it drives away. […] What the f***! I’m so far away right now from the Old Vic and a theatre audience…’’
The Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer, released in the month of May, has triggered numerous unexpected or even outraged reactions from game addicts. ‘’Who the hell is Kevin Spacy, and why is he in Call of Duty?’’ is an already viral response, which stands as title for the up-mentioned The Guardian article.