Red Faction: Origins - Worth Playing: Brian J. Smith Interview

Source: Worth Playing [follow link for complete interview]



WORTH PLAYING: 'Red Faction: Origins' - Brian J. Smith Interview

by Adam Pavlacka on May 13, 2011

Half a century after the Red Faction resistance and their Marauder allies freed Mars from the brutal Earth Defense Force, harmony on Mars is again threatened but this time by a lethal force shrouded in mystery.

Produced by the SyFy channel in conjunction with THQ, "Red Faction: Origins" is a made-for-TV movie designed to bridge the narrative gap between the events of 2009's Red Faction: Guerrilla and the upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon. Set halfway between the two games, the film focuses on the character of Jake Mason (Brian J. Smith, "Stargate Universe"), a Red Faction soldier and son of Alec Mason (Robert Patrick, "Terminator 2," "X-Files"), the player character in Red Faction: Guerrilla. We spoke with Smith earlier this week, chatting about the production of "Red Faction: Origins" as well as his involvement in "Stargate Universe."



... WP: With "Red Faction: Origins," did you have a larger budget to play around with more effects, weapons and toys on the set? Or is the movie more character-focused?

BJS: Well, the movie is definitely character-focused. Really, it has to be. If you're going to take something based on a video game and turn it into two hours of television drama, it has to be about the story. It has to be about the characters.

One of the things that the video game does so well is that it literally puts you in the character's shoes and you're controlling it, taking your own risks, making your own decisions sometimes, and failing or succeeding based on your own skill level. You're much more involved. That's the fun of gaming. I'm a big gamer. I spend way too much time on my Xbox. (laughs) It's kind of embarrassing. I always play games like Elder Scrolls and Battlefield: Bad Company and Call of Duty, things like that. I'm much more of a shooter or straight fantasy kind of guy. I'd never played the Red Faction game before, so the world is a little bit new.

That being said, we live in the age of CGI right now, and you can create a whole world for not a lot of money in front of a green screen. You see shows like "Sanctuary," which is on SyFy, and that's pretty much shot in front of a green screen, and we did a lot of that for "SGU" as well. These guys are getting so good at it that you can create a whole set, a whole world for a fraction of the cost of going out on location...

Premieres on Syfy on Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 9/8C!