likely gets plenty of exercise on sets it seems, but
outside of work these days Neil gets his fitness in
gentler places: yoga, tennis, running. “Hockey
with friends is about as dangerous as it gets for me
(although I still manage to break my nose a little
sometimes - old habits die hard).”
Not only a jock, but a nerd as well, Neil says
he is in fact not a gamer at all, despite playing
numerous roles on video games such as the
villainous role of Charles Lee in Assassin’s Creed
3, the burned out old skater/guide, Bob in Shaun
White Skateboarding, and the twins, Victor and
Hugo in Assassin’s Creed: Unity. “I am entirely
useless at games. It is a bit of a joke between
me and some of my awesome geek friends in
the gaming industry- they mock me mercilessly.
Although many of my voice and performancecapture colleagues were drawn to it based
primarily on their passion for gaming itself, I initially
saw it as simply another mode of story-telling. But
I have to say - it is some of the most absurd and
enjoyable work I do!”
verything keeps coming back to
storytelling for Neil, which is a unique
perspective on acting as a profession,
even though it seems obvious. MOST Fitness had
the privilege of learning from Neil as he delves
into his mind as an actor, how he breaks down
a character, and how he realizes the physicality
and the inner workings and motivations of his
characters. Although he makes it look seamless
on-screen, Neil reveals that even for a fit and
talented actor like himself, there is always a certain
roles that provides unique challenges and can be
particularly difficult to conquer. For him that would
have to be the role of Aston in Harold Pinter’s
classic play, The Caretaker. In the play, set in
the 1960s, Aston is a lovely and gentle character
whose adolescence was filled with pain and
misunderstanding. He is a schizophrenic, who in
his youth, was put through the profound trauma of
electro-shock therapy and eventually a lobotomy.
He is a character with a deep trench of pain lying
hidden from himself underneath a calm, quiet fog.
Neil described that the emotional and intellectual
challenges of the role were self-evident, but it
was the physical demands that were surprising.
“I had decided that, while his speech would be
light, airy and quick, his movements would be
slow, absolutely smooth, have no edges at all, and
that his gait would be completely silent w