Kaili Vernoff (Red Dead Redemption)

How you doing out there. It's me Tigger and Dark Wayne Duck. It's
me Bunkers Deep Bobcat. All right, y'all, did it rate your favorite
firefly you desire? Hold the old knock guy. My name is Jim Cummings
and welcome to tuned In. Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned
In with Jim Cummings. Today we're sitting down with Kylie Vernoff. Thank you
very much for joining us. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited thrill,
the beat and the crowd right while. Yes, thank you very very much
for being here. Yeah, and I know you're out there keeping busy and
looking fabulous, by the way, much thank you so much. We're literally
in the pink. I am see that. That's for the occasion. What's
the occasion. The occasion is sitting down with you. The occasion is with
you and meeting some more beautiful fans and yeah, you know, it's a
great place to be. Yeah. Here we are on the muddy Mississippi on
our way. No, uh, I actually don't know what river is it.
It's not the Thames? Is it the Thames? It's the war without
and boats, thank you. It's the barge with all the cranes on it.
Oh gosh, I love a good crane anyway. So yeah, nice
to see you, really nice to see you. Is it hard being the
queen of the video game circuit? Oh my gosh, thank you for saying
that. The queen. You know what's fun is Uh? Yeah, So
my character in Red Dead Redemption is she's not a queen, but she would
like to think she is. But she is maybe the camp mama, the
camp matriarch. Okay, I was good that kind of mama. It's a
good kind of mama, the good kind of Well, everyone would rotten their
own filth if it weren't for me. Wow. Yeah, I keep everyone
in line. So you've been a lot of hosing down then, oh yeah,
there's a lot of there. There's a lot of forcing. Well,
there's one one scene. Notice she didn't finish that sentence. There's a lot
of forcing forcing. Uh, there's there's actually one great scene in our in
our game where if you're playing as Arthur Morgan, who is Roger Roger Clark,
who you've I think you've met at some of these conventions, he comes
back to camp and he's filthy, and my character forces him to wash,
to bathe and and yeah, and then I the odd thing is that I
force him to watch and then depending on how dirty he is or what you
know, certain things that can happen in the game prior There are different endings,
and one of them is I slap him hard across the face and then
he pays me, and we're still not sure what exactly is happening there as
a happy ending apparently not. It was big give a slap and then he's
like, well, thank you for your trouble. Yeah, it's like,
okay, it's going way between grim Shaw and Arthur. But yeah, it's
a very popular scene in the games. All I'm saying, yes it is.
It truly is. And is it true that you did something in uh,
Grand Theft Auto? Yeah, but I was going to say in a
shop is it no, it's a gun shop anyway? Yes, yes,
So I play Miranda Cowen in Grand Theft Auto. Who is she's in like
the Paparazzi mission And it's so fun so that I was in the middle of
shooting Red Dead when I got just a regular booking from my agent saying you
going to Rockstar, and so I figured it was Red dead and although my
call was a little later, so I should have maybe put something together that
maybe we weren't going out to the big studio. But I got there and
I'm walking in Soho about to head to rock Star offices and I see one
of my main producers and he says, hey, what are you doing in
this neighborhood. I said, I'm coming to work and he said, no,
you're not. I said, I am, though, I'm sure I'm
booked. And he looked at a little iPad and he said, oh,
yeah, yeah, you're on GTA five today. And I had no idea.
My agents hadn't. I don't think anyone knew, because you know,
they are tight with their information. So I got there and I found out
that I was playing this character sort of loosely based on like a Chris Kardashian,
like a aging party girl. Sorry, Chris Kardashian. If anyone is
friends with her, Yeah, you had a couple of bucks. Yeah,
nothing wrong with that. I know, nothing wrong with that. Who likes
so she's like, likes to be in limos, likes to be in the
club, likes to get her swerve on, and says things to work her
swerve on and basically all they said are here are the lines, can't sound
anything like your character from from Red Dead, and so come up with something
quick. And so we found this kind of like can you believe the paparazzi
thinks I'm forty, I don't party with anyone older than twenty five? Like
this kind of like, oh, I'm going to meet my special friend at
the club. Do you want anything that he's selling? Like that kind of
stuff, which was really fun. It was just so fun to be put
on. Was there a soundtrack in the background, why you would Oh,
yeah, yes, yes. Well first it's a car because we're in the
limo. So first we're in the car and there's like screeching tires, and
then we got oh you can't be a good screech. So good, it's
so good. I swear that's one of the best missions in the game.
Like that's such a fun thank you. Yeah, it's a really fun time.
Oh my gosh, it was so fun. It's like so unique because
like you're using like the aiming mechanism, but you're taking pictures or trying to
target the oh, target the limo with the what you'd normally like, Oh,
yeah, I used the same mechanics to shoot people. Oh you're shooting
in a different way. Well, you are shooting people, however, and
then go like this at the end of it, right, yeah, you've
been shot before. I have been shown. I have been shot. I
have been shot. Have you played Red Dead? I have? Yeah?
That to me is one where Susan well, yeah, Susan Grimshaw. I
know her last name, but I was going to say, are there spoilers
here? Because I don't want to. I can people that have played the
game. So when Susan Grimshaw meets her, shall we just say her demise
the end of her road. I had no idea because you know, video
games don't shoot in order, we shoot out of order. And I got
my lines for the scenes the night before and I was like, oh my
gosh, she's going to get shot. And I had no idea. And
then it's this very she she believes that she is really instrumental to the gang's
success, that she is she has made herself, transformed herself from being kind
of just like this younger, sexy girlfriend type to this old are invaluable member
of the gang. And I think that's how she has kept herself feeling like
except yes, keeping herself useful. Then when this big standoff happens and she
gets shot by a trader we shall not be named. The traitor is rated.
Yes, she gets shot, and because there is a big standoff happening,
no one even checks on her. So she's lying there, bleeding out
and no one comes to check on her. And here she's dedicated her life
to these people. And then our incredible director Rod Edge is behind me.
I'm on a mat where I fell, and he's saying, like, one
more moan, so I'm like in the death rows and he'd whisper and I'd
be like, oh, and it goes when you see the scene, it
goes on like throughout the dialogue and still nobody checks. So oh, it's
so sad. Wait, I'm intrigued. You said falling a matt. Is
that just to get the authenticity or was it motion capture? Oh yeah,
we did full Oh ask you that. It sounds like this is a very
physical Red Dead is full performance capture, absolutely everything, Susan Grimshaw did.
I did, Oh wow, I didn't know that. I didn't fall from
any buildings, right, No, No, she just fell where she's How
far do you have to you know, that's earning overtime. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, so you were your own stunt person. Yeah. So like,
for example, if Susan is riding a horse, which she does quite
a bit, they have a structure that is built to the size and scale
of a horse, but it's a real bridle, it's a real saddle.
Maybe the actress kind of run off, might need a little step to step
onto, but yeah, you swing up onto there and then it's like playproton
hmm, like urban cowboy, yeah, but sort of sort of like an
urban cowboy, but you're in this big studio. And the cool thing about
it is it's like theater in the round because the player could enter from anywhere,
so they have to capture it from every angle. But they also want
film acting, so you have a camera right on your face and then everything
like if I smoke, it's a cigarette because the animators will that's a straw
or a cigarette, and so the animators will make it a real cigarette.
So it's like the best of all our world's right, it's theater in the
round, it's film on your face, and it's play pretend like when you're
a kid. Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea. It was
that bodacious. Oh my god, what a word. It was. Bodacious.
Yeah, it does. It sounds kind of bodacious. I think by
the way that sitting here with you is really a thrill. But is it
bodacious. It's a bodacious thrill, like a bodacious poster thrill. Ride right,
Wow. Yeah, I was just gonna say that. Yeah, have
you been told that before? No, it's been ours. I mean,
you're just so incredible at what you do and getting to talk to you a
little bit while I've been here, the kindness and the support that you show
other performers, I'm getting a little emotional. It's really just makes me feel
part of them. A beautiful lineage. Yeah, gosh, that is lovely.
Oh my gosh, good night everybody. I'm gonna go grab a cleanex.
I mean, it's a privilege. Thank you, thank you. Well,
the privilege is all mine, and that's it's a beautiful sentiment that is
wonderful to hear. Thank you. I feel great. Thank you. Now
I can go back to being a jerk and I'll even out. No one
will know. I will know. Just the scales are now balanced. And
if someone ever says, you're mean, you just play them this clip.
That's right, not according to miss Grimshaw. Yeah, that's right, that's
right. Before getting your roles and working with Rockstar, what was your what
was your disposure to video games in like the video game world zero zero?
I had no idea. So how did it feel when you first got offered
a video game where you kind of like confound just really disoriented because I didn't
understand what it was. I didn't know it was performance captured. They are
so tight lips. So I did my audition and I hope they don't hear
this, but I got the material and it was one of the worst scenes
I'd ever read. And they had said it's for a video game and it
was violence. She was sheep, but they didn't want it to leak that
they were doing a sequel to Red Dead or a prequel, and so she
was like, it was a prequel. Wow, that's pretty cool. It's
a prequel. So that's when you know something successful. Yeah, not only
do sequels, they go late. We should we do one? So you
were on the right track. I was on the right track, but I
didn't know because I didn't know that's what I was auditioning for. I knew
nothing about Rockstar, and so it was like this scene of this mom of
a teenager who's really mean to her daughter and calling her horrible names, and
I was like, what was that? Except I really liked the casting director
and I loved the woman I was reading with, and so I remember thinking
it went really well. But then I didn't hear anything for months, and
so when they called and said you worked, yeah, yeah, I forgot
about it. I just forgot about it because I didn't even know what it
was I was auditioning for. I just I remember thinking this scene is like
weird, and I don't like it, But then I really like these people.
But of course the casting director had written that scene that probably that day
because they didn't want any material to come out, and they just needed to
see if I could be bossy and vicious and cruel, and I could clearly.
And when I got the job, yeah, they told me when I
got the job to report to the van pickup wearing comfortable undergarments. God you
get that too, huh. That was all they told me, wearing comfortable
undergarments. And I thought, what, what what are we going to be
doing with my undergarments. First of all, what's happening here? Well,
the good news is you got the job. I got the job. Yes,
So you show up and you've got to have like comfortable undergarments because they're
putting you in this like re suit with you know, computer balls all over
it. Yeah, you have to have something comfortable to wear under your motion
capture suit. Wow. And yeah, and then that's where the journey started.
And Rob Watoff was there my first day and he plays John Marston,
who was the star of the first game. Sure, and maybe one of
the kindest gentlemen I've ever worked with. Yeah. Yeah, we went to
dinner with him that too long ago. He's just, you know, the
kindest, loveliest, you know, really supportive because I had no idea what
he was doing, what I was doing, and he said, well,
you know, you'll pick it up. You'll pick it up. You've got
this and I know we look weird in these like scuba suits, but you
won't even notice it after a while. And in fact that was true.
Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. I don't I don't have much experience with
that at all, except Tom Kenny and I we were cat dog and we
had we had to. But you were cat Dog cat Dog cartoon ship.
Oh yeah, And we were appearing, gosh a long time ago, appearing
on a game show of all things that it conventioned somewhere, and it was
a live game show, so we were sitting right next to each other and
we were covered in all those little motion sensors whatever they were. Yeah,
I don't know what to call them. They're like little bellcrow balls, computer
catches, which I usually only do that at home, and so it was
interesting. But it was a live game show. So I remember doing that
and thinking this is the damnedest thing ever. But but look what I think
by the time they got to you, they had it perfected. Yeah,
well that was so cool. You know, I shot Red Dead for four
and a half years and yeah, and the technology would advance, so sometimes,
wow, you'd have to reshoot a little something because the technology had advanced,
you know, or our characters had changed a little Yeah, like they're
they're they're writing based on what this is. What I think is incredible about
Rockstar was that our characters evolved sort of based on what they saw us doing.
Isn't that cool? So that's very little changes to early scenes based on
how now like how we know her to be and and the relationships that tighten
up so we now know this this relationships, like to harken back to that
scene with the slap right, like that that one we did later where we
sort of understood how that Susan Arthur relationship is. And I remember the director
was like, she is the only person that could slap our and not get
shot. Okay, So that's where you got juice. That's so it's almost
like not like a mother's son, not like a brother's sister, but maybe
like your best friend's mother who you're kind of flirty with, but who can
also tell you what to do, Like are really specific and getting it right
was so important to us. Yeah, so those types of things tightened up
and changed as the relationships, you know, became clear. Oh yeah,
that's amazing. Yeah, yeah, that's very cool. That's kind of interesting
to hear that. The evolution. Yeah, and people really get to know
the characters in these games. It's really something. Yeah, you must get
a lot of fans that come up and I don't know what to do well
because I never played a video game that I think that was some of the
meeting the fans is some of the most rewarding stuff. Oh yeah. If
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com. Slash Gymcommings podcast and the first convention I did was maybe six months
after the release. I was actually here in London, and I remember there
was a long line of people coming to meet me, and a lot of
them were women, which I was not expecting hmmm. And I remember this
woman came up to me and she said, you know, I've got three
kids and at the end of the day, when I put them to bed,
what I want to do is play this game, and that's how I
disappear. And seeing a woman who is a female character in middle age,
who is not hyper sexualized, and who gets to be bossy and gets to
be kind of annoying and gets to be you know, like mean, and
still gets to have full agency within this gang. She said, I don't
see a lot of that, and I really you know, identify and I
thought, oh, we're storytellers because at the end of the day, we're
storytellers and representation. Right. So she's you know, she's played a lot
of video games and a lot of you know, there are a lot of
amazing female characters, but they're evolving, and so get to disappear into a
first person shooter game, but get to meet characters like me who are whole
people. Yea, you know, whole people and get to be you know,
yeah, annoying and bossy and mean and still and still be welcome into
still the demise. You're still touching people. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's a really good point. I feel like you really hit the
nail on the head that like, female characters, especially in video games,
are evolving, because I think traditionally they were very over sexualized in video games,
Like specifically in that world, it's you know, absolutely characters like chun
Lee and you know, just like wearing pretty much nothing, but they're supposed
to have like a full suit of armor on or you know, oh yeah
yeah. And even the brilliant protagonists are you know, they need to look
a certain way, you know, appealing to the male gaze, I think,
initially until they sort of realized that what's happening is that there are a
lot of women playing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, now you get games.
I was going to ask you that, what do you feel like the
what's the demographic at this point, because it sounds like it evolves. Yeah,
I have not. I have not been able to pigeonhole our demographic at
all. That's good. So last year we did a convention in Tombstone,
Arizona, where our whole well not our whole, but there were like fifteen
of us there, the Vanderlinck Gang. We're pretty cool. It was pretty
cool. Yeah, And they had no idea how many attendees there would be
because there weren't ticket sales. It was confusing anyway. There were so many
people there that the town ran out of like food and water. And what
amazed me was how people came from everywhere. So I met like a brother
and sister who had never been off their Navajo reservation. Wow, you know,
and this was like their connect I mean it was incredible. A lot
of mothers who brought their children who had started playing the game during COVID lockdown,
who had trouble making friends because of that, who had then made a
whole community through playing our game. Yeah, I really, it's a nice
contribution. It's a nice contribution, my goodness. Yeah, So parents thanking
me for, you know, for giving their children something to do while they
were locked down and not social and really and really every kind of person,
every kind of person. So that to me is like you put the work
out there and then I mean we this game was released in twenty eighteen.
I have not worked a day on this game since twenty eighteen, and so
to still be having people come up it, you know, it's I don't
know, it's really it's got to be graying, it's got to be right,
got to be very gratifying. Well, it's so nice to know that,
you know, you can touch people, because you know, I get
some of that too, And and it's you helped people get through fill in
the blank and clearly COVID absolutely you know, sitting there and I could take
this bloody mask off and thank God for the you know, yeah up on
the screen and yes, and making finding a community that way. Yeah.
So a lot of people that came to Tombstone I'm sure you have this too,
had never met in real life and then they say, let's go to
this convention. Yes, yeah, that's awesome, you know, like meet
each other and yeah, that was really wow, really cool. That is
Sona. Have you ever has anybody ever come up to you cosplaying oh all
the time? Why did I know? I kind of thought, so,
I mean, yeah, I mean that was amazing in Tombstone too, because
it was record breaking Arizona heat and they were all in their leathers and their
hats and waiting all day and not one person complain by the time they got
in that room. There was no indoor line. They were outside and there
was no air fun in Tombstone. In Tombstone, and they were in full
costplay so corsets, and I mean, and they would get to the front
of the line, and you know, I hugged more sweaty people because I
felt like, A they earned it, you know, and and B because
you know, I was sweaty too. But it really felt like we're doing
this thing together. You know, we're doing well. I'm sure there were
a few men in courses as well, so that was that had to be
just fun. Yeah, I mean I sort of love that too. Gender
is really good when it comes out that there's anything wrong with that. No,
there's nothing wrong. It's awesome. Okay, I'm wearing one. Fine,
are you? Let me say no? Let me say no. Maybe
later. So what's your favorite part about meeting the fans? Do you have
a I hate the word favorite, but maybe maybe a few things. Well,
for me, it's it's nice to know that you because well, just
like you, you know, we're in uh, we're in rooms. We're
literally in padded cells that we speak to have to speak into a microphone to
talk to someone on. So it's got a little you know, you know,
not insane asylum. Okay, insane asylum, but feeling to it.
But it's it's nice to know that what you're doing in a room with many
many times nine times out of ten, you're alone. You know, the
other actors aren't even there. That it goes out. They put it together
and they take your performance and next thing you know, you're touching thousands,
maybe millions of people and that, and it's gratifying. And I've had people
say that, you know, oh, Winn of the Pooh has gotten me
through. You know, I had this tragedy in my family. It was
a horrible this, a horrible that. And and I remember one particular fellow
years ago. He was probably twenty years old, and he was a twin,
but his sister was very sick. She couldn't come to the convention.
He you know, fraternal twins, I guess, And he said that the
Disney Afternoon helped him get through everything, period, because they lived in a
very very very very tough part of town. So they would get off the
bus and run into the house, lock the door, and they had a
video cassette. We all remember those video cassette recorder, and his mom every
morning, when she had to go to work, she would set the timer
and record the Disney Afternoon. Well, I was literally on every show by
Hooker by Croak, Thank you Jesus, and I pruly am grateful for that.
But he, you know, he said, eventually we started reading the
credits and oh my gosh, he was Monterey Jack. He was bonkers,
he was dark wing, he was and so they and it was very touching,
and he was just so sad that his sister couldn't be there. But
he said, basically, he said, thank you for babysitting us, making
sure we were safe, and you kept us safe until our mom got home.
And I was like, oh man, thanks, I just thought I
was going to work. Yeah, you know. Yeah, so you don't
you don't know, you don't have a sense of it. Yeah, you
tell these stories and you put your whole heart into it and you do your
best and you hear something like that, Yeah, I mean you you know,
the impact you made on their lives is something they will never forget.
And to get a chance to be told about it. Yeah, that's that's
the benefit of this kind of thing, you know. That's it's so beautiful,
so true. Well, I'm glad you're a part of that world too,
and I'm a part of yours now. Yeah, so thank you so
much for having me. But before we finish, Yeah, we got to
do one thing really quickly. Oh yeah, I love I love a one
more thing. Tell me what we like to do, like a voice swap
on this show. So Jim will do a line of one of his famous
characters and then if you could repeat it in a line of your famous characters
and vice versas, that makes sense. Wait, am I doing it in
my own voice? Or I'm trying to imitate his voice? No, and
you're like character in my character. I'm going to do one of your lines.
Okay, okay, okay, here's asking a big favorite. Will you
please pass the honey? Beautiful? I hate to make it mean, but
Arthur, will you please pass the honey? I'm passing something. I'm passing
that. Okay, Okay, Now it's your time. So let's see what's
a good one for me. Well, I don't want to be too gnarly.
How about I don't care how you feel, girl, get to work.
Let's see who should that be? Pooor tigger? Do you think tiger?
I don't care, you Field girl? Good to boont In. I
might have messed up the quote, but thank you for it was so great.
Oh my gosh, what an honor. Thank you for being here,
fun, Thank you for having me and Chris. Can you take us sure?
Thanks a lot for watching everybody that was a nut? Yes, it
was sure was. Thanks a lot for watching everybody that was Another episode of
Tuned In with Jim Commings with Kylie Vernoff. Thank you so much for being
here. Don't forget to like and subscribe to us on YouTube and of course
our Patreon channel. You can find bonus contents and all that good stuff,
and you can find this podcast wherever you find your podcast. Thank you so
much for watching another episode of Tuned In with Jim Comings. We'll see you
in the next one. Thank you, Thank you, buddy. That's terrific.
You were dose mucho