“I bring the truth of my own human experience to a story”: an interview with Orion Lee, voice of Cheung Po Tsai
The fantastic Orion Lee, voice of Cheung Po Tsai in ‘The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend’, shares his insights into voiceover for animation versus VR, how he inhabits his characters, and his love of climbing ship rigging!
Read on to find out more…
What’s your job title?
My name is Orion Lee and I play Cheung Po Tsai in The Pirate Queen.
How long have you been working as an actor?
I started out doing a lot in theatre, and then I started to delve into TV and film, with my first part being on Silent Witness as well as other small parts. I was also still working in theatre, at places like the Royal Court and the National Theatre of Scotland. Then I played the lead at Royal Shakespeare Company in Volpone by Ben Johnson, who was a contemporary of Shakespeare.
Then I moved more into film and TV. I had a tiny role in Fury - it was very cool to meet Brad Pitt - and Skyfall, and then it was either just before or after that I did the first trailer for The Pirate Queen. Then I did a film called First Cow, which did really well on the indie circuit, and then I did Turning Red, a Pixar film about a girl who turns into a red panda.
How did you get involved with The Pirate Queen?
Many moons ago I was asking around for up-and-coming producers. I was starting to look at executive producing and one of the producers I spoke to said, ‘you have to meet Eloise Singer - she’s fantastic and she’s in the middle of completing her film.’
That’s when I met Eloise, and we teamed up. Between us meeting and working on The Pirate Queen was something like six years.
Did you know the story of The Pirate Queen before?
No, I hadn’t. There’s so much history out there that we don’t know about because it’s not told by whoever’s in control of the narrative - there are things which have happened in the past which haven’t been hidden on purpose, but have been missed out upon being properly recorded or shared. It’s great that this story is coming to light to show that there’s such diversity in our history.
What were the differences between kind of coming from theatre and film and then going into animation?
Well first up, there are a lot of different styles within film and television, and as an actor you have to adapt your performance to the genre. Superhero films are a certain style, blockbuster and Hollywood films are a certain style, independent cinema is another style, and so animation is, again, another style.
One of the main things that I learned with voiceover is that you can do a lot more takes in a shorter amount of time. You can also be wild and try a few different things - likewise, the editor can choose to stitch the beginning of one take together with the ending of another. Whereas with film and TV it depends on the style of the film - whether it’s one long cut, whether it’s just you on screen, whether there are short edits back and forth.
But generally, there’s loads more freedom to explore in voiceover.
What was your process for preparing for Pirate Queen?
I tend to respond to a script by gradually creating backstories. I like figuring out what happened to the character beforehand - so with Cheung Po Tsai, it’s sort of like figuring out what brought him to that point that he was Second in Command. I also thought about the choice of a pirate lifestyle as opposed to being a merchant.
Then I’ll place myself in the situation, and think about what might bring me to the point of being that person. By doing that I can understand how to bring the truth of my own human experience, a person who’s unique, to the story.
What was the biggest learning curve in making The Pirate Queen?
A difference between The Pirate Queen and Turning Red was that though they are both voiceovers, in Turning Red you can see and respond to a face, and so realise what the character is feeling by seeing the emotions by looking at them.
In The Pirate Queen, however, you don’t see Cheung Po Tsai’s face at all, so the only way to tell the story of how he’s feeling is through his voice.
So on one extreme you have film, where to a certain extent the words and voice aren’t as important as what plays across the face. But on the other end you’ve got a disembodied voice in The Pirate Queen where that’s all I’ve got in terms of my performance. So it needs to be heightened.
I think it took me going to Tribeca Film Festival and playing the game to really get an understanding of the performance needed through the voice.
You re-recorded your performance in The Pirate Queen. Can you talk a bit more about this?
Director Eloise Singer & Actor Orion Lee - Tribeca Film Festival
Yes, that was for a few different reasons. One was that Lucy Liu’s performance was so fantastic - we recorded separately, and in the second recording I felt that I was much more in sync with what’s needed, because I could hear Lucy’s voice too.
A lot of what we do as actors is respond to each other to create a world. That’s a disadvantage of voiceovers, because generally speaking you’re doing it solo without the other actor there.
It was a big help to hear Lucy’s performance and realise how I could collaborate with her even though we weren’t working with her in the studio. I started to get the feeling that I could bounce off her performance. It was also good to get a better understand of what my performance needed by playing the game.
What was your favourite part of playing the game?
For me it was climbing. I’d never done climbing in game before. It was so cool to have my hands grip onto a rope and move vertically. When you’re playing a game and moving, just walking, you can’t look down and see your hands or feet moving, but in this case you look down and it’s because of what you’re physically doing that you progress. It’s much more immersive than walking by pushing a button.
And also I think I’d say that I’ve enjoyed how much the environment is so much more of a character in itself. As a player you experience so much more by being immersed in the environment.
The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is available on Meta Quest and Steam now.
