Gun Interactive has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to authenticity for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This mantra extends to the game’s motion capture, as shown by a recent behind-the-scenes video detailing the process.
The team uploaded a lengthy video on its YouTube page showing multiple actors pantomiming many gruesome deaths and murders while also cutting in short interviews to explain the process. Creative Director Ronnie Hobbs noted that characters in the 1974 film moved with a lot of terror and motion capture is adept at capturing that terror-filled essence.
“What we’re looking for throughout this whole entire session is, ‘Do they look like they would if they were in the film?'” said Hobbs. “We want someone that can move like Sally toward the end of that film. She can barely walk. She can barely run. You can just feel the emotion as you watch it. It’s uncomfortable. So when we look at movement in our game, we need to capture that, so we needed actors — specifically actors in horror or close to it — that could give us what we were looking for.”
Kane Hodder, the stunt coordinator who also plays Leatherface, spoke about how it was harder to play a character like Leatherface since he doesn’t talk or have visible facial expressions. He said he has to find ways to look scary just through standing without looking like he’s trying to act scary. Hodder also said he incorporated moves that Gunnar Hansen, the first Leatherface, used in his performance like twitching and openly licking his teeth. The other actors even praised Hodder for his attention to detail and how he pushed them to do more believable mocap acting.
Kristina Klebe and Dove Meir also talked about bringing the two new characters Sissy and Johnny, respectively, to life. Klebe noted that Sissy wants people to like her, so she can be sweet, but has an incredibly short fuse. Meir explained that Johnny can similarly be suave, but uses that to murder more effectively.
