GTA 5 voice actors include real gang members
Including one who got out of prison the day before recording.
By David Scammell (@VG_Dave) On 3rd Sep, 2013 at 4:31pm
Grand Theft Auto 5's gangs are voiced by real gang members, producer Lazlow Jones has revealed – including one who was released from prison the day before recording.
"When we record all these ambient characters that are in the world we go towards authenticity," Lazlow told US radio station WGN. "So in the game, part of the element of the story is that there's rival gangs.
"There's black gangs, there's Latino gangs, and we recruited a guy who gets gang members, like actual gang members, real gang members. I mean, El Salvadorian gang dudes with amazing tattoos and one of which literally had gotten out of prison the day before. And we brought these guys in to record the gang characters because you know, you don't want a goofy LA actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member. There's nothing worse than that."
Lazlow believes the answer is to "find the real terrifying people and say, can you come in here please.
"And they look at the lines and they say, 'I wouldn't say that. If I was upset at another gang, I wouldn't say that'. So... say what you would say. Authenticity, you know?
"There's a lot of sessions that we would have where we would just throw the script on the floor and be like, this thing we wrote is irrelevant, let's just work out something real."
Despite recruiting gang members to deliver some lines of dialogue, though, Lazlow confirmed that there will still be celebrities involved in the game, but refused to name which.