Cyberpunk 2077 is not alien to the talents of celebrities, from obvious, such as Keanu Reeves in the role of a rocker who became terrorist Johnny Sil Verest, to some more isolated ones, such as the grains playing a pop-line of Androide Lizzy Vizzy in a side quest. The Phantom Liberty, the upcoming expansion of the game, will appear British actor Idris Elba as Solomon Rida. However, although Reeves and Elba are one of the most high -profile stars of Cyberpunk 2077, the developer of CD Projekt Red says that the development of the character of the latter was a different process and, in a sense, the best experience for the team.
In an interview with Kotaku, the director of the Cyberpunk 2077 quests, Pavel Sasco, explained that although Johnny and Solomon play big roles in Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, respectively, the procedure for writing their characters and hiring the actors was different and influenced their development in different ways.
“When we developed the plot for Kean Reeves, and then decided to choose it, everything was a little different than with Idris Elbo,” Sasco said. “We already had a story with Keanu Reeves that we wanted to tell, and we were at the scenario level when we selected the actor. And here Keanu Reeves appeared. With Idris Elbo, everything was a little different, because we were at the level of history. Then we began to think about an actor who could really play this role “.
Then the team contacted Elbo, who was interested in joining the project, and, according to Sasco, his signing for the role of Solomon at an early stage anticipated the whole process of the character’s concept, his story and how the player will interact with him.
“For an actor, you write differently than when you just write a script and choose an actor for a role,” Sasco said. “In fact, when developing a story for Solomon Red or Idris Elbe, we already knew for whom we write these things”.
While Elba was ready to play Solomon, Sasco says that his schedule demanded some flexibility from the studio. While the studio used to work with major celebrities, in Cyberpunk 2077 there were huge stars in rather interesting roles between Reeves and now Elbo. Working with the Reeves schedule on the recording of the replica Johnny has become for CD Projekt Red and, according to Sasco, she helped them better coordinate their actions with Elbo in his work to expand.
“Actors, especially such a scale – but, frankly, everyone we work with – we are used to the fact that they are celebrities,” Sasco said. “Some of them are really large, some are slightly smaller, but in general they are very busy people. Just planning is always what you really need to keep in mind when you work with stars at any level. Because sometimes they will shoot something around the world “.
Despite some difficulties with the schedule, Sasco said that the recording with Elbo was “very, very smooth”. Phantom Liberty will be released on September 26 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.