Summary
- Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann initially hesitated because Laura Bailey had already been in many other games and shows.
- Bailey’s vulnerability in her audition tape convinced Druckmann and the studio to cast her as Abby.
- The same thing happened to Troy Baker for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Laura Bailey is one of those actors that you’ll find in every major video game. Her versatility has seen her play diverse roles, including Mary Jane Watson in Marvel’s Spider-Man, Vex’ahlia in The Legend of Vox Machina, and even Kid Trunks in Dragon Ball Z Kai’s English dub. It’s safe to say that she’s a voice acting powerhouse.
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While you may think that having such a wide range and so many credits under your name is a good thing, sometimes it might work against you. For instance, she almost didn’t get the iconic part of Abby in The Last of Us Part 2 because director Neil Druckmann felt she was already in so many other video games and shows.
“She’s In Everything”
Speaking to Santa Monica Studio creative director Cory Barlog at the D.I.C.E. Summit, Druckmann revealed that he initially didn’t want to cast Bailey as Abby (thanks PC Gamer). While he was already familiar with her work from Uncharted 4, he was hesitant because she’s already been in so many things. During the live auditions, he “was sure it was going to be a different actor.”
However, after studying Bailey’s audition tape “frame by frame” Druckmann knew that the role of Abby had to go to Bailey. He said that the audition tape showed a vulnerability that none of the other actors managed to capture. It was that moment that convinced him as well of the rest of the studio to cast her. She went on to win at The Game Awards and the Bafta Awards for her role as Abby.
This isn’t the first time a popular videogame actor’s reputation worked against them. Troy Baker revealed that Todd Howard initially “rolled his eyes” when the actor’s name was brought up for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. However, the director kept picking Baker’s sample during the blind auditions phase. Later he said to Baker that he was “doing a hell of a job.”
Speaking of Abby, Druckmann revealed that the reason Kaitlyn Dever wasn’t bulking up for the role in the HBO live action adaptation, was because “We value performance over anything else.”